Trevor Bayne - Indianapolis Preview

CORNELIUS, N.C. — No. 99 OUT! Pet Care Toyota driver Trevor Bayne burst onto the NASCAR scene at Indianapolis a year ago when he won his first pole and finished seventh in just his seventh Nationwide Series start. The 19-year-old will make his 35th career start —equal to a full season of NNS competition— on Saturday night at Indianapolis. The Diamond-Waltrip driver’s success of late is more like that of a veteran driver than a first year driver. Last weekend he won the pole, led 19 laps and posted a career-best third-place finish at Gateway. That came on the heels of recent good runs like the fifth-place finish at New Hampshire and a 10th-place finish at Road America—his first road course race.


QUOTES

CO-OWNER MICHAEL WALTRIP ON BAYNE: “Trevor is a 19-year-old kid that isn’t scared to go up there and mix it up with the Cup guys. We haven’t seen a lot of young guys that have been able to get up near the front and immediately contend, but Trevor has been able to do that. He is someone that races every lap like it might be his last. He kind of reminds me of Martin (Truex Jr.) when he first jumped onto the scene. His youthfulness, enthusiasm and willingness to listen and learn brings a special spark to this team. He wants to know what he is supposed to do in each situation. He wants the respect of his competitors.”

CREW CHIEF JERRY BAXTER ON BAYNE: “Trevor has learned a lot over the past year. The biggest thing we have worked on with him is patience. He likes to go out there and run every lap as hard as he can. We have really tried to get him to run 80 to 85 percent for the first two thirds of the race and keep the car in one piece. Over the last couple of months he has really started coming into his own. I think he has realized that when someone is fast let them by instead of racing the wheels off the race car. He has learned how to get everything he can out of the race car. I really think once Trevor starts going back to these tracks two and three times, he will start competing for wins every week.”

TREVOR BAYNE ON INDIANAPOLIS: “I like racing at Indy a lot—it fits my driving style. We won the pole, led 34 laps and finished seventh last year. The car was solid the entire race until Steven Wallace got into us when the caution flag flew and we got stuck back in traffic. I think we had a car to win but we just weren’t able to get back up to the front after the mishap.”

ADDITIONAL NOTES OF INTEREST

• Diamond-Waltrip Racing is owned by Gary and Blake Bechtel along with Michael Waltrip Racing. It fields Toyota Camrys out of the MWR shop in Cornelius, N.C. The Bechtels have owned cars in the Sprint Cup and Nationwide Series since 1990. The Morgan Hill, California residents’ teams have visited victory lane 10 times in the Nationwide Series.

• Bayne is 11th in points, but fifth among the non-Sprint Cup drivers in the Nationwide Series.

• Get your dog’s picture on Bayne’s No. 99 OUT! Pet Care Toyota by going to www.outpetcare.com and register for the “Top Dog of the Week.”

• Bayne owns 34 NASCAR Nationwide Series starts. He has two poles (Indianapolis –2009 and Gateway—2010), two top-fives and six top-10s and has led 53 laps. His average starting spot is 12th and average finish is 18th. His best finish (third) came at Gateway International Raceway on July 17.