At the age of five years old, Trevor Bayne sat in the grandstands at Bristol Motor Speedway watching his heroes of the sport battle on the high banks. Seeing their battles inspired one thought in the young man’s mind – wanting to be a NASCAR driver one day. Flash forward to today, Bayne has made his mark in the sport in winning a Daytona 500 and fulfilling other accomplishments.

“To be here at Bristol and go out on the track and make laps, it’s special to me,” he said. “Being that it’s a short track, it’s my style of racing, even with all the banking that makes Bristol as unique as it is. I’m still trying to learn this place and figure out what it takes to go to victory lane, but hopefully this is the weekend that we figure it out.”

Bayne’s first series starts at Bristol did not according to plan, however he has turned it around as of late, posting a sixth and an eighth in his last two starts on the high-banked half-mile oval. Bayne feels that he can keep the trend going this weekend based on how Roush Fenway Racing has been able to improve their oval program over the past month – highlighted by a runner-up finish at Chicagoland Speedway, and a third at Iowa Speedway.

“Hopefully we continue to do that as we don’t want to stop at Bristol so hopefully the things that we learned relay and can get us a good finish as we’re definitely looking to get to victory lane,” Bayne said. “Our teammate Chris (Buescher) did it last week at a road course, so hopefully we can do it now. We’ve got 11 ovals left in the style that we all know and hope to do well at. Obviously we want to start making up points as soon as we can on these guys to be a contender at Homestead.”

If Bayne is able to put together a victory, perhaps it’ll be what he needs to put himself back in championship contention as he currently sits sixth in points, 52 points behind Chase Elliott.

“I know a lot of people have counted us out, but we haven’t counted ourselves out,” Bayne stated. “There’s a lot of racing left and a lot of things could happen. No restrictor plate or road course races left so you count wildcards out, so we just have to get it to where we can battle for wins and make up those points.”

In making up points, Bayne will need to avoid the trouble that has found him during the first 22 races of the season in watching that he doesn’t get involved in situations that result in wrecked cars. The normally calm, quiet driver has found himself racing harder than perhaps warranted for spots, bringing forth more trouble and post-race discussions with competitors.

“Some of it is me putting myself in situations that I shouldn’t have been in, but others are the cars haven’t been as fast as we’d like so you have to race hard to keep your spot, especially when you’re racing around 10th place,” Bayne explained. “Seventh – 15th range is where everybody is capable of running, so that’s the hardest racing in the field. The days where we’ve had top-five cars are the easiest days as you get out front and try to work on your racecar to make it better. If we could have faster racecars, it would help us a lot. Chad Norris and everybody at Roush has been working hard on that; they understand that so it’s no lack of effort, but we’re finally making those gains.

“It’s also some guys don’t know the limitations of a Nationwide car yet as I feel we have gotten caught up in things that weren’t necessarily our making so it’s just being at the wrong place at the wrong time. It’s a combination of a lot of things but I feel if we can get to top-five, then you have a less chance of that happening as you’re racing around Cup guys, people who have more experience and know the limitation of their cars.”

On Thursday afternoon at Bristol, Nationwide Series points leader Chase Elliott would lead the first practice for the Food City 300, while Kyle Larson would lead the second and final practice.

Elliott led the first practice with a lap of 15.559 seconds in his No. 9 NAPA Auto Parts Chevrolet. The second generation driver enters this weekend leading the point standings by 10 points over his JR Motorsports teammate Regan Smith. Elliott is hoping for a solid run on Friday night to keep the points lead after finishing ninth at Bristol in the spring.

Kyle Busch was second, just 0.054 seconds off of Elliott, as he searches for his fourth straight Bristol Nationwide Series victory. The victory would be huge for Joe Gibbs Racing as they lost valuable points in the owner’s battle at Mid-Ohio, with the No. 54 Monster Energy Drink Toyota now sitting 21 points behind Team Penske’s No. 22 Discount Tire Ford Mustang.

Kevin Harvick hopes to find victory lane once again this season after posting the third quickest time in the first practice. Harvick has won two races this season already and looks to keep a trend going for JR Motorsports that has seen them win each of the Friday night races so far this year in 2014.

Brian Scott, who has been solid week-in-week-out, was fourth quickest with Ryan Blaney rounding out the top-five in the No. 22 Mustang. Larson was sixth, followed by Smith, Ty Dillon, Dylan Kwasniewski and Trevor Bayne.

In the final practice, Larson would top the charts in his No. 42 ENEOS Chevrolet with a lap of 15.312 seconds. Larson is hoping to break through at Bristol after posting a pair of runner-up finishes to Busch in his last three starts. Busch was second, 0.097 seconds behind Larson. Scott was third, followed by Blaney and Elliott.

Road America winner Brendan Gaughan was sixth, followed by Cale Conway, Smith, Dillon and Bayne. Notably, Richard Childress Racing had all four of their cars in the top-nine during the final practice with Scott leading the way.

Qualifying for the Food City 300 is scheduled for 3:40 p.m. EDT, with the race scheduled for 7:30 p.m. EDT. The race will be broadcast on ESPN.