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."