Trevor Bayne - Richmond Preview

CORNELIUS, N.C. — Trevor Bayne, one of NASCAR’s rising young stars, is building momentum in the 2010 season. The 19-year-old driver has finished in the top 15 in three of the last four Nationwide races and has jumped from 17th to 13th in the points standings.


The Knoxville, Tenn. native hopes to continue that momentum this weekend at Richmond International Raceway where his seventh-place finish in September is one of three top-10 finishes in his 23-race career. Bayne also posted a seventh-place finish at Indianapolis last year but topped that with a sixth-place finish at Las Vegas in February.

During last year’s run at Richmond, he enjoyed a driver rating of 107.2, an average running position of 6.6, four fastest laps run, while running all 250 laps in the top 15. If history repeats itself, Bayne could be on the path to another career day. Bayne and his Diamond-Waltrip Racing teammates tested on the quarter-mile oval at Gresham Motorsports Park in Jefferson, Ga. on Monday.

QUOTES

BAYNE ON RICHMOND: “Richmond is a cool track. It’s a track that I have experience on. I love racing on short tracks like Indianapolis and Richmond. I have been racing on short tracks since I was 13 years old. I think I can excel at Richmond more than I have on the mile-and-a-half tracks this season. I think Richmond is a good place to turn around our luck and hopefully grab our first top-five finish of the year.”

BAYNE ON RACING UNDER THE LIGHTS: “Racing under the lights brings me back to my roots. Everything from racing go-karts to the East Series has been night races. It’s really cool for the fans as well. They can see our brakes glowing and see sparks fly when we make contact. It’s a lot cooler at night so it makes for a good day in the race car.”

BAYNE ON TESTING AT GRESHAM MOTORSPORTS PARK: “Anytime I can get in the race car is good. It keeps things fresh on my mind. We learned a lot about the car at Gresham. I also learned a lot as a driver. I worked with Martin Truex Jr. He got in the race car and drove some and worked with me on a lot of stuff. I think that was a great opportunity for me. He taught me a tremendous amount about braking and rolling the center of the corners which is going to be a big help at Richmond.”

ADDITIONAL NOTES OF INTEREST

• Currently, Bayne is the sixth highest series-only regular in the NNS driver point standings. He is only six points behind Brendan Gaughan, 11 points back of Tony Raines, 22 points away from Scott Lagasse Jr., 44 points behind Brian Scott and just 339 points away from Justin Allgaier.

• The 19-year-old driver owns 23 NNS starts. He has one pole (Indianapolis), three top-10s (Indianapolis, Richmond and Las Vegas), 11 top-15s and has led 34 laps of competition.

• Michael Waltrip enters the Kentucky Athletic Hall of Fame Wednesday night joining notable inductees such as: Muhammad Ali, Tubby Smith, Adolph Rupp, Phil Simms, Johnny Unitas, Secretariat and other Bluegrass state heroes. Proceeds from the banquet benefit Kosair Charities. Tickets are $75 and may be obtained through Jo Barrett at Kosair Charities: (502) 637-7696, ext. 104. MWR cars will carry a special decal this weekend honoring Waltrip’s induction.

• Steve Hallam, executive vice president and director of competition at MWR, will receive a degree of Honorary Doctor of Science from the University of Huddersfield in England on July 12. The university has a globally respected automotive engineering department. Hallam, who worked in Formula 1 from 1982 to 2008 with Lotus and then McLaren, joined MWR in 2009.

• This weekend, Bayne’s No. 99 Toyota will run a plain hood with Diamond-Waltrip logos on the quarter panels in hopes to show potential sponsors inventory is available. Currently, Aaron’s is scheduled to sponsor the No. 99 in six of the final 27 races. Those races include: Kentucky, New Hampshire, Chicago, Iowa, Gateway (2) and Phoenix.

