School teachers and officials across the country are finishing their academic year and are preparing for a well-deserved summer break. As driver of the No. 51 Thank a Teacher Today Chevrolet, Landon Cassill is hoping to honor teachers across the country for all of their hard work with a good run in this weekend’s Pocono 500 at Pocono Raceway.
Cassill’s performance at Kansas Speedway was marred by an accident on Lap 120. He was forced behind the wall for repairs and had to settle for a 35th-place finish. He aims to get back on track this weekend at the track they call the Tricky Triangle.
Cassill has two prior starts at Pocono Raceway, one in the Sprint Cup Series and one in the ARCA Series. This week’s event will mark Cassill’s second Sprint Cup Series start with Phoenix Racing at Pocono Raceway.
Cassill Comments on the Pocono 500:
“Schools all across the country are starting to get out for the summer now. I think many of them have already ended or are in their final weeks. Right now, it just seems to be an appropriate time for our Thank a Teacher Today Chevrolet with its message. Teachers have invested so much in this school year and deserve a pat on the back. We can’t thank them enough for all of their hours and hard work that they pour into their students, but hopefully our car will be a nice tribute and remind everyone to tell a teacher ‘thank you’ for all they do. Hopefully we’ll give them a good run.
“Pocono is exactly what it’s nickname states, it’s a ‘tricky triangle.’ I’ve only had a couple of races there, but it didn’t’ take long to realize that this place is just different. Each time was a learning experience. It’s definitely a track that you use a ‘give and take’ setup. There’s no way that you can have a perfect-handling car all the way around the race track. The turns are each unique and can’t be treated the same. You have to drive each corner differently as well. No turn has the same marks for braking or accelerating. It’s a track that takes total concentration and focus for sure. There’s no cruise control at Pocono.
“We had a tough race last week at Kansas. We got a lap down early, but started picking up the pace after we made some adjustments. We got our lap back and were running pretty well. I ended up getting pushed into the wall and that killed our day. We just need some luck and we’ll have some good finishes come our way. Pocono is a good opportunity for us to get back on track and get some positive momentum going.”
Phoenix Racing PR
