StarCom Racing makes most obvious choice, taps Landon Cassill for next 2 races in the 00

Jeffrey Earnhardt is out of the 00 Chevrolet, and Landon Cassill is in, at least for now.

With a seat in the chartered No. 00 Chevrolet opening up after StarCom Racing and Jeffrey Earnhardt parted ways, there was at least a few hours of excitement among NASCAR fans mixed with the bummer of seeing Earnhardt lose his ride. Maybe there’d be an out of left field choice to fill the vacancy. Instead, StarCom turned to arguably the most logical choice for now, Landon Cassill.

That’s not an indictment of the 28-year-old Cassill, who has a pretty nice fan following considering he’s never been given a Cup Series shot in anything remotely resembling top equipment. It’s just that he’s something of a default selection whenever a team like StarCom Racing needs assistance, having plied his trade at the top level for the likes of Phoenix Racing, BK Racing, Hillman Smith Motorsports and Front Row Motorsports.

In any case, he’ll be in the 00 for at least the next two races, according to NASCAR.com. Cassill’s career best finish at Martinsville is 19th place (twice) in the fall race, while he’s never placed inside the top 20 at Texas.

Still, Cassill figures to be a good measuring stick to see if it was Earnhardt who was the issue or the team’s cars in terms of they’re performance to date. After nearly cracking the top 20 in the wreck-filled Daytona 500, Earnhardt turned in four consecutive 31st or worst finishes before he and the team split. It would take only marginally better results for Cassill to be an improvement.

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One also has to wonder if this driver change puts the kibosh on rumors that StarCom Racing was considering fielding a second car at Texas. You’ve got to walk in the NASCAR Cup Series before you can run, if you’ll excuse a non-car-based metaphor, and maybe the team is better off just taking its first steps with Cassill for the time being.