Diamond-Waltrip Racing - Sam's Town 300 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway - Post Race Report

as Vegas, Nev. — A great two-tire pit call by crew chief Jerry Baxter and impressive driving skills by rookie Trevor Bayne equaled a career-best NASCAR Nationwide Series (NNS) finish of sixth at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. Bayne qualified the No. 99 Aaron’s Dream Machine in the 18th spot, but quickly worked his way into the top 15. The Tennesse native remained in and around the top 15 until Baxter called for a two-tire stop with just over 50 laps remaining in the Sam’s Town 300. The call gave the Diamond-Waltrip team great track position. The young phenom was able to remain in the top seven over the last 50 laps and passed Justin Allgaier for sixth with four laps to go. The sixth-place finish helped the No. 99 Aaron’s Toyota move 11 spots to 13th in the NNS championship point standings.



NNS Racing Results

Kevin Harvick grabbed his 35th NNS victory by winning the Sam’s Town 300

Denny Hamlin, Carl Edwards, Brad Keselowski and Brian Vickers rounded out the top-five

The race was delayed by an hour and a half for rain

The race featured 14 lead changes among 10 drivers

The race was slowed by eight cautions for a total of 39 laps

NASCAR estimated 45,000 race fans in attendance at Las Vegas Motor Speedway



DWR NNS Race Results

Trevor Bayne, No. 99 Diamond-Waltrip Toyota Camry - finished sixth



DWR Driver Standings

Trevor Bayne, No. 99 Diamond-Waltrip Toyota Camry - 150 points, ranks 13th

Gained 11 spots in the NNS championship point standings

Sits just 185 points out of the lead



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

Started 18th and finished sixth

Was the highest-finishing NNS regular

Passed Justin Allgaier for sixth with four laps to go

A key caution flew on lap 84 allowed Bayne to stay on the lead lap

A two-tire pit stop with 55 laps to go bolstered Bayne into the top five

Grabbed his career-best NNS finish of sixth

Recorded his third top-10 finish in just 18 NNS starts


BAYNE QUOTE: “It’s pretty awesome, man. I’m pumped up. Good deal -- good momentum for this team. We said we want to get better every week and we’ve done that so far. If we continue to do that every week, we’ll be in victory lane before too long. Before we get ahead of ourselves, we just got to race every weekend. We got to go to the next track and be prepared. We gained a lot in our Monday morning meeting last week and we have to do the same this week — just keep getting better and better. These guys are awesome. Pit road was unbelievable and we were right there with all the best of the best. I couldn’t ask for anything better. Jerry Baxter (crew chief) is doing a great job of adapting to my style of driving.


“I think track position was a big thing. We took two tires and that got us track position so we could hold them off because when you’re back about 10th place, you can’t make up any track position against the frontrunners. That was a big step in our race to get us up in track position.”

Trevor Bayne, No. 99 Aaron's Dream Machine - Sam's Town 300 Preview

CORNELIUS, N.C. — After surviving only six laps at Daytona before another car ended his day, Trevor Bayne raced every lap and finished 11th at Auto Club Speedway last weekend. The 19-year-old Knoxville, Tenn. native—the Nationwide Series youngest fulltime driver—hopes to continue gaining valuable experience this weekend at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. In his brief career, Bayne has demonstrated an ability to qualify well despite only 17 Nationwide starts. He already owns a pole in Indianapolis, four top-five and 11 top-10 qualifying spots despite racing against several of the Sprint Cup series biggest stars.


QUOTES

BAYNE ON RACING AGAINST THE CUP DRIVERS: “I like racing against the cup guys every week. If you want to be the best you have to compete against the best. Being able to run against some of the cup guys will help our transition to the next level. We might lose out on some wins but the experience you get from racing with them is much more valuable.”

