Front Row Motorsports is Becoming one of NASCAR's Most Exciting Small Teams

Jun 28, 2017

Front Row Motorsports driver Landon Cassill drives the #34 car in NASCAR Monster Energy Cup series

There are NASCAR racing teams known as Goliaths, that are perennial threats to be the top teams of their class. Then there are the Davids, the racing teams that are steady and compete with fewer resources than the top teams have and stay relevant year after year. Front Row Motorsports, located in Statesville, North Carolina, is one of those Davids.

Jerry Freeze has been the General Manager of the team since 2009. According to Freeze, Bob Jenkins, a multi-store Taco Bell franchisee, is the team owner.

“Jenkins first got involved in team ownership as part of the Jimmy Means team, which was known as Means-Jenkins Motorsports. Means is a long time NASCAR competitor,” said Freeze. “The team was active for one year and then Jenkins separated and founded Front Row Motorsports.”

It was basically a part time endeavor that competed in the Nationwide and Cup Series. In 2008, it started racing full time.

“We were initially part time because of finances,” explained Freeze. “We wanted to get our legs underneath us and take the time we needed to build up our resources and budget so that we could race full time,” said Freeze.

By 2009, the team was focused on racing in the Cup Series full time. One of the first racers to sign with the team at this time was John Andretti.

“That’s when it really became a full time team and we really started to get major sponsors,” Freeze said.

“We’ve been a part of the Ford team since 2010. We joined Ford so that we could be a part of the Roush Yates Engine Program. Before then, we raced Chevrolets,” said Freeze.

The engines that power the cars of Front Row Motorsports are 358-cubic inch V8s. The team has 60 employees including two drivers – Landon Cassill drives the number 34 car and David Ragan pilots the number 38 car.

Born in Unadilla, Georgia on December 24, 1985, Ragan is married with two children and resides in Kannapolis, North Carolina. During his career so far he has:

Landon Cassill's #34 car is a part of the Front Row Motorsports team

• Two NASCAR Monster Energy Series wins

• 15 NASCAR Monster Energy Series Top 5s

• Two NASCAR Xfinity Series wins

• 17 NASCAR Xfinity Series Top 5s

• Six Pole Awards in NASCAR’s Top 3 Series

He first started racing when he was 11 years old when he raced the Bandolero Series in 1997. In those early years, his father, Ken Ragan, a former Winston Cup driver, guided him. He won two national championships within three years and then graduated up to full-size cars, maneuvering through the Goody’s Dash Series and Legends Pro-Division.

He began racing in NASCAR when he turned 18. His first races included the Camping World Truck and XFINITY Series as well as a limited ARCA schedule.

Jack Roush invited him to join the Roush Fenway Racing Team in 2007 and assigned him to drive the number 6 Ford in what is now called the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series. He finished his first season as runner-up for Rookie of the Year in the Cup Series and won Rookie of the Year in the NASCAR XFINITY Series.

He won his first cup race in July 2011 at the Daytona International Speedway. He then moved on for his first stint with Front Row Motorsports in 2013 and was the upset winner at Talladega Super Speedway. Fellow teammate David Gilliland finished second. This was the first win for Front Row Motorsports.

In 2015 Ragan served as a “super sub” for Joe Gibbs Racing when he replaced Kyle Busch, who had been injured, and was assigned to drive the number 18 Toyota for the first part of the season. He also served as a sub for Michael Waltrip Racing replacing an ill Brian Vickers.

Front Row Motorsports driver David Ragan drives the #38 car in NASCAR Monster Energy Cup series

He returned to Front Row Motorsports after racing for BK Racing in 2016.

“The win at Talladega put Front Row on the map and helped us attract some major sponsors,” noted Freeze. Front Row would go on to achieve another upset win in August 2016 with Chris Buescher driving the #34 car at the time.

Ragan’s major sponsors include Camping World, Overton’s, Gander Mountain, and Shriners’ Hospitals for Children. He has been associated with the hospitals for many years and has served as the charity’s ambassador. Freeze added that the Shriners promote their hospitals through golf tournaments and through the College Football East-West Shrine game.

Landon Cassill was born on July 7, 1989 in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, and now resides in Charlotte, North Carolina with his wife Katie and two children.

He has achieved the following so far in his career.

• Four time state champion of the Newton Kart Klub

• Youngest winner ever in the ASA Late Model Series at the age of 16

• First driver ever to win both the Northern and Southern Divisions of ASALMS

• Four NSCS Championships at “Test Driver” for the #48 team from 2007-2010

• Finished fourth at Talladega in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series

• One career Xfinity Series Top 5

• 12 career Xfinity Series Top 10s

• One career Xfinity Series Pole

With his dad in the used car business, it was to no one’s surprise that Cassill was born to race. He started racing go-karts when he was 8 years old and gradually moved up to full size racecars while in high school. He not only raced, he also built his cars and then raced them. When he wrecked them, he fixed them.

