CORNELIUS, N.C. — Diamond-Waltrip Racing driver Trevor Bayne welcomes new associate sponsor Hershey Milk & Milkshakes this weekend when he makes his first Nationwide Series start on the “Monster Mile” at Dover International Speedway. The familiar Hershey Milk & Milkshakes logo will adorn the rear quarter-panels of the No. 99 Toyota Camry and the company will donate $99 to the Autism Speaks Foundation for every lap Bayne completes in Saturday’s race. The youngest fulltime NASCAR Nationwide Series driver has jumped from 17th to 11th in the championship point standings in the last four weeks by grabbing two consecutive top-15 finishes. Bayne owns one start on the concrete oval in the NASCAR K&N Pro Cup East Series when he started third and finished 21st.
TREVOR BAYNE ON HERSHEY MILK AND MILKSHAKES: “I am really excited to have Hershey Milk and Milkshakes on the car this weekend. I did a few things with them during Daytona so it’s really cool they are coming back on board at Dover. It’s also awesome they are going to donate money to Autism Speaks for every lap I complete. Hopefully, I finish every lap so they will donate $19,800 to the foundation.”
ON DOVER: “The good thing about Dover is that I have been there before. I don’t have a ton of experience there but I do have some track time. For us to be successful this weekend we have to be able to get to the throttle hard and fast up off the corners. I remember in the East Series cars we were almost wide open during qualifying and I don’t think the Nationwide Series cars will be far off that. One thing Martin (Truex Jr.) told me was to make sure you get to the throttle wide open. If you have to get to the gas easy and wait on the car a little off the corners you will get your butt kicked at Dover.”
MOMENTUM AFTER A SOLID RUN AT DOVER: “I think we gained a lot of momentum this weekend. For the past couple of months I think we have been over thinking everything. Jerry Baxter has been in the sport for a long time and he knows what he is doing and I think I have done pretty well behind the wheel. At Darlington we decided to go back to the basics. I focused on driving the race car and Jerry concentrated on making the adjustments. I think that strategy really helped a lot. I never felt like we were chasing our tails. Our car was really strong during the race and we made adjustments to keep up with the track. We didn’t get the finish we deserved but we gained a lot of momentum and confidence for this weekend at Dover.”
PREPARING FOR NEW RACE TRACKS: “The biggest thing is to find someone you can rely on that will give you information you can use. I have some really great teammates at MWR. In the past couple of weeks Martin (Truex Jr.) has really given me some good advice. I also try and bounce around the Nationwide Series garage and ask other drivers. I normally go and talk to some of the guys that ran well at that track in the past. I think talking to some of the veterans of the sport helps me gain their respect on and off the race track.”
ADDITIONAL NOTES OF INTEREST
- Crew chief Jerry Baxter led Scott Speed to two top-10 finishes in 2009 at Dover. Last season with five different drivers (Bayne, Patrick Carpentier, David Reutimann, Speed and Michael Waltrip) Baxter grabbed 10 top-10 finishes.
- Bayne is the fourth highest series-only regular in the driver point standings. He is only two points behind Tony Raines and Jason Leffler, and just 359 points away from Justin Allgaier.
- Bayne owns 25 NNS starts. He has a pole (Indianapolis), three top-10s (Indianapolis, Richmond and Las Vegas), 11 top-15s and has led 34 laps. His average starting spot is 12th and a finishing spot of 18th.
- Bayne will sign autographs 8 -9 a.m. Saturday at the NASCAR trackside merchandise trailer in Dover’s FanZone.
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