BREAKING NEWS: Landon Cassill To Drive For Former Red Bull Racing

Landon Cassill is going racing at Daytona International Speedway with a new, yet-unnamed race team, at the wheel of a No. 83 Toyota purchased from the former Red Bull Racing team.

In an exclusive interview with Sirius/XM NASCAR Radio’s Sirius/XM Speedway with Dave Moody, Cassill said the team is preparing two cars for a full schedule of Sprint Cup Series racing, beginning with the Daytona 500. “We’re going to announce a sponsor in the near future,” said Cassill. “At this point, I can tell you that Doug Richert will be the crew chief, with (former Roush Fenway Racing executive) Harry McMullin serving as General Manager.

Landon Cassill is locked in!

Multiple sources say Virginia resident and former TRG Motorsports minority partner Ron Devine is a leading player in the new ownership group. The team will reportedly be owned and sponsored by Devine and a group of his fellow Burger King franchisees. Cassill declined to speak specifically about the new owners, but confirmed they were involved with TRG Motorsports majority owner Kevin Buckler a year ago. “They broke away from TRG at the end of last year,” said Cassill. “They want to go racing the right way and do it efficiently. They know what their goals are.

“They’re going to be announcing the team name and our sponsorship information very soon. All I can say at this point is that they are investors. It’ll be a company owned team from the sponsorship side of things."

The team will operate out of the former Randy Moss Motorsports building in Statesville, NC, and will run with horsepower supplied by Triad Racing Technology.

“The guys are really hustling to get ready for Daytona,” said Cassill, “and this will be my first time going into a season knowing there’s a full-time ride with my name on door. I’m going to be locked into the Daytona 500 for the first time in my life, and that’s an emotional deal for me."

He confirmed that the team will field two cars in every race this season, beginning at Daytona. “They’re working on signing the second driver right now, and there are some pretty good guys out there who still need a ride. 

“This has been a tough deal to keep quiet,” laughed Cassill. “They’ve had to make a lot of decisions before the story gets out and things begin to spin out of control. They’ve been working hard, 12-14 hours a day, seven days a week thrashing on things. Fortunately, Red Bull built really nice race cars that gave us a chance to pull things together quickly. A lot more is set in place than we can talk about yet, but the work is getting done.

Cassill said he understands the team is behind the eight-ball at this point, and will need time to reach its full potential. “I think you’ll see us shine 10-12 weeks into the season, once we get our feet underneath us,” he said. “We need to establish a baseline on setups and find out what our cars and teams are capable of.”