Bayne scores second top-10 of 2015 in Wild Daytona finish

Trevor Bayne had been inside the top-3 for much of the closing stages of the Coke Zero 400 at Daytona International Speedway.  Bayne earned his second top-ten finish in the last three events in a wild finish at the speedway.

Bayne's 9th place finish ties his season best at Michigan 

Bayne looked was fifth fastest in the first practice session until the first huge wreck of the weekend that sent the No. 6 Advocare team to a backup car.  Rain cancelled qualifying and with Bayne being fifth in practice would start the race where he ran in practice.  Bayne and crew chief Bob Osborne made the decision early on in the race to go to the back to avoid being involved in any wrecks.  Following the competition caution flag at lap 25, Bayne found himself in 27th.

He would quickly move back into the top-20 and maintained his track position until the caution on lap 54 for Carl Edwards single car accident.  During the caution period, Osborne would bring Bayne in for four tires and fuel and putting him in 31st as several stayed on the track.  Bayne would waste little time during the next run as he was able to get to as high as ninth place before making a little contact with the outside wall as he barely avoided a multi-car crash involving several in turn 2.

The damage was not enough to hinder Bayne's performance as he returned to the track in 15th.  He would move toward the front, as he would only need five laps to get inside the top-five.  Bayne continued to move forward as he was in third place by lap 127, and the Knoxville native would maintain his position through the closing laps of the race, even moving himself into second place at lap 143; before being shuffled back to fifth place before the caution fell at lap 149.

Bayne was shuffled back on the final restart and in the last lap crash that seen Austin Dillion fly into the catch fence, the No. 3 of Dillion went over the top of Bayne's No. 6 Advocare Ford before Bayne was turned after the finish of the race.

“It stinks to tear a race car up at the checkers but that is the first time I have gone to the infield care center and not been broken hearted from a bad run,” Bayne said standing outside the DIS infield care facility at nearly three a.m. Monday. “I feel we had a top-five run going there. It was pretty wild. There at the end off of four everybody was trying to go everywhere. We got rooted out by the 41 car and ended up ninth. We will take it.“

TREVOR BAYNE, No. 6 AdvoCare Ford Fusion (Finished 9th) -- “I am good to go. It stinks to tear a race car up at the checkers but that is the first time I have gone to the infield care center and not been broken hearted from a bad run. We finished 9th I guess or wherever they line us up at after they look at all of it. I feel we had a top-five run going there. It was pretty wild. My car was kind of sluggish at the beginning and we got into the wall when Kenseth wrecked off four and it narrowed it up just enough and toed it in just enough that it started handling really good and got really fast. We drove up to the top four but it was really tough battling those Hendrick cars when you have three of them lined up together. We were able to hold our own and Denny (Hamlin) and I worked well and Paul Menard gave me some good pushes. There at the end off of four everybody was trying to go everywhere. We got rooted out by the 41 car and ended up ninth. We will take it. I feel we had a solid race today. That AdvoCare spark, you need it at three in the morning to keep you sharp. I never got tired in the race and I am sure everybody else was dragging a little after a long day at the race track. I was impressed by the fans staying in the stands and hopefully everyone is alright from that crash.”  

TALK ABOUT THIS CRAZY DAY, STARTING THIS RACE AT NEARLY MIDNIGHT AND ENDING AT THREE IN THE MORNING. “It is kind of back to your roots of short track racing or whatever where you don’t know what time you will get out of there. I remember as a kid leaving the track at four in the morning sometimes. It is kind of back to that. Like I said, we have some of the best fans in the world that will sit in the stands through the rain and lightning and whatever until three a.m. and I really appreciate that.”  

DID YOU SEE ANY OF THAT LAST WRECK? “I didn’t. I was almost through it I think when the 11 slid back up and then I had nowhere to go. I don’t know what happened yet, I just heard about it. I hope everyone is alright.”