NASCAR Driver Landon Cassill Says He Thwarted Attack On Woman

Former NASCAR Nationwide Series Rookie of the Year Landon Cassill said he thwarted an attack on a young woman Thursday night.

↵Cassill, a Hendrick Motorsports development driver with no current NASCAR ride, said he was on the way to the grocery store near his Charlotte, N.C. home and was coming down a hill when he saw a parked car blocking the road.

↵He slowed down and saw an occupant still inside the car but then noticed a male and female in an altercation outside the vehicle. Cassill was caught off-guard said he wasn’t sure if it was just some people messing around, but he rolled down his window and heard the woman screaming for help.

↵“I put the car in park,” he said Thursday night via phone, approximately an hour after he said the incident occurred. “I thought, ‘Holy crap, what if this guy has a gun or something?’ It just all happened so fast.

↵“I ran over to the girl, and she was getting tackled by this guy. He took off and ran off into the woods, and the car that was there took off, too.”

↵Cassill, 20, said he was “a little sketched” as a variety of possibilities swirled through his head. Was this a setup? Was it real? Had he put himself in serious danger?

↵He said he told the unidentified woman - who he guessed was in her late teens - to get into his car, and he drove her to her home. The woman appeared shaken, Cassill said, and didn’t offer much of an explanation except to say, “That guy jumped me.”

↵“I just kind of made sure she was OK,” he said, sounding slightly shaken himself. “I said, ‘Are you sure you’re OK?‘ She said, ‘I’m fine, I’m fine, I’m fine.’ I just took her home and made sure she was OK and somebody was there and she got in the door OK.”

↵Cassill said he never got the woman’s name and was too caught up in the moment to think whether or not he should call the police.

↵“I’ve never, ever experienced anything like that,” he said. “When I got out of the car, I just didn’t know what was going to happen. He had both hands on the girl. I thought I was either going to be breaking up a fight or trying to beat someone’s ass.”