As a professional racer, he has served with startup teams all the way to the very top teams in the sport. As the test driver for Hendricks Motorsports, he won four championship rings from 2007 through 2010. The experience was worth everything as he learned how a championship organization operates and the experience was instrumental in teaching him leadership abilities that has helped him and the teams he has raced for.

David Ragan's #38 car is a part of the Front Row Motorsports team

He has represented nationally known entities including the National Guard and GoDaddy and is a seasoned spokesperson in the corporate world.

Freeze noted that Cassill’s main sponsors include Loves Travel Stops and CSX, a railroad freight company that promotes the Play It Safe Program, a project advocating safety around railroad tracks.

According to Freeze, selecting drivers requires a careful balance of racing skills and people skills.

“You want someone who has skills on the racetrack, but you also want them to be a good partner with the sponsors,” he said. “There are drivers with a lot of talent, but don’t have the personality fit. Sometimes you have to make compromises. In our case, we are very fortunate to have two drivers that understand the business outside the racecar quite well and they know what their responsibilities are. You don’t have to ask them to do anything. They go the extra mile without being asked.

“Landon and David have different ways of going about it,” continued Freeze. “David is an everyman kind of person who is interested in causes and outdoor life. He follows the sports teams from the Atlanta area. Atlanta is more cosmopolitan, so he likes big cities like Los Angeles and New York.

“Landon, on the other hand, is an Iowa boy who has a cosmopolitan style and a social media savvy unlike any other driver in NASCAR. He can talk about trends in the fashion industry or the latest Silicon Valley creation as easily as talking about springs and shocks,” continued Freeze.

Front Row Motorsports permits its drivers to race on their own.

“Landon is doing it next weekend. There’s a race in Iowa, his home state, that he wants to compete in. So we’re letting him. Our only concern is that he races a Ford. However, we don’t do that a whole lot,” said Freeze.

When asked if managing a racing team is like head coaching an NFL team or more of a business, Freeze answered, “It’s a lot like an NFL team. We have spots on the roster that have to be filled. If, say, a tire changer is not performing, as he should, we may put in a backup.

“But it’s also like a business,” he continued. “There are limits to what we can do to stay within boundaries due to budget. Our budget is not like that of the top tier teams like Joe Gibbs Racing. So we have to figure out ways to outrun them on the racetrack. Sometimes we do it and sometimes we don’t.”

Cars are disassembled and then reassembled during the 6 weeks of preparation.

The car is disassembled so that all parts can be maintained, repaired, or replaced and reassembled

Freeze noted that Front Row Motorsports has 18 people on its crews. There is a crew team for car no. 34 and another team for car no. 38.

“Each crew has a crew chief, mechanic, a guy to take care of the tires, a driver of the truck that transports the racecar, etc.,” explained Freeze. Donnie Wingo is the crew chief for car no. 34 and Derrick Finley is the crew chief for car no. 38.”

Front Row Motorsports owns 12 cars per team that are rotated through the racing schedule. The group includes special cars that are designed for specific tracks like Daytona and Talladega. Most of the cars are known as “down force cars,” which are raced on “down force tracks.”

It takes Front Row six weeks to prepare a car for a race. A shop foreman confers with the driver and crew chief to schedule the car for its next race when it returns to the shop. Then the work begins.

“For example, our next race is in Michigan this weekend,” explained Freeze. “Preparation of that car began six weeks ago. Generally, after a race a car will have some kind of body damage. This is repaired. In addition, the car is disassembled and parts from the car are shipped out to the appropriate department for maintenance. Suspension components go to the suspension room, engine parts go to the engine shop, fuel components go to the fuel cell guy, etc.

Each department keeps mileage logs for each part.

“We set a mileage limit for each part. When that has lapsed, we replace it. So we have to have an extensive inventory on hand of every part of the car,” said Freeze.

After maintenance, repair, or replacement, all parts are collected together for reassembly.

By race week the car is assembled and members of the crew and the driver start doing pre-set up.

“They come up with a final starting package they may want to try or make some other modifications and tweaks. In addition, modifications are made so that the car will race low on the track,” said Freeze.

The Wednesday before the race the car is ready. It is loaded on a truck and off it goes to the race site. The truck arrives at the track by Friday.

Freeze noted that the off-season may be the busiest time for the workers at the shop.

“The racing season is our calmest part of the year because there is a routine,” said Freeze. “The off-season is busy because we are preparing for next year.”

Freeze noted that building cars that will be raced next year begins in November.

“So we need to come up with our plan for next year by the first of November,” he said. “The plan includes how many cars we’re going to build, whether or not to cut the front ends, whether or not to cut the rear ends and more.”