Bayne survives the Monster with a top-10 finish

For the second time in the last three weeks, Trevor Bayne scored a top-10 finish in the No. 6 AdvoCare Ford Fusion, this time at Dover International Speedway.  Bayne survived a late race crash caused when Jimmie Johnson had transmission issues and took out nearly 20 cars in the field and battled late in the race with Brad Keselowski and Martin Truex Jr., for spots inside the top-ten.

Trevor Bayne, driver of the No. 6 AdvoCare Ford, leads a pack
during the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series AAA 400 Drive for
Austism At Dover International Speedway on May 15, 2016
Credit:  Sean Gardner

Bayne struggled early in the AAA 400 with no grip where the rubber was building on the track.  On the first pit stop of the race, Matt Puccia went with four tires and a tire adjustment on the No. 6 AdvoCare Ford Fusion when the competition caution fell at lap 40.  As the long run went on, Bayne told crew chief Matt Puccia that his right rear tire was going away in a hurry.  Leader Kevin Harvick put Bayne one lap down while running in 26th at the lap 116 marker, a lap later the caution flag fell on lap 144 for the No. 7's single car crash.

With several caution flags during a stretch during the race it gave the team some time to adjust on the car but at lap 214 when Reed Sorenson had an accident Bayne told Puccia all of their adjustments seemed to keep making their car tighter through the middle of the corner.

Puccia made several adjustments to make the car better through the next few runs, as he was running in 19th when the big wreck occurred on lap 356.  Bayne took on some damage to his quarter panel and the team debated on fixing the damage.

Spotter Roman Pemberton talked crew chief Matt Puccia into coming in and fixing it, rather than losing the positions on the track, he felt the team would be better off to fix the damage in the pits, lose a few spots in the pits and gain the positions back on the track.  Bayne was able to race his way up to 8th place but the tight handling of his car forced him back to 10th place late in the event where he would finish.

"Sometimes we haven't felt like this season we got the finish we deserved and today we get didn't a finish we deserve we will take it," Trevor Bayne said after the AAA 400.  "The shoe was on the right foot today.  It is nice to get a finish like that after not having a great weekend.  We were really tight all day.  That last run we were pretty fast at the end of it.  We will learn from it, come back next time and count our blessings here and take a top-10 happily.  I was on the edge of my seat out there for sure.  It is a really grueling race track.  You can't let your guard down for a second or it will bite you.  We that in practice and saw that in the race.  I am just glad to get out of here without any wounds."