Trevor Bayne - Talladega Race Report

Talladega, Ala. — Trevor Bayne narrowly missed the “Big One” at Talladega Superspeedway but was still able to muster up a 13th-place finish. The No. 99 Aaron’s Dream Machine started the Aaron’s 312 in the 39th spot and didn’t push the envelope during the first 75 laps of the 120-lap event. With just over 40 laps remaining, Bayne began making his charge toward the front of the field. He cracked into the top five on lap 98. With just two laps remaining in the event a multi-car incident occurred on the frontstretch forcing the race into overtime. Bayne restarted eighth and was on the move toward the front until he got collected in an accident in turn four on the final lap. The Knoxville, Tenn., native was able to limp to the finish line and finish 13th.


NNS Racing Results

• Brad Keselowski won the Aaron’s 312, his seventh victory in 112 NASCAR Nationwide Series races

• This is his first victory and seventh top-10 in 2010

• Joey Logano (second) posted his second top-10 finish in two races at Talladega Superspeedway. It is his sixth top-10 finish in 2010.

• Kevin Harvick, Jason Keller and John Borneman III rounded out the top five

• The race featured one Green-White-Checkered

• The race featured 33 lead changes among 14 drivers

• The race was slowed by five cautions for a total of 16 laps

• NASCAR estimated 71,500 race fans in attendance at Talladega

DWR NNS Race Results

• Trevor Bayne, No. 99 Aaron’s Dream Machine Toyota Camry - Finished 13th

DWR Driver Standings

• Trevor Bayne, No. 99 Aaron’s Dream Machine Toyota Camry - 124 points, ranks 13th

• 492 points out of the lead

TREVOR BAYNE, No. 99 Aaron’s Dream Machine Toyota

• Bayne started 39th and finished 13th

• Ran in the top 25 for the most part of the race

• Bayne made his move to the front of the field with just over 40 laps to go

• Cracked into the top five one lap 183

• Was involved in the “Big One” on the final lap but was able to limp to the finish line and finish 13th

• Gained three spots to 13th in the NNS championship point standings

• This was Bayne’s fourth top-15 finish in 2010

BAYNE QUOTE: “Our Aaron’s Dream machine was awesome in the race. I was a little nervous after our qualifying effort by Jerry Baxter brought an awesome car to Talladega. I think I was able to gain some respect from some of the veteran driver today. We weren’t very good out front but we were a really good pusher. I was able to make some really good moves near the end of the race and get myself in the top five. We were just in the wrong place at the wrong time on the final lap and I had know where to go.”

Trevor Bayne - Talladega Nationwide Series Preview

CORNELIUS, N.C. — Diamond-Waltrip Racing driver Trevor Bayne gets some help this weekend from a seven-year-old Alexander Kovach of Wilson, N.C. who designed the No. 99 Toyota Camry’s paint scheme. Kovach won the grand-prize in the Aaron’s “2010 Color Your Way to Talladega” contest. He and three guest will attend the Aaron’s Dream Weekend in Talladega to watch Bayne drive his design in Saturday’s Aaron’s 312 NASCAR Nationwide race.


Bayne hopes this special paint scheme brings him luck when he makes his first start on the 2.66-mile famed Alabama track. The 19-year-old driver’s only restrictor-plate start came in the season-opener at Daytona International Speedway. The youngest fulltime driver only made six laps before he was wrecked and finished 41st.

QUOTES

BAYNE ON TALLADEGA: “I haven’t race at Talladega yet. However, I did get to make some laps there last season at the new car test. It was cool to get to make laps there and see how smooth the track was compared to Daytona. I really don’t know what to expect because I hear it’s a lot different than Daytona. I know that Diamond-Waltrip Racing will have a good car for me to drive. They always tend to bring really strong race cars to superspeedway tracks.”

BAYNE ON THE AARON’S DREAM WEEKEND: “I think its really cool that Aaron’s did a coloring contest to get the paint scheme for my car this weekend. It’s a really cool weekend for Aaron’s and I am just glad to have them back on the car. We don’t get the pleasure of having them on the car every weekend so it would really be cool to bring home a win for them this weekend.”

