Cedar Rapids Native Landon Cassill Scores Top 5 At Talladega

On Sunday, Cedar Rapids native Landon Cassill scored his first ever Top 5 in a NASCAR Sprint Cup Race. The race was at Talladega, a super speedway track and one of the fastest on the circuit. Landon outran the likes of Jeff Gordon, Jimmie Johnson, Kevin Harvick, Joey Logano, and NASCAR'S most popular driver Dale Earnhardt Jr. All the driver's listed here finished on the lead lap.

There were no significant crashes and surprising we didn't see "the big one" that normally happens on a super speedway that would knock out a bunch of the top cars. Yes, there were a few wrecks toward the end of the race that did collect Earnhardt Jr., but Landon was ahead of the wreck when it happened. Landon earned this Top 5 finish. He drove a smart race and stayed out of trouble and kept his car towards the front of the pack.

Landon drives for Hillman Racing. A one-car race team that doesn't have the multi-million dollar sponsors to help finance multiple cars and research and development. They built their own car to race at Talladega.

Talladega is a super speedway track where you grind it out for over 3 hours concentrating, drafting, and keeping an eye out everywhere in case trouble happens in front of you. With restrictor plate racing, all the cars are equal. No one has an advantage horsepower-wise. You have to be smart & patient to finish in the Top 10, let alone a Top 5.

So when the race is all over with, race fans used to be treated with hearing from the driver's in the Top 5 and how their day went to get them there. On Sunday, ESPN took the time to find the driver's who just got knocked out of NASCAR'S Chase to the Sprint Cup. I understand that... but don't forget the drivers who finished in the Top 5. And one of those driver's drove his tail off, beat the big name teams with his small team and yet the camera and pit reporter's couldn't find time to interview Landon Cassill.

NASCAR and racing in general isn't always about the guy who wins. Yes, the race winner is the Champ for the day, but there are always those feel good stories about the little guy who drove from the back to the front, the guy who avoided adversity all day long to score a Top 5 finish. This is what helped make a name for NASCAR in it's early days of broadcasting, yet Sunday no reporter for ESPN could find time to interview Landon Cassill. Travis Kvapil finished 6th in the same race for another small funded team... nothing mentioned.

NASCAR needs to make sure their Broadcast partner's understand that there are 43 Driver's on the track and not just the same 16 Driver's they talk about weekly. Featuring other driver's could help turn their declining ratings around.

Congratulation Landon, you drove a great race!!!