Kale Uphoff returns to tire changing duties

It was the end of last October after the race in Kansas when Kale Uphoff had to take time off to have partial hip replacement surgery and that the veteran Roush Fenway tire changer would be out for quite a while.  Last week, pittalks.com reported that Jon Moore would be out with an injury on the No. 17 Fastenal crew and No. 6 AdvoCare rear tire changer would be moving to the No. 17 team but there was no report on who would be taking his place on the AdvoCare team.

Last night I found out Corey Demarco who replaced Kale Uphoff last season will be moving to the rear tire changer position and Uphoff would be taking on the front tire changing responsibilities according to Pit Crew instructor Andy Ward on twitter.  This afternoon, Kale himself confirmed he was back with the No. 6 AdvoCare Racing team after his injuries last season.  Kale Uphoff confirms he is back!

Now the AdvoCare Crew consists of:

Front Tire Changer:  Kale Uphoff
Front Tire Carrier:  Alan Troutman
Jackman:  Richie Williams
Rear Tire Changer:  Corey Demarco
Rear Tire Carrier:  Bradley Sutton
Gas Man:  Josh Pech
Crew Chief:  Matt Puccia

A Five Year streak that needed to end

So let's get something straight. Trevor Bayne went five years without scoring a top-five finish since his win in the Daytona 500, but let's put some much needed issues out in the spotlight for those fans that want to trash talk about Bayne.

Trevor Bayne scored his first top-five in over five years Sunday

When the Knoxville, TN native first got into the Sprint Cup Series with the Wood Brothers he was racing a part-time deal and the team was under an alliance with his now full-time organization Roush Fenway Racing.  The 2011 season was probably the last fully competitive season that RFR has had in the Sprint Cup Series with Carl Edwards coming up just shy of winning the championship.  The following season a lot of changes began to take places as Matt Kenseth left for Joe Gibbs Racing, and it appeared that Roush was going to have two young drivers working their way up the ladder with Bayne and Ricky Stenhouse Jr.

A lot happened in one short year for Trevor Bayne.

In 2011, he began to suffer what was later found to be the start of multiple sclerosis (MS) and he missed several events with the Wood Brothers and with Roush in the Xfinity Series.  What began as a great season winning the Daytona 500, suddenly had taken a change.  Then the following season Roush just couldn't find a full-time sponsor for Bayne to run int he Xfinity Series and he was stuck running a part-time deal with the Wood Brothers in the Sprint Cup Series.  Roush's equipment on the Sprint Cup Series side was struggling, as its main drivers had only been able to win 5 events with Kenseth and Greg Biffle.

In the back of my mind I still believe to this day that the reason for Roush's struggles was signing Carl Edwards a long-term deal and a big bonus to keep him from going to JGR in 2011, where he would eventually go anyway.  So for the next two seasons, Bayne sat in wait for a full-time ride at Roush and they needed the right sponsor to come along for him.  AdvoCare jumped on board in late 2013 to sponsor him in the 2014 Xfinity Series and in May of 2014, announced they would make the move with Bayne to the Sprint Cup Series full-time in the 2015 season.

Here's the biggest issue fans just don't get when they go and bash this young driver.  Yes, he's had some wrecked cars but most of it isn't driver related.  When you are driving cars that are handling terribly on a weekly basis and they handle the same each week with a tight in, loose off scenario, you are asking for a wreck to happen.  I knew about mid-point last season that Bob Osborne just wasn't the right crew chief for Trevor Bayne.  There was just too many issues between them, and the chemistry wasn't there to make it work out.

When Roush put Matt Puccia with Bayne, I believed this was a big time move for them.  Why would I?  A guy that only won 3 races with Greg Biffle you ask?  Because sometimes you can tell that there is something with a crew chief that another driver just might be missing out on, and I believe that was what was happening with Biffle.  Now we are eight races into 2016 and we are seeing just how much a chemistry mixture between driver and crew chief can do, along with better handling race cars will do for someone like Bayne.

His five year streak of not finishing in the top-five is over, he is consistently getting better finishers and the cars are more competitive on a weekly basis.  I think that the one big thing that goes for driver and the entire team is they have to make less mistakes.  When they get this down, they will find victory lane.  One of their strongest points might be coming up in a couple of weeks when the series goes to Talladega, as Bayne is a very strong restrictor plate racer.

The finish at Bristol just added a little bit of momentum to their season on what has been building so far.

