Landon Cassill logged 576 miles Sunday night. He averaged 190 miles per hour for the first 562 and 8.18 miles per hour for the last 14. The dramatic slowdown wasn’t because he hit the wall. He simply swapped a 900-horespower racecar for running shoes during the final stretch.
Cassill is a professional NASCAR driver and a runner. On Sunday night he combined both, finishing 39th in the Coca-Cola 600 in Charlotte, North Carolina, before running 14 miles on the roads from the race track to the NASCAR Hall of Fame.
“Over the past couple years I’ve decided I need to take my athleticism behind the wheel of a car to the next level,” Cassill told Runner’s World Newswire. “Running has helped me have a higher pain tolerance and a more efficient aerobic system late in races.”
The 25-year-old is currently training for a half Ironman, so he decided to cap off a busy racing weekend with a long run.
After four hours behind the wheel on Sunday night—engine trouble ended his race 38 miles short of 600—Cassill tore off his flame-retardant suit, tried to wipe the scent of fumes off his skin, laced up running shoes, and hit the road within 30 minutes. He maintained a 7:19 pace as a police escort guided him through the run.
“My dad and I thought up the idea of doing some sort of endurance challenge after a race about a year ago,” he said. “I know how I feel when I get out of a car after a long race, but I wanted to learn more about my body.”
For hours, a NASCAR driver endures intense heat and high g-forces while muscles contract to maintain control of the car. “A lot of times when I get out of a car, I feel like I was just folded up and locked in a tiny box,” Cassill said. He wanted to see if he could handle a run immediately after a race.
It turns out his biggest issue was a sore right foot, because cranking a gas pedal apparently takes a toll. He also had to focus on hydration. Drivers can sweat through dozens of ounces of fluid during a race. Fortunately, members of his pit crew stayed on duty during the run to hand him water—and perhaps jump in to change out a running shoe.
But the run wasn’t just a fitness checkup. Cassill also used it to raise money for Folds of Honor, an organization that provides scholarships to families of soldiers killed in action. He finished the 14 miles at 12:58 a.m. on Memorial Day.
Although his weekend mileage is complete, Cassill’s marathon week is not. He and his wife are expecting a baby this afternoon.
He’s going to try and squeeze in a run first.
Kit has been a health, fitness, and running journalist for the past five years. His work has taken him across the country, from Hayward Field in Eugene, Oregon, to cover the 2016 Olympic Trials to the top of Mt. Katahdin in Maine to cover Scott Jurek’s Stravas 2024 Yearly Report Is Here in 2015.
