AdvoCare, Bayne bring back Mark Martin attired paint scheme for Darlington

Trevor Bayne will run the famed Mark Martin scheme at Darlington

Trevor Bayne knew the legacy of the car he got into when he was signed to run full-time this season for Roush Fenway.  Next weekend he will be running Mark Martin's famed 1998 paint scheme at Darlington Raceway in the Southern 500.

Bayne even knows the honor it is to run the scheme next weekend.

Mark Martin in victory lane at Texas in 98

"It's a huge honor to run this paint scheme in Darlington," said Bayne.  "This scheme was so successful in the late '90s with Mark driving it, and it's really cool to see it back on the track and on the No. 6 Roush Fenway Ford again."

1998 was Martin's most successful season with Roush Fenway.  Martin won 7 events, the NASCAR
All Star Race, scored 22 top-fives, and 26 top-ten finishes; finishing second to Jeff Gordon in the points standings.

"It will be pretty cool to see that car back on the track," said Martin.  "It will definitely bring back a lot of great memories.  We had tremendous amount of success during that time period, and I look at it as one of the best periods of my racing career.  I hope all the guys who worked very hard on our team during that time will enjoy seeing it back on track again and that they will have a moment of pride in what we were able to accomplish."

It was probably an easy choice for AdvoCare and Roush Fenway to make since their colors are the same was Martin's old car.  The famed red, white, and blue colors from Valvoline match Bayne's AdvoCare sponsorship.

"I want to thank AdvoCare for giving us the opportunity to run this scheme," added Bayne.  "Hopefully we can give it the same kind of run that Mark gave it back in the day and get a solid finish in Darlington on Labor Day weekend.


Mark Martin unveiled the car on twitter

Understand there's more to NASCAR than just on track results

Trevor Bayne has struggled for much of this season and a lot of fans seem to be putting the blame solely on Bayne and not what has been going on at Roush Fenway Racing.

When the cars have handled well, Bayne's been the top-finishing Roush driver in several events, including the past two at Bristol and Michigan.  Here's where it all comes into play, fans are saying Bayne needs to be replaced by Xfinity Series points leader Chris Buescher or Bubba Wallace, Bayne has a deal that pretty much has him safe for at least a few years.  He's got a deal with sponsor AdvoCare and they are on the car because of he's great at what he can do off the track and they like the person Trevor Bayne is.

Sponsors have taken a swing in the last 20 years.  They don't always look at on track performance, it's what the driver can do for the sponsor away from the track.  They want a driver with a good image, respectful, and can carry the image of their product all the way.  Bayne does that with AdvoCare.

Notice when Bayne ran the NASCAR K&N Series event at Sonoma, AdvoCare was on the car, as well as when Bayne ran the ARCA event at Pocono and won.  Bayne made the remark that AdvoCare would be the only sponsors on his cars from here on out.  Drivers and sponsors have to work well with one another and these are a package

Fans don't get the concept that it's not always the on track results that put a driver and sponsor on a race car.  With the package deal that AdvoCare and Bayne brings to the table for Roush Fenway Racing.  Bayne is the only driver at Roush that is fully sponsored for Sprint Cup, the 16 and 17 are still having to run cars with Ford EcoBoost and Roush Performance on them.  Bayne has ran one sponsorship all season, AdvoCare.

One of the best drivers at keeping a sponsor on his car was Michael Waltrip, and his performance was never stellar.  Waltrip knew how to please the sponsors to keep them on his car without the results.

Bayne rallies late for top-15 at Bristol

Trevor Bayne rallied late in the Irwin Tools Night Race at Bristol to grab 15th from Kasey Kahne but the late race caution flag the team hoped for never fell and the team settled for 15th at the half-mile in Bristol, TN.

Bayne started the race in 22nd position.  He quickly moved around three cars and was in 19th before the first caution of the event came out on lap 52.  Bayne came down pit road for right side tires and and fuel.  However, the No. 47 blocked Bayne on pit road and it forced Bayne back to 27th position.

He immediately reported to crew chief Bob Osborne that the car had became extremely tight.  The tight handling condition continued throughout the green flag run, and would force Bayne to drop off the lead lap.  Despite falling a lap down, Bayne kept racing his way through the top-25.  He made his way into the top-20 by the halfway point of the event.  He moved into 15th before the caution flag came out on 370.