Puccia, Pemberton have Bayne on the right track

Bayne and Puccia scored their first top-five at Bristol

It was a year ago that I really began to question the crew chief that Trevor Bayne had working with him on his No. 6 Advocare Ford.  There was something missing with Bob Osborne and Trevor Bayne, and with spotter Freddie Kraft.  In January, Roush Fenway Racing paired Matt Puccia with Bayne and many fans were very critical of this move by the team after Puccia and Greg Biffle struggled to find success.  Also Roman Pemberton was brought on as the spotter for the team in place of Kraft.

It's been eight races so far this season and the team is showing that the changes have been the right ones for Bayne.  On Sunday afternoon Bayne scored his first top-five finish since he won the Daytona 500 at his home track in Bristol Motor Speedway.  The team ran competitive throughout the entire afternoon and even a pit road infraction that sent them back to 25th didn't stop them from coming back and getting their best finish of the year.

I listen to Puccia and Pemberton and hear a different fire and desire that they have set forth in Bayne.
At Texas a week ago, the two of the them tried to tell Bayne to keep off the radio and focus on driving the car.  Late in the event it appeared that t was working to get Bayne a top-ten until Austin Dillon caused a huge mess on old tires.  Bayne has a different boost of confidence this season and it shows in how has came back from adversity several times this season.

I don't think the driver or team from 2015 could have rebounded with a top-15 finish at Texas or top-20 at Fontana after the issues that Bayne had with tires at the two-mile track then being involved in the wreck at Texas.  Then coming from 25th to 5th in the final 100 laps at Bristol.

The Bristol finish is rewarding to everyone on the No. 6 AdvoCare crew.  The hard work throughout the off-season is paying off with good finishes.

"It was a lot of battling back," said Bayne after the Food City 500.  "We went through a lot of adversity to get there, but we just didn't give up.  We had a really good AdvoCare Ford.  That's what paid off.  You can't come back if you don't have good race cars and we've got that now."

Bayne wants less mistakes in the future.

"I need to minimize my mistakes going forward, but we were able to make mistakes and get back to a top-five finish," the Knoxville native said.  "I'm just really proud of everyone on this team."

Scott's Pit Box: It's Time for NASCAR To Cut Cup Drivers from Xfinity, Truck Racing

I hear the biggest excuse why Sprint Cup drivers are racing in the NASCAR Xfinity Series are they provide sponsorship for teams.  The fact is sponsors can put their money on an up and coming star like Napa did with Chase Elliott, or AdvoCare did with Trevor Bayne.  It doesn't take sponsoring a big name guy like Kyle Busch to get your company splattered on the TV screen on Saturday's.

I look at the four races that Kyle Busch has ran this season and his numbers are outrageous.  He's won 3 of 4 races, he's led 626 of 713 laps he's competed in.  His average finish is 1.2, and people wonder why fans are bickering for him not to race?  I don't want to see a major league guy coming down to the NASCAR Xfinity Series and rotting up the show.  There are so many talented kids that are racing in the series that should be getting attention on Saturday's that Busch is taking away from when he races, that this needs to stop.

It isn't just Kyle Busch.  It's Kevin Harvick, Brad Keselowski, Joey Logano, Austin Dillon and many more.  If you've raced in the Sprint Cup Series two or more seasons and have a full-time ride inside Sprint Cup you don't need to be racing part-time in the Xfinity Series or the Camping World Truck Series.  There is enough talent to suffice the series competition with young drivers that have a desire to win and compete.  Last season Chris Buescher and Chase Elliott had many showings against one another and they provided fans a better show than Kyle Busch could have.

People keep bringing up the discussion of Mark Martin back in the 90s and people didn't bicker about him.  Well we didn't have social media then, we barely even had discussion groups and message boards back but believe me, fans didn't like it as much then as they don't like it now.  Fans didn't have the NASCAR Fan Council like they do now, they didn't have facebook or twitter to post their thoughts to NASCAR about issues, even though I don't feel it does any good on this topic.

The Xfinity Series is off this weekend, well what does it do Kyle Busch but he has to race in the Truck Series event this weekend at Martinsville.  You don't see major league pitchers pitching in the minor leagues on Saturday and then the majors on Sunday.  NASCAR needs to get this fixed because if you read enough, many fans aren't even watching on Saturday's events when Busch is racing.  He's stinking up the show.

When Xfinity took on the title sponsorship their slogan was "Where names are made!"  How is a driver suppose to make a name for himself when they are barely able to finish on the lead lap because a Sprint Cup driver has most of the field lapped?  One of my friends had a valid point about Sprint Cup Series drivers racing in the series, if NASCAR is going to continue to let them race, make them run a car that is not fielded by their Sprint Cup Series operation like Busch, Keselowski, Logano and Dillon have been.  Make them run their own equipment and form their own team.

