senor honda

Catching up with 2011 Daytona 500 winner Trevor Bayne by GODWIN KELLY



Trevor Bayne captured the 2011 Daytona 500 in his second NASCAR Cup Series start for Wood Brothers Racing.
Bayne

Bayne moved to Roush Fenway Racing when Carl Edwards jumped ship for Joe Gibbs Racing three years ago.
The Knoxville, Tennessee native, who now races the No. 6 Ford, has not won another Cup Series race since his upset victory in the 500.
Bayne was mobbed by the media during a rain delay at Bristol Motor Speedway Friday. This is part of his interview.
WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO RACE HERE?
“As you guys know, this is the place that made me a NASCAR fan and made me want to do what I do, so it’s obviously a special place for me. I love racing here and even if I wasn’t from Knoxville I would love this race track. It’s just really fun and we’ve been successful here. That always makes it more fun when you’re fast and can run well. I think the last three races we’ve had top-15s and a top-5 in this race last year, so with the performance gains we’ve made so far this season, I’m really looking forward to getting on the track and seeing if those gains relate to Bristol as well.”
DO YOU FEEL YOUR TEAM CAN SUSTAIN THIS IMPROVED PERFORMANCE?

“I think it’s different this year. Last year, we saw some success but it was inconsistent. One weekend I might be fast, and the next maybe Greg or maybe Ricky. But we weren’t all always consistent. We couldn’t run door-to-door every race. It was kind of like one of us got lucky and hit a lucky setup and had a decent car build and we went and we ran well, but if I look at last weekend at Texas with what happened in practice when I crashed the primary, last year and in year’s past I would have thought, ‘Well, we’re done.’ The backup is gonna be terrible. We just got lucky and the primary was fast, but we’re actually building fast race cars now.

They’re building them with that intention and it actually works. Every car has been fast. Ricky and I have finished door-to-door almost every weekend, so we’re able to consistently do that, and I think that’s what makes us hopeful. It’s not like we went to California and Texas with low grip and said, ‘Okay, we were pretty fast there,’ now we’re gonna have this false hope that we’re gonna be good everywhere. I think Martinsville was a huge gain for us. We were both able to run in the top-10 at parts of the race. We’d been terrible there in the past, so to see us on a flat race track have speed, and I think the other part of it isn’t just the result at the end of the day, but it’s what’s happening at the race shop, it’s what’s happening in our culture and our communication. A lot of the same people are there – the talented people that we’ve always had, but we’re actually using them as valuabl

Trevor Bayne celebrates 2011 Daytona 500 victory.
Photo: NASCAR/Tyler Barrick Autostock USA

e resources now. I feel like we’re using their knowledge. We’re able to tap into that. The way we’re functioning as a living, breathing organism as a race team we’re doing well together and that’s what’s making the difference.

Nobody got smarter over the off-season, we just figured out and we’re still figuring out how to work better together, how to hold each other accountable without feeling like you’re pointing a finger at everybody else and saying, ‘Hey, it’s your fault that we’re not running good.’ We’re holding each other to a high standard and, as I’ve said before, focusing on results. Saying we need to be running top 10 doesn’t get you a result.”


HOW HAVE YOU DEALT WITH WHAT’S GONE ON AT ROUSH FENWAY THE LAST FEW YEARS?
“Again, I think we’re results-based. That’s what we do. We’re all about results in racing, but, for me, obviously, as you mentioned, my contentment comes from my faith and this is a job I have, so I want to do well at it. I feel like God’s given me ability, given me opportunity and then given me a work ethic and I have to use all those the best that I can, but at the end of the day, I can’t control everything. If I can leave the race track and say, ‘Man, I prepared as hard as I could. I was as fit as I could be. I feel like I nailed every corner that I could nail. I did great on pit road,’ and I did all those things 100 percent and we finished 20[SUP]th[/SUP], well then that’s all I had that day and I’ve got to be okay with that. But now the days when I make mistakes and crash my teammate or do things that I didn’t prepare all the way or I fell out of the seat because I was tired, well, I needed to be doing more. For me, I think that’s what helps you on those tough days.