BAYNE ON QUALIFYING: “Jerry (Baxter) gives me the confidence I need to go out and qualify good each week. He makes some really good adjustments from practice to qualifying. Right now, I don’t know the limits of the cars so I just go out there and hold it wide open and it has equaled some good qualifying laps. I am also pretty young and I haven’t developed fear yet. I mean there is some skill to qualifying fast but holding that pedal down equals some fast qualifying runs as well.”

BAYNE ON LAS VEGAS: “I’ve never been to Las Vegas before. If it’s anything like Atlanta I am really going to like it. I’ve heard that you can hold it wide open there during qualifying so hopefully that will equal a top five starting spot for us. I’ll lean a lot on my cup teammates to help me out during practice. My spotter Brett Griffin will also help me out a lot during practice. He will let me know the lines that the fast guys are running.”

ADDITIONAL NOTES OF INTEREST

• Last weekend at Auto Club Speedway, Bayne was the fifth fulltime NASCAR Nationwide Series regular to cross the finish line. Only Steve Wallace, Kelly Bires, Justin Allgaier and Brian Scott finished higher than the 19-year-older driver. Wallace, Bires and Allgaier have a combined 217 more NNS starts than the young phenom Bayne.

• Bayne will once again have rookie strips on his No. 99 Aaron’s Dream Machine this weekend. The Knoxville, Tenn., native is making his first career start at the 1.5-mile Las Vegas track.

• Bayne will be making two appearances this weekend in Las Vegas. He will be at the NASCAR Café located inside the Sahara Hotel and Casino on Thursday, Feb. 25th from 8-9 p.m. and will be at The Pub located inside the Monte Carlo on Friday, Feb. 26th from 7-7:30 p.m.

• Aaron’s, proud 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 Aaron’s on Twitter (@aaronssports) and become a fan on Facebook (Facebook.com/AaronsSports)

• Sirius XM listeners can tune into channel 128 every Tuesday at 8:30 a.m. to hear Bayne’s weekly visit on Sirius Speedway with Mike Bagley and Pete Pistone throughout the 2010 season.

Diamond-Waltrip Racing Stater Bros. 300 Qualifying Report from Auto Club Speedway

NASCAR Nationwide Series qualifying for the Stater Bros. 300 at Auto Club Speedway in Fontana, Calif. is now complete.

Diamond-Waltrip Racing’s Trevor Bayne and the No. 99 Aaron’s Dream Machine Toyota Camry qualified 10th with a time of 40.568 seconds. Joey Logano won the pole position with a time of 39.717 seconds.

Saturday Recap
- Trevor Bayne will line up 10th on the outside of Row 5 for today’s event.
- This is Bayne’s first top-10 qualifying effort of 2010 and the 10th out of 17 career starts.
- MWR’s David Reutimann is entered in the No. 10 Beringer Toyota Camry for Braun Racing. Reutimann will start 11th on the inside of Row 6.
- Joey Logano won the Coors Light Pole Award for the Stater Bros. 300 with a lap of 39.717, 181.283 mph.
- This is Logano’s eighth pole in 43 NNS races.
- Kyle Busch, Brian Scott, Carl Edwards and Greg Biffle round out the top-five.
- ESPN2, MRN and SiriusXM 128 will broadcast Saturday’s races beginning at 5 p.m. Eastern time.

TREVOR BAYNE, No. 99 Aaron’s Dream Machine Toyota Camry: “The Aaron’s Dream Machine was pretty good during qualifying. The sun came out when we got ready to hit the track so the track lost some grip. The car got a little tight coming off turn 4, but I think a top 10 starting spot will keep us from getting into trouble.”

Watch Trevor Bayne's NASCAR Nationwide Series Commercial

Trevor Bayne California Speedway Nationwide Preview

CORNELIUS, N.C. — Trevor Bayne and the No. 99 Diamond-Waltrip Racing team endured a rough start to the 2010 season last week at Daytona when their race ended in a lap seven accident caused by another car. Bayne put those bad memories behind him as he prepares to celebrate his 19th birthday on Friday with a good performance in Saturday’s NASCAR Nationwide race at Auto Club Speedway in Fontana, Calif. It marks the second start on the two-mile oval for the Knoxville, Tenn., native who finished 19th on Oct. 10.