The sponsorship deal is an excuse to get the Sprint Cup Series guy in the door.  Last season the series champion could not even find full funding on his car and I blame that on the fact that cup drivers had the major effect on the series.  I heard that when Buescher had a sponsorship deal in place for this season, the sponsor jumped ship to a part-time deal with a Cup driver in Xfinity.  Sponsors will fill cars, even if it takes owners and NASCAR lowering the price of the way the series is ran just like the Truck Series.

There are many cases where younger drivers are put on the back burner to these Sprint Cup Series drivers.  Remember Trevor Bayne having to sit out the majority of the 2012 season because a sponsor couldn't be found for his ride?  It's time for a change get these guys out the two series that are the growing lines to the Sprint Cup Series.

Bayne, Puccia finding speed after five races

Many people questioned the move Jack Roush made in early January when he moved Matt Puccia to the AdvoCare Team of Trevor Bayne and moved Bob Osborne to Front Row Motorsports after Chris Buescher was moved in there.  Bayne and Osborne seemed to struggle last season getting their chemistry down and there were a lot of marks I put against Osborne last season in how he handled some situations with Trevor Bayne and making changes.

So I was one of the people that really, really welcomed Matt Puccia's arrival as the new crew chief of Bayne this season and for the most part I've seen a lot good things so far in the first five races this season.  Puccia has handled things much differently than Osborne did, he and Bayne have more of a working chemistry together.  After five races this season you can see a difference.

Trevor Bayne showed a lot of speed this past weekend in Fontana.  Bayne was running very competitive before a tire blew out on his No. 6 AdvoCare Ford Fusion on lap 109.  This was after the No. 43 of Aric Almirola made contact with Bayne.  The team fixed the problems on the car and the one big mark I give them is they did something I didn't see all of last season.  They came back from being down a lap to get a top-20 finish.

Those that don't think there is an improvement need to take a lot at the numbers compared to the first five races last season.  Last season, Bayne had an average start of 34.6 and an average finish of 26.8; this season Bayne has an average start of 17.0, and an average finish of 22.0.   The numbers are going to improve once Roush gets the cars completely understood and he and Puccia have more time together.

Las Vegas Pre-Race Notes

Trevor Bayne will be making his sixth career start this weekend at the 1.5 mile Las Vegas Motor Speedway this weekend when the Sprint Cup Series goes there for the Kobalt Tools 400.  Trevor Bayne scored his first career non-restrictor plate top-ten at Las Vegas in 2012 when he finished 9th.
Notes of Interest:

• Trevor Bayne comes into Las Vegas 27th in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series points standings after the first two events.
• Bayne has five previous starts at the 1.5 mile track, with 1 top-ten finish.  Bayne has an average start of 29.0 and an average finish of 20.0 at the track.  He has completed 1330 of 1335 laps.
• In Five Xfinity Series starts, Trevor Bayne has 3 top-five finishes and five top-ten efforts.  Bayne completed 1000 of 1000 laps with an average start of 11.6 and an average finish of 5.4.

Quoting Trevor Bayne on Las Vegas
"Las Vegas has always been a pretty fun track to race on.  Whether it was back in the XFINITY Series or in the Cup Series, I've really liked racing here.  Hopefully our AdvoCare Ford will have the same speed in it we did in Atlanta and that we can get a really solid run for everyone at AdvoCare and back at the shop."

Atlanta Pre-Race Notes

Trevor Bayne looks to make vast improvement on his 28th place finish in the Daytona 500 last weekend when the Sprint Cup Series goes to Atlanta Motor Speedway this weekend.  This will be Bayne's third visit to the 1.54 mile quad-oval track in the Sprint Cup Series.  Bayne's best finish came in September of 2012 at the track, a 16th.
Notes of Interest for Atlanta

• Trevor Bayne has recorded five Xfinity Series starts at AMS.  He recorded one top-ten finish, a seven place finish in August of 2013.
• Bayne's two previous Sprint Cup efforts at the track have been 16th and 19th place finishes.
• This will be the first non-restrictor plate race for the new Ford Fusion and the NASCAR rules package.

Bayne's Thought's on Atlanta

"Atlanta is a ton of fun to race on.  You can race right against the wall or right on the white line.  It has a lot of charactor to it and really wears out tires.  I love racing there and hopefully (crew chief) Matt (Puccia) will get this AdvoCare Ford dialed in and we will have a great run on Sunday."