BAYNE ON WHAT HE LEARNED IN DAYTONA: “Honestly, I didn’t get to learn a lot at Daytona since we got wrecked on lap six. I kind of see this as my superspeedway debut again. I really didn’t get to learn a lot in Daytona. We didn’t get to qualify we didn’t get to race so I am going to Talladega kind of blind. I think the best spot to run is out front. If you are one of the lead cars 90 percent of the time you will stay out of the wrecks. I know am going to be relying on my spotter Brett Griffin a lot this weekend to just keep me out of trouble.”

ADDITIONAL NOTES OF INTEREST

• The 19-year-old driver’s only experience at Talladega Superspeedway came last season when he tested the new Nationwide car. The Knoxville, Tenn., native was one of eight drivers to participate in this test. The majority of the time the teams worked on single-car runs, but Bayne joined in some drafting practice at the end of the test session.

• Bayne is tenth in points among the fulltime Nationwide Series drivers. He is only 31 points out of the top five.

• Bayne owns 22 NNS starts. He has one pole (Indianapolis), three top-10s (Indianapolis, Richmond and Las Vegas), 11 top-15s and has led 34 laps. The youngster owns an 11.9 starting average and has qualified in the top 10 in 12 of his 22 starts.

• Bayne will be the In Race Report for the Aaron’s 312 that will air on ESPN2 at 3 p.m. ET.

• Aaron’s, sponsor of the No. 99, will give away an autographed hat to a lucky race fan through Facebook and Twitter following any top-10 finish. Follow Aarons on Twitter (@AaronsSports) and become a fan on Facebook (Facebook.com/AaronsSports)

Bayne Scores Top-15 Finish at Texas

Fort Worth, Texas — After waiting for two extra days to race at Texas Motor Speedway, Trevor Bayne and the No. 99 Diamond-Waltrip team grabbed it’s fourth top-15 finish of the season. The Knoxville, Tenn., native started the 200-lap event in the 14th position. He was able to crack the top 10 by lap 32 but a tight-handling condition halted his progress. Crew chief Jerry Baxter made several major adjustments during the race to help ease the ill-handling conditions on the No. 99 Toyota but nothing really corrected the problem. The 19-year-old driver was able to race in the top 15 all day despite the handling issues. Bayne and the No. 99 Diamond-Waltrip team crossed the finish line 14th and gained one spot, to 16th, in the NASCAR championship point standings.


NNS Racing Results

• Kyle Busch won the Texas Motor Speedway 300, his 33nd victory in 180 NNS starts

• This is Busch’s fifth victory and 10 top-10 finish in 11 races at TMS. He joins Jack Ingram and Dale Earnhardt as winners of five straight races at the same track.

• Joey Lagano (second) posted his second top-10 finish in four races at TMS. It is his fifth top-10 finish in 2010.

• Reed Sorenson, Brad Keselowski and Kevin Harvick rounded out the top five

• The race featured 13 lead changes among eight drivers

• The race was slowed by four cautions for a total of 24 laps

• NASCAR estimated 44,500 race fans in attendance at TMS

DWR NNS Race Results

• Trevor Bayne, No. 99 Aaron’s Dream Machine Toyota Camry - Finished 14th

DWR Driver Standings

• Trevor Bayne, No. 99 Aaron’s Dream Machine Toyota Camry - 121 points, ranks 16th

• 446 points out of the lead

TREVOR BAYNE, No. 99 Diamond-Waltrip Racing Toyota

• Bayne started 14th and finished 14th

• Suffered from a tight-handling race car for the majority of the race

• Great pit stop by the over-the-wall crew on the lap 28 pit stopped allowed Bayne to gain six spots

• Cracked the top 10 on lap 32

• Bayne ran in and around the top 15 for the majority of the race

• This was Bayne’s fourth top-15 finish in 2010

BAYNE QUOTE: “The No. 99 Diamond-Waltrip Toyota was just a little off today. However, we were a lot better today then we were during Thursday’s practice. We aren’t where we want to be right now but we keep making improvements each weekend so I think we can be a top five car soon. I just have to thank all my guys for all the hard work they put in this weekend. We made a lot of changes to the car during practice on Thursday and Friday and we were able to make it a lot better for the race today.”

