Salamander wrote:Rabbi Gordon wrote:Salamander wrote:I don't think Cassill or Wise are really that talented...
Well Wise is probably a much nicer guy than how fast he is, but why not Cassill?.
He had to race a bunch of junk during his career and really did some great races in them, (especially on driver's tracks) which I am pretty sure is nothing new to you. But in those Circle Sport cars which are 2-3 years old RCR leftovers, he often manages to keep up with people driving for Petty or Roush and is regularly competitive amongst the other small teams' drivers.
Just now in Richmond he beat 4 guys driving for established teams as well as everyone (sans Allgaier, who is immense and also has an okay ride) driving for small teams basically without any help from attrition. 3 weeks ago in Bristol he was inside the top 25 (22nd or 23rd, I think) when he lost power. Also he got in the top 20 both times in qualifying.
I'd take him in a heartbeat over people like Stenhouse, Ragan or Hornish. Maybe even over Bowyer.
Cassill's had years to prove himself, and I think everyone in the NASCAR garage knows more or less how bad the cars he is driving are. Brad Keselowski was picked out and recommended to Germain when they had to replace Ted Musgrave for one Truck series race way back in 2007, and he had arguably driven even worse equipment than Cassill has. Petty and Roush are the two worst established teams at the moment - you're more likely to find a Roush trolling around 25th-30th rather than in the top 10 these days. Even in the Xfinity series he drives for a backmarker, and is behind his rookie teammate (well, one of them) in points, one who probably could use another full year in trucks to be quite honest.
As for those drivers, well, Stenhouse, Ragan, and Hornish are all trash. Stenhouse is the latest in a long list of prominent Busch/Nationwide/Xfinity Series drivers who just can't hack it in Cup. Ragan had 4 years at Roush when they were still worth something and only cracked the top 20 in points once, and he's no better now, with only 1 top 10 finish in 8 races with a regular Chase contending team. And if Hornish was actually a decent stock car driver, he would be driving the 22 right now. Saying Cassill is better than Bowyer is a tad ridiculous though. He's past his heyday, but is still a fairly solid performer.
Hm, yes I do know that Roush and RPM are not really doing well at the moment, but their equipment still is light years away from Circle Sport's. As you say drivers know how good or bad others' cars are, I recommend taking a look at what Dale Jr. says about Cassill. He talks VERY highly of him.
Problem is that the retirement age in NASCAR is too high and teams as well as sponsors are more likely to go with a driver with a name even though he is in a rapid decline. And if a bigger team does change their driver, they are more than likely to get someone whose daddy or sponsor paid a lot to their "development" programme, instead of taking a chance on a good, but independent driver.
Too bad that (partly) because of this for every good rookie there is a well-funded silver spoon failure. Probably we both can list at least 10 drivers who drive shitty cars and are 3x better than "Xfinity Champion" Austin Dillon [aka. The Nexxt Dale Earnhardt (TM)]
Cassill drives for Johnny Davis in the Xfinity, because he has no big sponsors behind him and owners are more interested to stick some unproven 16-17 year olds in their cars and have their daddy/sponsor pay for it. Some cases it turns out well (E.Jones, Larson), sometimes it is painful (Kwasniewski, Townley). This combined with the unwanted presence of cup drivers make talent like Cassill, Clements or Sieg drive for a sparsely funded, often family run operation. If they are lucky. If they aren't they get 6-7 races for a big team and get passed over for someone with a large paycheck, like poor DiBenedetto, who lost 4 years of learning and just started to redeem himself as a capable driver.
Got a bit carried away here, so JD Racing... The owner is a great old-school guy, but his cars are in a way old school too. That way is sadly that they tend to fall into pieces if you drive them too hard. Cassill is getting the very good results he does with having to look after the #01 extensively in order to finish.
And Keselowski's case is a bit different. His dad Bob Keselowski is a good friend of Bob Germain and he recommended the Germain Brothers to take a chance on Brad. And Germain's staff has always been great at setting the cars up, even if they were quite a way behind the likes of KHI or RCR in money. (Life-long Onionhead here, I still love Germain and follow them quite closely
)
But, all in all I see your points and understand why you think what you think and it is quite reasoned. I am not the one who can change your opinion, Landon is, I just think that he'll eventually prove me right. Anyway, he has a good attitude and is really fast, deserves a chance with a good team.
