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."