Fresh Kansas Surface Has Cassill Optimistic about Weekend

Landon Cassill has a knack for fresh asphalt. Following the repaving at Michigan International Speedway, he drove to 18th-and 25th-place finishes. His 18th-place performance matched his best finish of the 2012 season. After Pocono Raceway received its facelift, Cassill scored his third-best starting position of 2012, 15th place, in the June race and finished 26th in the August race. As the Sprint Cup Series heads into the unknown once again at the repaved 1.5-mile Kansas Speedway, Cassill hopes the No. 83 Burger King/Dr Pepper team shows the same ability to adapt in Sunday’s Hollywood Casino 400.

Cassill has four previous Cup Series starts at Kansas Speedway. His best finish is 17th place, which he achieved last season. He’s led laps in two of the events (June 2011, October 2011). In his most recent race at Kansas, Cassill experienced fuel pressure issues and finished 34th.

Doug Richert, crew chief of the No. 83 Toyota, has sat on the pit box for seven Cup Series races at Kansas. He has two top-10s and two top-five finishes to his credit.

Comments from BK Racing Driver Landon Cassill heading into Kansas:

“We’re going to have a new Kansas Speedway when we return this time. I expect it to be similar to Michigan. The surface is probably going to be similar, but obviously it’s a different race track. We’ll take some of the stuff we learned at Michigan and apply to this weekend. Hopefully it will still have some characteristics of the ‘old’ Kansas because I thought it was a pretty good track already.

“Fortunately we have some testing time before the race. We’ll use that time to dial the car in, figure some stuff out and find some speed. I think that will help us out a lot. We’ve had success at the repaved tracks. We did really well at Michigan. We did really well at Pocono. Hopefully we’ll have similar results at Kansas.

“I’m sure the new surface is going to be fast. We’re going to see some really high speeds. They might not be as fast as Michigan, but I wouldn’t be surprised if we go over 200 miles per hour down the straightaways.”

BK Racing PR