Trevor Bayne, No. 99 Diamond-Waltrip Racing Toyota Camry Texas Preview

CORNELIUS, N.C. — In Trevor Bayne’s 21-race NASCAR Nationwide Series career he has excelled on the fast 1.5-mile tracks. He’s started five races on these types of tracks and grabbed a top-10, four top-15s with an average qualifying spot of 10th. The Knoxville, Tenn., native earned his career-best finish of sixth at the 1.5-mile Las Vegas track earlier this season. Additionally, Bayne’s only finish outside the top 15 came in the September race at Atlanta Motor Speedway where he finished 16th. The 19-year-old Diamond-Waltrip Racing driver hopes to continue that success at the 1.5-mile Texas Motor Speedway this weekend and pad those already impressive statistics.


QUOTES

BAYNE ON TEXAS MOTOR SPEEDWAY: “I really like Texas a lot. I think Texas and Atlanta are two of my favorite tracks. It’s a really fast track. Last year we were really free on entry and I think if we can fix that we can be competitive. We are going to go to Texas with a setup similar to what we had at Las Vegas. We had a lot of success at Vegas so I think we will be able to unload pretty good this weekend. I think I learned a lot a Vegas that will translate to a good run at Texas. If we can stay out of trouble, we have a really good chance of finishing in the top 10 this weekend.”

BAYNE ON 1.5-MILE SUCCESS: “I attribute a lot of my success to my crew chief Jerry Baxter. He has been to these types of tracks a ton and really knows how to set up the cars. I am also competitive on these tracks because it reminds me of short track racing that I am used to but just a little faster. At Texas, Vegas, Charlotte and Atlanta you can drive your car from the white line to the wall. This gives you the ability to find the fast line for your race car. I just hope we can continue our success on these types tracks and move up a little in the point standings.”


ADDITIONAL NOTES OF INTEREST

• Bayne is the youngest fulltime racer in the Nationwide Series. He was born Feb. 19, 1991.

• Bayne is tenth in points among the fulltime Nationwide Series drivers.

• The 19-year-old driver owns 21 NNS starts. He has one pole (Indianapolis), three top-10s (Indianapolis, Richmond and Las Vegas), 10 top-15s and has led 34 laps of competition.

• In November’s race at Texas Motor Speedway, Bayne qualified the No. 99 Toyota in the 11th position. He ran in the top 15 for the majority of the race. The young driver grabbed a solid 13th-place finish.

• This weekend, Bayne’s No. 99 Toyota will run a plain hood with Diamond-Waltrip logos on the quarter panels in hopes to show potential sponsors inventory is available.

• Last weekend at Phoenix International Speedway, Bayne and the No. 99 Diamond-Waltrip team thought they had a car that could compete for a top-five finish after practice. However, once the race started the handling on the No. 99 machine went away. Crew chief Jerry Baxter tried several adjustments and nothing seemed to work. To add insult to injury, the 19-year-old driver was involved in an incident on lap 136 that caused major damage to the No. 99 and he was forced behind the wall for major repairs. Bayne eventually crossed the finish line 32nd.

• Diamond-Waltrip Racing is owned by Gary and Blake Bechtel along with Michael Waltrip Racing. It fields Camrys out of the MWR race shop in Cornelius, N.C.

Bayne Gets Caught Up In Accident and Finishes 32nd

Avondale, Ariz. — Wrong place, wrong time for Trevor Bayne and the Aaron’s Dream Machine Racing team.  On the lap 136 restart, everyone checked up on the restart except for the cars behind Bayne and the No. 99 machine received major damage.  The Aaron’s Dream Machine was forced behind the wall for repairs.  The Diamond-Waltrip team was able to get the No. 99 Toyota Camry back on track in just under 10 minutes and Bayne was able to pick up several positions and gain valuable points.  The Aaron’s team crossed the finish line 32nd, 24 laps down to the leaders.

