Road to Daytona: Meet Fox Nation-sponsored NASCAR Daytona 500 driver Landon Cassill
Landon Cassill discusses his long journey towards becoming a professional racecar driver in the Fox Nation docuseries ‘Road to Daytona.’
As drivers rev their engines and grease their wheels ahead of the NASCAR's Daytona 500, Fox Nation is looking to enter the race and promote its new "Road to Daytona" docuseries by sponsoring the gritty 26-man racing team known as Spire Motorsports.
A David to NASCAR’s Goliath, Spire Motorsports boasts one of the smallest rosters in the league competing against teams of almost 300. But, don’t let this underdog crew of men and women fool you. What they lack in manpower, they make up for in teamwork and state-of-the-art technical prowess.
Due to the introduction of the Next-Gen Car, this team now has the capabilities to do what was previously impossible in the NASCAR Cup Series: compete against the teams with massive manufacturing pipelines and budgets who have dominated the sport for decades.
NASCAR IS MAKING THIS CHANGE TO THE 2022 DAYTONA 500
Driver Landon Cassill inspects his vehicle during a NASCAR event. (Fox Nation )
"It makes a team like Spire have a business model where, in three years, we feel like we can be a top 15 Cup team. With this car, that's possible," said Kevin Bellicourt, the team’s crew chief, of the new racecar.
Fox Nation will be sponsoring racer Landon Cassill with a custom car wrap for Spire Motorsports’ Number 77 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1. The sponsorship will be a part of FOX’s larger effort to promote the newly released "Road to Daytona" four-part special. The first two episodes are available to stream here now.
The first episode, aptly titled "Spire Motorsports," follows the team as they discuss their strategy and the enormous task of punching up against NASCAR’s heavyweight dynasty.
In the episode, Bellicourt likened Spire’s business model to the film "Moneyball" and the story of the Oakland A’s general manager Billy Beane. Despite having one-third the cash of the New York Yankees in 2002, Beane turned his under-budgeted team into an 18-game winning streak juggernaut.
Driver Landon Cassill speaks with Fox Nation for the 'Road to Daytona' four-part special. (Fox Nation )
"I like the small groups better. Bigger you get, the more headaches you get, the more egos you got to deal with, the more personalities you got to deal with. Everybody has their own life away from racing," said Bellicourt, likening the team to a family.
Marketing executive Joey Dennwitz echoed Bellicourt’s sentiment, noting that much of the team’s success comes from their ability to tap into the human aspect of the sport.
"There's a little grittiness to us. Culture is very important due to the fact that we are now racing on culture instead of cubic dollars. It's a human experiment," he said.
Ahead of the big race, driver Cassill noted that his team is always fighting and is always ready for the next race.
This next race will be no exception, he predicts.
"I think that the big drivers and teams, they got to be nervous right now. They've had such an advantage for so many decades. And now it's like, it's a level playing field."
In the second episode "Testing the Track" Cassill and his team finish preparations and put their pedal to the metal on the legendary Daytona International Speedway for the first time of the season. The final two episodes will premiere exclusively on Fox Nation later this week.
To dive deeper into the history and camaraderie of Spire Motorsports, head over to Fox Nation to watch the full 4-part series, "Road to Daytona."
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