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| Bayne takes questions during Media Day |
WHAT ABOUT 2015 IN GENERAL? “I feel really confident about this season, really, having the experience behind me with Bob Osborne and some of the other guys on our team. With the new guys coming into Roush trying to change that culture a little bit and really focusing on what we can do with these race cars to make them more competitive, I feel that we’re making big gains so I’m excited about that and I can’t wait to see what we can do once we get to places like Atlanta and Vegas and Phoenix and other race tracks that aren’t necessarily all about timing and not being in the big one like here at Daytona.”
A LOT OF YOUNG GUYS COMING INTO THE SPORT. “I’m going on 24 this week, so I’m getting older. I actually age, believe it or not, but it’s crazy to think, honestly, that I’ve been around NASCAR’s top three series for the last four or five years. To have driven for the Wood Brothers for that long, for over 50 races, to have gotten that experience at the Cup level, I think that’s really gonna help me going into this season. Even though it’s my first year at the Cup level full-time, I’ve gotten that kind of experience and I think that’s gonna help me a lot going into this.”
WHAT ADVICE WOULD YOU GIVE TO THE YOUNG GUYS? “You’ve got to be humble and keep your eyes open when you’re here. I think when you come in you feel like you know it all, even though you want to act like you don’t feel that way, you still feel that way. I still have a lot to learn and I wish I would have been more of a sponge than I was when I first got into this sport, and I think there’s just so much to learn – especially young guys that are coming off of short tracks. When you get to these mile-and-a-halves and restrictor plate races, it’s way different than anything you’ve done growing up. So you’ve just got to absorb as much as you can and lean on your teammates and people around you who are a little smarter than you are at a young age.”
WHAT ARE YOUR EXPECTATIONS FOR NEXT WEEKEND? “I think that we had as good of equipment at the Wood Brothers as anywhere, but I think Daytona is not necessarily about equipment, it’s about being at the right place at the right time, keeping yourself out of trouble and having enough friends that will push you to the win at the end and not root you out. This race is one of the hardest races to win and it’s also when you do win it’s not because it was, I guess it’s easy when you do win too because for me in 2011 it’s not like I was a better race car driver than anyone else out there. I was just in the right place at the right time and I was really blessed to have won that race, but also, like I said before, it can be very hard, so this is a very different race than any other race we go to.”
HOW DO YOU EXPECT TO PROGRESS ONCE WE GET INTO THE REAL SEASON? “I think it’s gonna take a little bit of time of working together and getting in a rhythm being there every weekend to figure out what I need in these race cars. They’re a new car. We haven’t gotten to test at all. It’s my first time working with Bob Osborne and Roush Fenway has a lot of changes going on, so I think our expectations have to stay realistic these first few weeks. I’m not saying we couldn’t go run top-10 at Atlanta, but I think if we expect to go there and just win just because it’s gonna be tough to do. We can do that and we should have that mindset, but it’s gonna be a work in progress, I think, until mid-summer.”
HOW IS YOUR HEALTH? “I’m doing great. I feel good and have been working out a lot and using my AdvoCare products to help me stay fit, so I’m good to go.”
A BIG YEAR FOR YOU, RIGHT? “It is. I think this is the year I’ve waited on since I was basically five or six years old, when I figured out this is what I wanted to do. To finally have this opportunity, I feel like I got to the Cup Series as fast as I wanted to, but to be able to run full-time it’s taken a little longer than I had hoped. These last two or three years have been challenging for me to be patient, but I just trusted Jack that he said he was gonna run me in Cup and here we are, but now it’s worth the wait to be in the 6 car with Bob Osborne as my crew chief, with AdvoCare on the car every race. It really is great.”
WAS THERE EVER A MOMENT OF DOUBT? “No, I don’t think I ever have. I believed that I was capable of it and I believed I was here for a reason and God was gonna provide that opportunity and here we are. I never had that doubt, but I just kind of wondered when.”
IT’S BEEN A LONG TIME SINCE YOUR 500 WIN. “It’s been since 2011. Four years. It’s hard to believe. I feel like it just happened. It’s crazy to think about, but I think now I have a better perspective than I did then on things and just more appreciation for this opportunity. If you win one race and then all of a sudden get the ride of your lifetime and get to run full-time and do all that, you probably don’t appreciate it as much. So this patience deal has taught me a lot and I feel ready to go and I’m as hungry as I can possibly be to go out here and succeed. I’ve spent a lot of time with my team this off-season and I think Roush Fenway is kind of in a reboot situation, where culture is changing, our cars are changing, our people have changed, and we still have a lot of the same great people that have always been there, so I feel like this is a great time for me to be a part of this and to be moving into the Cup Series. I have two solid teammates with Ricky Stenhouse Jr. and Greg Biffle to be able to lean on and I think it’s a perfect storm.”