NNS Racing Results
‪·‬ Kyle Busch won the Bashas’ Supermarket 200, his 32nd victory in 179 NNS starts
‪·‬ Kevin Harvick (second) posted his 13th top-10 finish in 16 starts at PIR.  It’s his fifth top-10 finish in 2010
‪·‬ Brad Keselowski, Brendan Gaughan and Greg Biffle rounded out the top five
‪·‬ The race featured seven lead changes among three drivers
‪·‬ The race was slowed by seven cautions for a total of 37 laps
‪·‬ A red flag stopped the action for 9 minutes and 36 seconds during the second caution of the race
‪·‬ NASCAR estimated 31,000 race fans in attendance at Phoenix International Raceway

DWR NNS Race Results
‪·‬ Trevor Bayne, No. 99 Aaron’s Dream Machine Toyota Camry - Finished 32nd

DWR Driver Standings
‪·‬ Trevor Bayne, No. 99 Aaron’s Dream Machine Toyota Camry - 67 points, ranks 17th
‪·‬ 387 points out of the lead

TREVOR BAYNE, No. 99 Aaron’s Dream Machine Toyota
‪·‬ Started 24th and finished 32nd
‪·‬ Fell back to 26th before the first caution flag flew on lap 14
‪·‬ Restarted fourth on the lap 35 restart because he did not hit pit road with the majority of the field
‪·‬ Was bothered by a loose handling-condition for the majority of the event
‪·‬ Raced in and around 20th for the most of the day
‪·‬ Was part of the lap 136 caution that brought out a 9 minutes 36 seconds red flag and involved 10 cars
‪·‬ Bayne crossed the finish line in 32nd 24 laps down to the leaders

BAYNE QUOTE:  "I felt like I was in a superspeedway race for a second.  There were cars everywhere.  You just see them piling up.  Brett Griffin (spotter) came over the radio and said, 'Check up. Check up.'  So I slowed down and people behind me I guess couldn't see it all happening because we had just pitted and we had been moved to the back so they were trying to dig up through there and they got into us and pushed us right into it.  We had been working on this thing hard all day trying to get it dialed in.  It was awesome in practice and for some reason, it just had a different attitude to start the race.  We had been working on it and came in to try to short pit to get our fresh tires for the end and get some track position because it's so important and then we just got pushed into that mess.  Not much you can do about it."

Trevor Bayne, No. 99 Diamond-Waltrip Racing Toyota Phoenix Preview

CORNELIUS, N.C. — Diamond-Waltrip driver Trevor Bayne owns three top-10 finishes in his first 20 NASCAR Nationwide Series starts and sits 13th in the championship point standings. But those numbers only tell part of the 19-year-old’s 2010 story.


Bayne posted top-12 finishes in each race except at Daytona and Bristol where accidents caused by other drivers led to poor finishes. Still, Bayne is seventh in the standings among the series regulars despite those drivers (Justin Allgaier, Paul Menard, Mike Wallace, Michael Annett, Steven Wallace and Scott Lagasse Jr.) owning 539 more career starts.

This weekend, the Knoxville, Tenn. native travels to Phoenix International Raceway where he’ll drive the No. 99 Aaron’s Dream Machine Camry in Friday night’s race. He drove from 37th starting spot to 14th in his PIR debut in November.

QUOTES

BAYNE ON GOING TO PHOENIX: “I really like Phoenix – I think Phoenix is a cool city. I don’t know why I like it so much. Ever since I’ve been going out there, I went out there for the Bondurant Driving School a couple years ago when I was driving for DEI (Dale Earnhardt Inc.) and I just really liked the city. It’s the only place I’ve ever played golf, too. Scared every prairie dog out of the bushes in Phoenix that day -- it was bad. They turned the sprinklers on me and everything, it was pretty bad. It’s a cool city, it’s really clean with a lot of new stuff. It seems like a younger crowd out there so I think that’s why I like it. Being 19, it’s just more my style out there I guess.”

CREW CHIEF JERRY BAXTER ON BAYNE’S PROGRESS: “Trevor has progressed a lot since last year at Nashville. He has a lot more confidence about himself now. He has been able to gain that confidence by logging laps and just getting behind the wheel during practice and the races. I think he always had the ability to driver the race car he just needs to keep gaining confidence.”