When all you have is a 20[SUP]th[/SUP]-place race car, but you know that you’re doing everything that you can, you just have to be okay with that. I keep pushing my teammate and pushing my crew chief, pushing my engineers to get more potential in the car and that’s what we’re doing now. I’m still not fixated on what is the end of the day result. I’m not fixated on is it 13[SUP]th[/SUP], is it fifth, is it a win, I’m fixated on doing my job the best that I can and hopefully that equals wins and equals top fives, but my faith has definitely played a huge role in that – me being able to be content in that – but I’m not gonna lie it’s been tough at times When I first got to Roush if you didn’t qualify in the top 10, all their cars, it was a bad day.

If you didn’t run in the top 10 it was a bad day. We kind of lost that for a little while, but I feel like last weekend at Texas we’re kind of back to that standard. I’m watching the pylon in qualifying and Ricky and I are able to jump up and were mildly concerned with making the second round in qualifying. We feel like we should do that every weekend, whereas last year it was like, ‘Oh man, we made the second round at times.’ Now the concern is third round, so you just keep firing away, you keep coming back hungry. I know this is where God has put me, so I can’t let results beat me down at the end of the day, and just stay fired up and stay hungry for it.”

Bayne’s current ride with Roush Fenway Racing.
Photo: NASCAR



WHAT ARE YOUR THOUGHTS ON THE CHARLOTTE RACE GOING FROM NIGHT TO DAY IN THE FALL?
“I love Saturday races. It’s an extra day at home. I love night racing and Saturday races, but I’ll be at the race track on whatever day and whatever time they tell me to be. I’m a fan of Saturday night races all the time for the pure fact that we get that extra day, but, other than that, the racing seems fine. The fans, if it draws a bigger crowd or better TV, then I’m all for it. Marcus and the guys at SMI know what they’re doing, so I fully trust that they’re making good decisions. I’m sure that has already been enough opinions about Saturday versus Sunday and I’ll just get my schedule when I get it and show up at the race track.”


IS IT BETTER RACING DURING THE DAY?
“To me, as far as the actual racing, you know, ‘Okay, if we race at night, my car needs to drive like this in practice. If we race during the day, our car needs to drive like this,’ and you make those adjustments. It’s obviously less grip during the day. You slide around a little more, so I think the biggest thing that will happen is if it’s a day race, you may see the top come in a little bit more. If it’s a night race, the bottom is 100 percent gonna be the way to go, so you think about that as you go into the weekend. You think about, ‘Do I need to work on the bottom, the top, does my car need to be tight or loose at the end of practice?’ And then you just go from there.”


WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO BE PART OF THE FRATERNITY OF DRIVERS WHO HAVE WON A RACE WITH THE WOOD BROTHERS?
“You’re right about gaining perspective. I think every race, every year I appreciate what we did even more. I see how tough it is and how I just kind of showed up as this 20-year-old kid and thought, ‘Oh, this is how it’s gonna be.’ And then you realize how tough it can be at times. I feel super-blessed and fortunate to have had that and to have done it with the Wood Brothers. That’s a special family and for the fact that they’ve stayed in this sport, stayed relevant in this sport and competitive is a huge testimony to who they are as people and what they’ve done as a family. They’re not a huge corporation organization. It’s still very much run by Leonard, Eddie and Len and even Glen, he’s still out going strong, so those guys are incredible people. Their whole family, their wives and kids and everybody that’s involved, they’ve managed to stay relevant in a sport that requires huge organizations to do that. That’s why drivers like myself have had opportunities to win in their cars.”

WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO BE PART OF THAT GROUP?
“It’s kind of like the Daytona 500. There are just certain things you get to experience as a person and to be a part of that group that has helped the Wood Brother to win in every decade and to have that relationship with them. Eddie and Len still talk about it to this day about what that meant for them. There aren’t many things in life that you still talk about six years later and seven years or 10 years later like we will be. For us to have had that experience together and, like you said, it’s a fraternity with a lot of guys who won in that race car, and not just guys that have won with the Wood Brothers, but won Cup races. Obviously, I hope to continue in my Cup career and go and win a lot of races, but to be in that group of drivers that have won Cup races and to have done it with the Wood Brothers is really special.”

Transcript provided by Campbell Marketing & Communications

senor honda

Trevor Bayne: The Man Who Saved Wood Brothers Racing

10,609 views




358 6 Share
Save









DannyBTalks
Premiered Feb 18, 2019

Trevor Bayne may be seen by many as a one-hit wonder in NASCAR, but to me, I believe he is responsible for saving one of NASCAR's greatest teams ever, with his one and only win...here's why.

senor honda

More Wood Brothers...
https://www.tamparacing.com/forums/a...ght-began.html