QUOTES

BAYNE ON FONTANA: “I got to run there last year for CJM Racing. I think it’s going to help me out that I am not going in there blind. I kind of know what to expect at California. I know what the car and the track are going to do as the race goes on. I know that you have to carry a lot of momentum there to run fast laps. It’s also kind of cool how you can feel the draft when there is a car beside you. At Fontana you can defiantly feel the aero and mechanical sides of the car.”

BAYNE ON DAYTONA: “It was a frustrating situation. However, we can’t start chasing our tails now . Daytona is a crap shoot anyway. You expect to go there and wreck and it’s an awesome day if you don’t. It’s just disappointing that we wrecked so early. I was hoping to be able to log some laps there but was only able to get seven under my belt. Kevin Manion (Bono) and Martin Truex Jr. both texted me after the race and said they wrecked at Daytona and won the championship. I still think we have a chance to win the championship. Every team is going to have a bad weekend. It’s the team who has the least amount of bad weeks that will bring home the championship.”

BAYNE ON EARNING REPECT: “It’s hard to get respect when you have rookie strips on your car. I think the best way to get respect from your competitors is to race them like you want to be raced. I think the more races I get under my belt the more respect that I will get from some of the veterans of the sport. “

ADDITIONAL NOTES OF INTEREST

· Bayne is the youngest driver competing full-time in the NASCAR Nationwide Series this season.

· Bayne will celebrate his 19th birthday Friday, Feb. 19. He was born in Spartanburg, S.C and moved to Knoxville, Tenn., when he was two months old.

· Last weekend at Daytona International Speedway, Bayne and the No. 99 Diamond-Waltrip Racing team had a car that could compete with the leaders. Unfortunately, early contact by the No. 40 of Mike Bliss sent the young rookie into the outside retaining wall and ended the day for the No. 99 team on lap seven. The team finished 41st in the final rundown.

· Last fall Bayne started the race at Auto Club Speedway in the 11th spot and finished 19th. He worked his way into the top 10 before contact by another competitor on pit road caused damage to the Toyota Camry and forced him to make several up scheduled pit stops.

· The 18-year-old driver’s has driven in 16 NNS races. He has one pole (Indianapolis Raceway Park), two top-10’s (IRP and Richmond) and has led total of 34 laps.


· Sirius XM listeners can tune into channel 128 every Tuesday at 8:30 a.m. to hear Bayne’s weekly visit on Sirius Speedway with Mike Bagley and Pete Pistone throughout the 2010 season.

Tough Start for Bayne, Diamond-Waltrip Racing at Daytona

Trevor Bayne and the Diamond-Waltrip Racing team’s day ended early after contact by another competitor on lap seven. Bayne started the Drive4COPD 300 from Daytona International Speedway in 17th after rain cancelled qualifying Friday afternoon. He worked his way up to 15th before contact by the No. 40 of Mike Bliss sent him into the outside retaining wall. The incident caused major damage to the No. 99 machine and they were forced to end their day early. The No. 99 team finished the race in the 41st position.

DWR NNS Race Results
• Trevor Bayne, No. 99 Diamond-Waltrip Toyota Camry - Finished 41st

DWR Driver Standings
• Trevor Bayne, No. 99 Diamond-Waltrip Toyota Camry - 40 points, ranks 41st

DWR RACE NOTES:
• Tony Stewart won his fifth NNS race at Daytona
• Carl Edwards, Kevin Harvick, Justin Alllgaier and Brian Vickers rounded out the top five
• The race featured 16 lead changes among 12 drivers
• The race was slowed by seven cautions for a total of 32 laps
• NASCAR estimated 80,000 race fans in attendance at DIS

DIAMOND-WALTRIP RACING NNS NOTES AND QUOTES:

Trevor Bayne, No. 99 Diamond-Waltrip Toyota
• Started 17th and finished 41st
• Raced into the top-15 before contact by the No. 40 of Mike Bliss
• Bayne and the No. 99 Toyota were unable to continue following the incident.