YOU NEED TO GROW A MULLET LIKE RICKY. “I’m not gonna grow a mullet like Ricky. It’s not gonna happen.”
WHAT DO YOU THINK ABOUT THAT? “I don’t know. I give him a hard time about it, but we’ll see. It’s alright.”
WOULD YOU CUT IT? “I would help him. If he needs some scissors or a mirror, I would hold it for him.”
ANY PRESSURE WITH CARL MOVING ON AND YOU MOVING IN THAT SPOT? “I don’t necessarily feel like I’m moving into Carl’s spot. I don’t think that anybody would ever come in and try to replace Carl. He’s such a great driver and had so much success at Roush Fenway Racing I kind of feel like it’s a new deal – a new number, new team. I didn’t really move into his team, either. A lot of those guys are on Ricky’s team and Greg’s team, and some of them are on mine, but it’s a hodge podge of different people. I think that’s part of the culture change you’re gonna see at Roush Fenway Racing with Mark McArdle, Kevin Kidd being there and Robbie Reiser still being there, I think we’ve got a more direct approach, a more productive approach versus reactive. We were always reacting off of our issues versus being productive to not have those issues in the future and I think you’re gonna see us really come to life halfway through this year. As we learn these new cars and we learn each other and I get in a rhythm of doing this every single weekend.”
WHEN YOU LOOK AT THE 6 DO YOU THINK OF MARK MARTIN’S CAR? “I do a little bit, but David Ragan got to take those shoes, so when I think of the 6 I just think of Jack’s legacy – what Roush Fenway Racing has accomplished in their 27 or 28 years they’ve been doing this. I think it’s exciting to be a part of this organization and I was pumped up to sign with them in 2010 and get this opportunity, but I’m probably more now to see what’s happened at that race shop and at that team – to see the changes that are taking place. I think we’re in as good of a position now than we’ve ever been.”
DID YOU KNOW CARL WAS LEAVING BEFORE HE ANNOUNCED IT? “No, I think Carl is very private. He does a good job of not letting things get in the way and not talking about them with anybody, really. I think he keeps things close to home and sometimes that’s best. You guys found out as fast as I did. We could all have our hunches and all that, but that’s basically it.”
DO YOU GET JEALOUS OF CHASE ELLIOTT OR KYLE LARSON WITH THE WAY THEY GOT THAT FULL-TIME RIDE RIGHT AWAY? “It just happened perfect for them, it really did. There were times when, like I said, I had to work on my patience, but I’m excited for those guys because they’ve been successful and they’ve done a great job. But this sport is all about timing. Who is driving what car when and had Chase Elliott been in a Junior Motorsports car three or four years ago, it might have been a different story for him, but he caught that perfect timing of being in that 9 car when it was super-fast and he could go win races and, to be honest, I feel like anybody in the top-30 in Cup could get in the race-winning car and have an opportunity to win the race that weekend. So it’s all about timing and that’s why I say I’m so excited to be a part of Roush Fenway Racing right now because I feel like the timing is gonna be right and in the next year or so you’re gonna see us come to life and be able to contend for wins and championships and everything we’ve always wanted to accomplish. This is a huge opportunity for me and something that I’ve always wanted.”
IS THERE A SENSE OF COMFORT GETTING IN THE CAR KNOWING YOU’VE GOT THAT EXPERIENCE? “It’s gonna be new this year with a new format of cars and all that and no testing. That makes it very tough on a guy that’s gonna run full-time for the first year with a new team, but I’ve got the XFINITY Series experience, which I think is gonna relate a lot more to these Cup cars this season than the old Cup cars even. The experience I got with the Wood Brothers driving their car was something that I couldn’t thank them enough for because it’s gonna prepare me for this season.”
JAMIE MCMURRAY TALKED ABOUT HOW HE’LL ALWAYS BE INTRODUCED AS A DAYTONA 500 CHAMPION. THE SAME GOES FOR YOU. “That’s good to know. I was wondering if I could replace that one day with something, but maybe if you win a championship that would change it, but Jamie has won a lot of big races.”
DO YOU FIND YOUR TIME IS TAKEN UP MORE FOR THIS RACE THAN OTHERS BECAUSE YOU’VE WON? “It has. It’s fun to come here. It’s enjoyable because I know it’s gonna be a little bit of a buzz about it. Obviously, it’s been a few years ago and we’re still talking about it, so it was a big deal. I can’t say enough how much more it means to me now even than it did then just because I have seen how hard it is to win this race, and it makes you more appreciative of it.”
1 comment:
Great article.
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