When then 20-year-old Trevor Bayne won the 2011 Daytona 500 for the Wood Brothers, many – including Bayne – thought he was on the fast track for a full-time ride in the series.
But two years later as he sat and answered questions during a Nationwide event as part of the Sprint Media Tour hosted by the Charlotte Motor Speedway, Bayne acknowledged the frustrations that came when it didn’t happen. He thought he was ready and the ride would be there and while he started other races for the Wood Brothers, and continued running Nationwide Series races for Roush Fenway, nothing opened up. And it didn’t help that a few months later he lost a chance to run full-time when he had to sit out because of fatigue and double vision, presumably from an insect bite.
Bayne though, stuck with it and ran as many races that were presented to him. Roush stayed committed to the young driver and promised that as soon as something came along, Bayne would be the first one to get the call. When the 2013 season starts, that promise will become a reality as he runs for the NNS championship with Roush and the No. 6 team, who won the last two titles with Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
“There was a little bit of frustration initially, because I felt like, ‘Hey we’re ready to go racing’ and it’s hard to wait,” Bayne said on Tuesday night.
“Now that’s it’s here that frustrations gone away because I see the perseverance and the patience paying off and I see they’re [Roush] doing everything they said they were going to do and now I have the best team in Nationwide to run with. Best team in any NASCAR top series, I think that these guys can do it. To know that I waited this long for that, it’s worth it to me.”
Stenhouse moves to Cup to fill the seat of the departing Matt Kenseth. It was finally the opening that Bayne needed as Roush quickly put him in the NNS seat vacated by Stenhouse. Mike Kelley, who led Stenhouse to his championships, will remain the crew chief and Cargill Beef will remain a primary sponsor. Oh, Bayne also got engaged during the Christmas offseason to longtime girlfriend Ashton.
Perhaps now, as it appeared to be in 2011, things are finally falling into place for the Tennessee native. It’s the perfect storm for Bayne as he fits in perfectly with Roush and his new team. He’s worked with them for years, watched them win races and knows what they’re capable of. His own expectations will only be matched by those of a team who make the most of every opportunity and who Bayne say, give it everything they have.
“It’s not a lot of pressure after I’ve seen these guys working together. Now that I’ve been in the shop and I’ve seen how they’ve done that, I see why they’ve done it. It’s not some crazy magic, something they have going on. It’s just chemistry and how good they work together,” he said.
“It comes from Mike Kelley’s leadership and after I’ve seen that, it takes all the pressure off because I know they give me the best racecars that I could possibly have. They make great calls on the pit box and now it’s up to me and I think I have the ability to do it and we’re going to go for it.”
His lone NNS win at Texas in the fall of 2011 make him no rookie. This season, however, will be one in which he starts over. Bayne’s OK with that and looks forward to the challenge of finally getting to compete for a championship and prove he – and the wait – have been worth it.
What should help, Bayne spent much of his offseason spending as much time as he could to better get to know his guys. Before they roll up to Daytona International Speedway to start the season they’ll already prepared, not learning as they go. It was Bayne who took it upon himself to give them that extra attention and make sure everyone is on the same and ready to go when the garage doors open. Cars are important but the people who prepare those cars are everything.
“Everybody knows it’s going to be tough this year and we be crazy to think it’s going to be an easy walk but I think it’s something we can do and I think we have enough ability within our team with Mike Kelley, like I said, and all the guys on that team that have worked together,” Bayne noted about competition in Elliot Sadler, Brian Vickers and Austin Dillon to name a few.
As well as noting that his team has won races not with just Stenhouse but Carl Edwards and David Ragan years before.
“It’s something that Mike text me and said, ‘Hey man, we’ve won races with all these guys and now it’s your turn. It’s your team and we’re going to support you and it’s our team.’ It’s not like Ricky did this and your going to fill his shoes. This is your team and it’s our team and we’re going to run for a championship and I think that’s what we’ve got on our side this year.”
