Start and Park will never be for the famed Wood Brothers team, they plan on running the same amount of races as they have this year. Daytona 500 champ Trevor Bayne has been piloting the No. 21 Ford for the team in 12-events throughout the 2013 year. That plans to be the same for 2014.
“With sponsorship like it is, we have to pick races that give us the best chance of a good payback,” team co-owner Eddie Wood said last weekend at Talladega. “It’s just good business: the more you can win, the more you have to keep going forward. We’ve skipped some races this year that were close to home [the Charlotte area] because the payout wasn’t very good. But we’ve gone to some races way off because the payout made it worthwhile. It’s all about surviving to race again.”
Daytona has always been the eye catcher for the Wood Brothers as they know they have the chance to bring a big paycheck back to the shop. 2011 was the miracle season for Glen Wood and his brother’s as they had a taste again of Daytona 500 victory lane with their young driver Trevor Bayne.
Glen stated it’s too early to plan for 2014, he explained he would enjoy working with Trevor Bayne again and he is expecting the same amount of races as this year for the No. 21 Ford although if sponsorship is willing they could add more events.
But, speaking on other terms, how about Trevor Bayne and his future? Not just his future with the Wood Brothers but with Roush Fenway in the NNS? The 22-year-old has seen victory lane just once in this 2013 season at Iowa Speedway. Trevor’s options are slim as his future approaches, 2014 he’s already signed through full-time with Fenway but as 2015 draws near his options are growing
Roush Fenway Racing is developing new talent with drivers Ryan Reed and Chris Buescher. Reed will run the No. 16 NNS Ford for Fenway full-time next year and Buescher’s plans are to run full-time in 2015, most likely. Also, Fenway has fan-loving Travis Pastrana on the NNS squad who hasn’t announced his plans for the coming years. With this raw talent developing the NNS I doubt Fenway would be able to support a 4th NNS ride for Bayne.
Then you’d think Bayne could move to the NSCS side. Roush currently fields 3-cars with Ricky Stenhouse Jr. who isn’t going anywhere, Carl Edwards who is signed through 2014 could look elsewhere and open a spot for Bayne, and Greg Biffle is signed through 2014 as well.
With Edwards and Biffle’s contracts coming to a close at the end of 2014 don’t be amazed if Trevor Bayne is piloting a No. 99 or No. 16 NSCS Ford in 2015.
