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)