2018 marked Landon Cassill‘s first year with the fledgling StarCom Racing team. Now entering its third season in the Monster Energy Cup Series, StarCom has signed Cassill to a full schedule in addition to acquiring a charter from Richard Childress Racing in time for 2019.
“We are excited to announce that StarCom Racing acquired a Charter from @RCRracing ensuring SCR’s longevity in NASCAR,” the team tweeted on Monday. “With our Charter purchase, we are pleased to share that we have teamed up with @landoncassill as the 00 SCR driver for the 2019 season!”
“We are coming off a successful first year for our new owners and team,” team manager Derrike Cope stated in a team release. “We certainly endured a great deal of adversity as a start-from-scratch Cup team, learning along the way with positive results for the most part. With a continued commitment from our owners, Mike and Matt Kohler and Bill Woehlemann, we are looking forward to the prospects of being a better race team in 2019.”
Cassill joined StarCom in March after becoming a free agent following the 2017 season. Originally a two-race deal at Martinsville Speedway and Texas Motor Speedway, it eventually became a stint that saw him compete in twenty-nine races for the team in 2018. The nine-year Cup veteran recorded a best finish of eighteenth at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.
“I’m very excited to be back with StarCom Racing for 2019,” Cassill commented in the release. “We put in a lot of work at the end of 2018 to make improvements for this coming year, and I think that work will pay off across the board. The team is making big investments in cars and engines to step up our program, and it only motivates me to bring 110% as a driver.”
The charter had been leased to StarCom from RCR’s #27 team, which was shuttered after 2017 when Paul Menard departed RCR for Wood Brothers Racing. StarCom currently maintains a technical alliance with RCR, one of three Cup teams to do so (joined by Richard Petty Motorsports and Germain Racing).
StarCom was founded in 2017, running a limited schedule late in the year before upgrading to a full-time schedule in 2018 with various drivers like Cassill; the #00 finished thirty-fourth in the 2018 owner’s standings. The team also fielded a part-time #99 in eighteen races; its plans for 2019 have not been revealed.