BAYNE QUOTE: ““I really don’t know. I hate that happened so early in the race. We were just riding. It was lap five or something and I got a big shove through the middle of turn three and four here, I got under the 7 (Danica Patrick), came down the frontstretch and I was still getting a huge push. I started waving off, checking up – I got shoved into the 15 (Michael Annett), still getting the push and then I get into the center of the corner and the push never stopped. I don’t know what happened with the 40 (Mike Bliss) car or what in the world was going on to be that aggressive this early in the race. I guess he was trying to push us to the lead on lap one. It’s disheartening for this team to see something like this happen. Sometimes we pray right before the race to keep us safe and that happened, but our prayer to win, sometimes that doesn’t happen. It was with all the right intentions. We have to stay strong here and fight back. We’ve got a long season ahead of us here. It’s unfortunate to see something like this happen this early in the season, this early in the first race. We’ll see what we can do with it.”

Trevor Bayne Daytona Nationwide Preview

CORNELIUS, N.C. — Trevor Bayne will make his first career start at the famed Daytona International Speedway in the Camping World 300 on Saturday. The 18-year-old driver has never raced on a track bigger than two-miles and knows he has something to prove to his team, competitors and fans. Additionally, the newly-formed Diamond-Waltrip Racing will make its NASCAR Nationwide Series debut this weekend.

QUOTES

BAYNE ON DAYTONA: “Daytona is a place where every kid dreams of racing. It’s going to be a different experience for me. I know I have a lot to learn when I get on the track Wednesday. I think the biggest thing I am going to have to work on is drafting. I plan to get behind some of the veterans and learn from them. My main goal is to survive. If I have to push someone across the line and finish second instead of wrecking that will be fine with me.”

BAYNE ON 2010: “Our ultimate goal is to win the NNS championship for Diamond-Waltrip Racing. I would also love to grab a win or two in the first handful of races. My other goal is to gain the respect of my competitors. I want them to know that I’m going to race them like they race me. I want them to respect the No. 99 machine when they are racing around me. I also want the NNS garage to know we are a force to be reckoned with this year and we plan to be racing for a win in the final laps of every race.”

CO-OWNER MICHAEL WALTRIP ON BAYNE: “Trevor has been fun. He just got in the car last year and started running up front. He kind of reminds me of when Martin (Truex Jr.) jumped onto the scene. His youthfulness, enthusiasm and willingness to listen and learn brings a special spark to this team. He wants to know what he is suppose to do in each situation. He wants the respect of his competitors.

“Also, for being 18-years-old he is respectful and appreciates what we’re doing for him. He has the respect for the sport and life in general which shows a whole lot for the way he was raised. I think his mom and dad should be very proud of him. We’re also very proud to be associated with him and we think he’s capable of competing for a win every weekend.”

ADDITIONAL NOTES OF INTEREST

· Bayne will make his 16th NNS start this weekend at DIS. He has a seventh-place finish at Indianapolis Raceway Park (IRP) and at Richmond International Speedway to call a career-best.

· Last season, the Knoxville, Tenn., native had an impressive 10.1 starting average. The young phenom only started two of his 15 races outside the top 12. He grabbed his first career NNS pole position at IRP in only his seventh career start.

· The 18-year-old driver’s only experience on a superspeedway came last season when he tested the new NNS car at Talladega Superspeedway. 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 was able to get in a little drafting practice during the end of the test session.

· Sirius XM listeners can tune into channel 128 every Tuesday at 8:30 a.m. to hear Bayne’s weekly visit on Sirius Speedway with Mike Bagley and Pete Pistone throughout the 2010 season.