Bristol, Tenn. (Aug. 21, 2009) – A top-10 showing for Trevor Bayne and the Aaron’s Racing team was dashed when contact with another competitor on lap 136 of 250, strapped the No. 99 Toyota with a 24th-place finish in the Food City 250 at Bristol Motor Speedway.
As the Knoxville, Tenn.¸ native was battling for the 10th spot when he was tapped from behind, sending him into the outside retaining wall. The 18-year-old driver visited pit road several times to repair the damages and he ended up restarting 26th, two laps down to the leaders.
At the end of the day, it cost Bayne and Company a top-10 finish but all was not lost as Bayne received valuable seat time and boasted his starting average to 7.7 over 10 NASCAR Nationwide Series races.
In qualifying early Friday evening, Bayne wheeled the No. 99 Aaron’s Dream Machine Toyota around the .533-mile oval to its best lap of 15.950 seconds (120.301 mph), which was good enough to line up fifth for the 250-lap event.
Bayne remained in the top 10 during the opening 100 laps. However, a car that was a little loose to his liking dropped him to 12th on lap 120.
Unfortunately, 16 laps later, Bayne was tapped from behind and received heavy damage to the No. 99 machine. The Aaron’s Dream Machine was able to continue making laps but crossed the finish line 24th, four laps down to the leaders.
David Regan grabbed his second NASCAR Nationwide Series victory followed by Carl Edwards, Brad Keselowski, Kevin Harvick and Matt Kenseth.
Next week, the NASCAR Nationwide Series heads north of the border to Montreal for round 25 of the 35-race tour.
Patrick Carpentier will be behind the wheel of the No. 99 machine for the third running of the NAPA Auto Parts 200 from Circuit Gilles Villeneuve. Race coverage will be televised live on ESPN2 Sunday, August 30, beginning at 2 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time. The race will also broadcast live on the Motor Racing Network and Sirius/XM satellite Radio. Qualifying will air on ESPN2 Saturday, August 29, beginning at 9 p.m. EDT.
TREVOR BAYNE QUOTE:
“I was hoping for a good finish this weekend in front of the hometown crowd. We were running pretty well until I got hit from behind which sent me into the outside wall. I think we had a car capable of finishing in the top 10. However, the damage was just too severe to compete with the leaders.”
This kid is a really good driver. I hope Michael keeps him in the car next year so he can get better and he can have a good driver for the Cup in a few years. Is nice to see that kid doing good.
ReplyDeleteThis is way old, but I believe he's a good race driver and have since 2011. Bayneiac since shortly after I learned his name (the day of the 2011 Daytona 500 was that day).
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