Trevor Bayne Diehards: Loudon Race Recap

Trevor Bayne posted a 16th place finish Sunday afternoon at New Hampshire Motor Speedway in Loudon, New Hampshire.  The finish was Bayne's best finish since finishing 15th at Bristol four races before.

Bayne started the event in 33rd position and would make a run forward before the first caution flag fell.  He worked himself up to the 25th position where he would be when the caution flag fell on lap 43 to give crew chief Bob Osborne a chance to bring Bayne into the pits and work on the car.  The team took four tires, made a chassis adjustment to help with a loose handling condition on entry and a tight handling condition through the center of the turn.

The race resumed on lap 44, however, it didn't last long as fluid was laid down on the track to bring out the caution flag again on lap 48.  Osborne took the chance to gain some track position and left Bayne on the track and moved up to 20th position.  With the worn out tires, however, Bayne slipped back to 27th.  Bayne would fall a lap down to the leaders on lap 107, but luckily a caution flag fell at lap 120 to give Bayne the lucky dog position.

Bayne and the team worked to get the No. 6 AdvoCare Ford right through the next 100 laps of the event.  He made his way into the top-20 at lap 165, and fought his way up to 18th before the team brought him to pit road under caution on lap 191.  He returned to the track running 21st and was able to hold his ground inside the top-20 until another yellow on lap 205.  The team used some strategy to gain some track position once again and put themselves 7th on the board.

The race restarted on lap 210, and Bayne quickly went to work trying to hold off other competitors on fresher rubber.  The biggest question was whether a few could make it on fuel.  In the final stages of the event, Bayne gained several positions when race leader Kevin Harvick ran out of fuel, along with Kurt Busch and put them in 16th position.

"That was a pretty good run for the AdvoCare Ford," said Bayne afterward.  "We were really able to make gains during each run and were able to get our car to handle pretty well.  I'm happy it was a solid finish and we'll look to gain on this going into next weekend in Dover."