BAXTER ON HOW BAYN’ES COMPARES TO THE OTHER YOUNG DRIVERS: “When you compare Trevor to all the other young drivers running the Nationwide Series he is above the curve. If you look at the points right now, even though it’s early in the season, he would be leading the Rookie of the Year points. He doesn’t have any more experience than they do. I think that alone shows you he is above average. Trevor is a very talented driver and I think by the end of the season he will be competing for top fives every weekend.”

ADDITIONAL NOTES OF INTEREST

• MEDIA OPPORTUNITY AT PIR: On Thursday at 12:20 p.m. Bayne will meet with another young athlete backed by Diamond-Waltrip majority owner Gary Bechtel. Bayne will show Michael Flores, a 15-year-old member of the 2010 Junior Olympic Shooting team, a few tips on how to race around PIR in a pace car. Afterwards the pair plan to visit a local shooting range where Flores will give shooting lessons.

• On Tuesday and Wednesday Bayne attended the Bondurant School in Chandler, Ariz. to prepare for the three upcoming road course events on the Nationwide Series schedule. The Knoxville, Tenn., native also received private road course instruction from driver Michael McDowell.

• Bayne made his first start at the one-mile desert oval in November. He started the race 37th but moved to 13th by lap 37. He continued working his way through the field climbing into the top 10 by the halfway mark. With just 50 laps remaining, the car’s handling began to slow his progress and he crossed the finish line in 14th.

Trevor Bayne, No. 99 Diamond-Waltrip Racing Toyota Nashville Post Race Report

Lebanon, Tenn. — Solid pit stops by the No. 99 Diamond-Waltrip Racing over-the-wall crew allowed Trevor Bayne to stay in contention during the Nashville 200 at Nashville Superspeedway. The 19-year-old driver qualified 10th for Saturday’s main event. He fell back to 13th before the competition caution flew on lap 30. Major adjustments were made during this pits stop to help with the loose-handling condition which was the theme of the day. Despite the ill-handling condition, Bayne was able to race in and around the top 15 all day. He crossed the finish in line 12th place and moved up four positions to 13th in the NASCAR Nationwide Series point standings.


NNS Racing Result

Kevin Harvick won the Nashville 300, his 36th NNS win in 241 starts

Reed Sorenson, Kyle Busch, Justin Allgaier and Brad Keselowski rounded out the top-five finishers

The race featured 13 lead changes among seven drivers

The race was slowed by eight cautions for a total of 43 laps

A red flag stopped the action for 14 minutes

NASCAR estimated 17,000 race fans in attendance at Nashville Superspeedway


DWR NNS Race Results

Trevor Bayne, No. 99 Diamond-Waltrip Toyota Camry - Finished 12th

DWR Driver Standings

Trevor Bayne, No. 99 Diamond-Waltrip Toyota Camry - 127 points, ranks 13th

300 points out of the lead


TREVOR BAYNE, No. 99 Diamond-Waltrip Racing Toyota

Started 10th and finished 12th

Fought a loose-handling race car for the majority of the race

Gained four spots on pit road during pit stop on lap 36

Nearly got involved in the caution that collected four cars on lap 115

Worked his way into the top five by lap 151

Went to the tight side with 25 laps remaining in the race

Bayne crossed the finish line 12th

BAYNE QUOTE: “We did a lot of talking on the radio today trying to figure out how to make our car better. We came here from Bristol with a really strong car and I was expecting a lot more out of the weekend. That pit crew we have is phenomenal. I felt like all day we were going backwards, but that’s because they would get me to the top-five every pit stop. Then we didn’t have a good enough car to run top-five so we just dropped back to about 10th. We ended up 12th. That’s not a bad day after some of the bad races we’ve had this year, but it’s not as good as we’d hoped to do either. I know these guys are going to work hard on it. They’ve been working on these Toyotas a lot to get them into the top-five and I know we can do it. We just didn’t hit it right this weekend. We’ll be back at Phoenix with maybe a better car. We’ll give them a run for their money there.”