Bayne continued to try to get back on the lead lap, racing inside the top-20 before he was penalized under yellow for speeding on pit road.  Bayne was forced to go to the tail end of pit road on lap 430.

The penalty didn't keep Bayne down.  He was able to move forward and when the checkered flag fell on lap 500 he was in 15th after battling Kasey Kahne hard during the latter points of the event.
"It wasn't too bad a day for us," Bayne said after the 500-lap event.  "I felt like this AdvoCare Ford had some good speed tonight.  But the first pit stop we got boxed in by the No. 47 and couldn't get out.  That put us a lap down early there and we were in the lucky dog spot for the majority of the day and just couldn't catch the yellow that we needed."

"But it was a good way to fight back for my guys on this AdvoCare team.  "I'm decently happy with a top-15.  That's something we've got to shoot for and get better, so it's a step in the right direction."

Trevor Bayne Bristol Preview

Trevor Bayne will go to Bristol Motor Speedway to start his third career Sprint Cup Series race at the World's Fastest Half Mile.  Trevor Bayne finished 28th earlier this season after suffering electronic issues in the engine of his No. 6 Advocare Ford Fusion.

Bayne has made 12 career starts in the NASCAR Xfinity Series at the .535 mile track, scoring a career best finish of 6th in 2013.  He has four top-ten finishes at the concrete track in NASCAR's second tier division.  Bayne made his NASCAR debut at the track in 2009 for Jimmy Mean's in the No. 52 Taco Bell Chevrolet.

Trevor Bayne Quotes:
"I love Bristol," said Bayne.  "I remember going there as a little kid watching races and just dreaming of the day I could compete there.  It's definitely an awesome feeling racing in front of my friends and family."

"We are ready to hit the track and improve on where we were in the Spring.  I'm just excited to get it going this weekend and see all the flashbulbs in the crowd.  The night race is just an electric event and I'm ready to give this Advocare Ford all it has."

Notes for Bristol

• Crew Chief Bob Osborne has 17 starts as a crew chief at Bristol Motor Speedway with 2 wins, 4 top-fives, and 6 top-ten finishes, an average start of 19.8 and an average finish of 17.4, while leading 284 laps.
• Trevor Bayne owns 81 career starts in the Sprint Cup Series.  He has 1 win, 1 top-five, and 5 top-ten finishes in his career.  
• Going into this weekend Trevor Bayne moved to 27th in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series standings with his 22nd place finish last weekend at Michigan.

Race Weekend Schedule

Friday, August 21

• 11:30 AM - 12:55 PM NSCS PRACTICE
• 1:30 - 2:25 PM NSCS FINAL PRACTICE

Saturday, August 22

• 7:30 PM NSCS RACE/NBCSN

Trevor Bayne finishes 22nd at Michigan

Trevor Bayne piloted his No. 6 Advocare Ford Fusion from 27th to 22nd in the final restart of the race on Sunday afternoon in the Pure Michigan 400 at Michigan Speedway.

The No. 6 Advocare Crew complete a pit stop at Michigan

Bayne began the 400 mile, 200 lap event from the 25th position and maintained his track position early on in the event through the competition caution on lap 20.  During the caution, crew chief Bob Osborne brought Bayne in and worked on an loose handling condition the driver was facing early on.

Bayne would return to the track in 24th, and would be able to work himself as high as 21st during the first long green flag run of the event.  However, even though he moved forward, Bayne would fall one lap behind the race leaders during the first round of green flag pit stops.  Even though he was one lap behind the leaders, he would continue to work forward, moving into 20th following a lap 76 restart.  Bayne would maintain his position on the track until his car began to get tight in the center of the corner and he started to fall back.

Bayne fell to 25th before the second round of green flag pit stops occurred.  He would return to the track in 25th fought for track position with teammates Greg Biffle and Ricky Stenhouse Jr., as the handling condition of his No. 6 Advocare Ford continue to carry on through the race.  Osborne would bring Bayne in for tires on the final caution and used the restart to move from 27th to 22nd in the running order where he would finish.

"We made our car better throughout the race," Bayne said after the event.  "It was a hard fought battle and I'm thankful for all of the work the guys on this AdvoCare team put in to our car this weekend.  We'll move on from this and get ready to go to my home track of Bristol."

Bayne's finish moved him ahead of teammate Stenhouse in the Sprint Cup standings.