MARTINSVILLE, Va. — Landon Cassill said Tuesday he isn’t sure what his next move will be now that he’s been informed he will not be back with Front Row Racing in 2018.
“The most important thing for me and my family is just (to) prepare for the future, figure out where I want to go next and what I want to do,” Cassill told a group of reporters Tuesday during an organizational test at Martinsville Speedway. “My wife and I are going to have a new baby next week; so we’re really excited about that. We have a lot of good things to be excited about in our lives.”
Cassill, 28, said he was informed by FRM General Manager Jerry Freeze on Monday that he would not be retained for the ’18 season.
FRM currently fields two full-time entries in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series, the No. 34 Ford driven by Cassill and the No. 38 Ford of teammate David Ragan. The organization has two career wins in the series — Ragan won at Talladega in 2013 and Chris Buescher collected the win at Pocono last season.
Cassill said the news, first reported by JeffGluck.com, was “definitely upsetting because I think I did a good job for the team and for my sponsors and I certainly work hard for everyone. But it is the business; it’s how the sport goes.”
A native of Cedar Rapids, Iowa, Cassill has made 253 starts in the MENCS in an eight-year span. In addition to FRM, other teams he has driven for include BK Racing, Phoenix Racing and Circle Sport Racing.
He also has 118 career starts in the NASCAR XFINITY Series and eight starts in the Camping World Truck Series.
His best finish in the MENCS has been fourth at Talladega Superspeedway in 2014. This season, he had a top finish of 16th in the season-opening Daytona 500. He is 32nd in points as the series prepares to head to Talladega for Sunday’s Alabama 500 (2 p.m. NBC, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR).
“It’s definitely a challenging time in the sport for these teams and drivers and sponsors as well,” Cassill said. “They have to make decisions almost every single year now.
“It’s definitely tough; I’ve been through this before and it seems like my work ethic and my ability to work with these guys, teams has always carried me.”
Cassill said he wasn’t given a particular reason for the driver change, only that “they were planning on radical changes.”
