TRACEY JUDD: We're now joined by Trevor Bayne in our NASCAR Nationwide Series, one of our series' only regulars driving the No. 99 Diamond Waltrip Toyota. Trevor, it's been an exciting day and a half for you out here so far in the NASCAR Nationwide Series new car, so why don't you tell us about how things have gone for you.
TREVOR BAYNE: It has. It feels hot today, but I can promise you it was hotter inside of my race car when it was on fire. You know, luckily it didn't really mess anything up too bad because we've got it back in action today.
We missed out on a lot of practice time yesterday in the draft, so we kind of started at square one today where everybody else had already had laps and kind of dialed their cars in. And I heard all the drivers in the garage, even Kyle Busch and Carl Edwards are saying things are loose, so I'm like, all right, they must be pretty loose, and I got out there and saw for myself, and they are sideways.
So we've been working on it. I think we're a couple steps behind just because we didn't get that practice yesterday, but we're dialing it in pretty good now.
Q. In regards to the fire, drivers are thought sometimes to be fearless, and you're a little bit different than the rest of us chickens out here, but as far as that goes, I've interviewed a lot of drivers over the years, NHRA, IndyCar, and the one comment, they really are fearless, but the one common fear that they have is fire, so could you explain a little bit about that?
TREVOR BAYNE: I don't think anybody likes fire, except Joe Balash; he said he was going to make s'mores next time, just let him know. I mean, I got out of there fast luckily. They've made these cars, the window openings in these new cars so wide that you can get out pretty quick. I didn't get caught up on anything luckily.
But I was getting out of there so fast I ripped the radio harness off my helmet, so that tells you I was a little bit scared. Luckily my left foot and everything is good from last week, so no problem there. But yeah, fire will get to you in a hurry.
Q.
What was Carl apologizing to you for?
TREVOR BAYNE: It was just racing incidents. Last week at Dover when we were -- it was late in the race, my car was getting tight, so I was having to run the top and he was loose on the bottom, and it seemed like every straightaway we'd just be at the same speed and we'd come out right together; we'd go into the next corner, and it happened for like five, ten laps, and finally something happened and he got into my door on the straightaway and said he didn't mean to do it that hard. So it's all good; it's just racing.
Normally I have to go apologize to people for something stupid I did. It happens in racing. We're so close, we're running 180 miles an hour at tracks like that, and things are going to happen. So no hard feelings, and we'll just keep racing.
Q.
As a follow-up to Dwight's question, would there have been a difference in terms of your ability to get out of the old Nationwide car versus this one?
TREVOR BAYNE: Yeah, I believe so. They're making them safer all the way around, every aspect. That window opening in these cars now is so much wider. I could have seen myself getting caught up in the old car. Something -- I've never been on fire before, so I don't know that. But it seems like that old style car would have been a lot harder to get out of it.
Q.
Trevor, the way the track is now, they're going to repave it next year. This is the last go-around on this track. Has the patch been a concern for you at all?
TREVOR BAYNE: No, I mean, I was just talking to Mr. Bragg, and I was telling him that over the patch everything has got the same grip level as the rest of the track. I wish they'd just pave over the surface they've got now and let it get the same bumps and all that stuff because it is fun, like Carl was talking about. This track's characteristics are awesome, and I'm sure over time that it will probably come back to this somehow.
I guess they have to repave because of what happened during the Cup race last year. But the patch is holding up good right now. These cars are hitting the earth pretty good right now, too, so for it to hold up that well is awesome.
Q. Do you like the way the track is now with all the bumps and ruts and this and that?
TREVOR BAYNE: I love it. I love any kind of track where you really have to get up on the wheel because that's what I've done my whole career with short track racing up until this point. So I love the Atlantas and the Daytonas and stuff like that where you have the characteristics where you have to drive the car.
Q. At this point in the season I'd just ask you to reflect where you're at now and where you'd like to be and how you'd like to finish out.
TREVOR BAYNE: Well, last year when we qualified second at Nashville, I thought that was pretty cool. We ran seventh there and got crashed late in the race. That whole season I kind of set a high standard for myself after that. It's easy to do when you have that good of a run. I went into this whole Nationwide deal thinking, all right, top 15s will be great, and then all season long it seemed like we ran top 10. So now I came into this season thinking, all right, we're going to be top 5 every weekend, and I found out how tough this competition really is and how much it steps up every season.
I think we're on par to where we should be being our first full season in the Nationwide Series. I would like to run a little bit better myself, and I know the whole team would. I know we're capable of top 10s every weekend, but we just haven't got those finishes due to silly things taking us out of the race.
It seems like the last two weeks we've run top 10 all day and something small just takes us out right at the end. So I know we deserve to run better.
The guys are working hard at Diamond Waltrip Racing. They've got our Toyotas dialed in awesome. Now we've just got to get those finishes. I'm really fortunate to be in this situation, being 19 years old and being able to run a full-time season in the Nationwide Series, though.
Q. How cool is it for you to be riding around in a cool-looking car with a bunch of other cool-looking cars?
TREVOR BAYNE: It's really cool, man. They did a good job at Toyota of making it look like their Camry on the street, and I think that's what's pretty sweet about these new cars is they look like the street cars a lot better on the front end. The tail end of them, not so much, but the front ends are cool. Everybody did a great job of that. So it's pretty nice to see.
