Tough Start for Bayne, Diamond-Waltrip Racing at Daytona

Trevor Bayne and the Diamond-Waltrip Racing team’s day ended early after contact by another competitor on lap seven. Bayne started the Drive4COPD 300 from Daytona International Speedway in 17th after rain cancelled qualifying Friday afternoon. He worked his way up to 15th before contact by the No. 40 of Mike Bliss sent him into the outside retaining wall. The incident caused major damage to the No. 99 machine and they were forced to end their day early. The No. 99 team finished the race in the 41st position.

DWR NNS Race Results
• Trevor Bayne, No. 99 Diamond-Waltrip Toyota Camry - Finished 41st

DWR Driver Standings
• Trevor Bayne, No. 99 Diamond-Waltrip Toyota Camry - 40 points, ranks 41st

DWR RACE NOTES:
• Tony Stewart won his fifth NNS race at Daytona
• Carl Edwards, Kevin Harvick, Justin Alllgaier and Brian Vickers rounded out the top five
• The race featured 16 lead changes among 12 drivers
• The race was slowed by seven cautions for a total of 32 laps
• NASCAR estimated 80,000 race fans in attendance at DIS

DIAMOND-WALTRIP RACING NNS NOTES AND QUOTES:

Trevor Bayne, No. 99 Diamond-Waltrip Toyota
• Started 17th and finished 41st
• Raced into the top-15 before contact by the No. 40 of Mike Bliss
• Bayne and the No. 99 Toyota were unable to continue following the incident.

BAYNE QUOTE: ““I really don’t know. I hate that happened so early in the race. We were just riding. It was lap five or something and I got a big shove through the middle of turn three and four here, I got under the 7 (Danica Patrick), came down the frontstretch and I was still getting a huge push. I started waving off, checking up – I got shoved into the 15 (Michael Annett), still getting the push and then I get into the center of the corner and the push never stopped. I don’t know what happened with the 40 (Mike Bliss) car or what in the world was going on to be that aggressive this early in the race. I guess he was trying to push us to the lead on lap one. It’s disheartening for this team to see something like this happen. Sometimes we pray right before the race to keep us safe and that happened, but our prayer to win, sometimes that doesn’t happen. It was with all the right intentions. We have to stay strong here and fight back. We’ve got a long season ahead of us here. It’s unfortunate to see something like this happen this early in the season, this early in the first race. We’ll see what we can do with it.”