Something Fans Need to Know: There's a reason Trevor Bayne isn't in the 21

It's a constant comment I see as an admin and page owner on facebook "I wish Trevor Bayne was still in the 21."  Or "Trevor should have stayed with the Wood Brothers and he'd be doing much better."

Here is a little piece of the puzzle many fans know but some do not.  Back in 2010, Jack Roush signed Bayne after he was let go by Michael Waltrip Racing with about 10 races to go.  He really didn't know where to put him into the puzzle at Roush Fenway because of already having Ricky Stenhouse Jr and someone else at the time.  Bayne ran the final events on the Xfinity Series schedule that season and also ran 1 event for the Wood Brothers at Texas Motor Speedway finishing 17th.

Here's that little piece to the puzzle I mentioned.  Bayne was signed on with Roush Fenway Racing

Bayne ran the 21 from 2010 to 2014 part-time

when he was driving for the Wood Brothers.  I'm not going to take anything away from the Wood Family because they've been around a long-time but what many fans need to get the conception of when he drove that car he was pretty much driving another Roush Fenway Racing car that was sent over to the Woods.  He won the Daytona 500 in 2011 as the youngest driver ever in the sport, which was one of the biggest upset victories in our sport with the team.  The alliance with Roush and the Wood Brothers went on for many years until Bayne signed with AdvoCare to move to go full-time in the Sprint Cup Series and the Wood family then formed an alliance Team Penske and their young driver Ryan Blaney.

Here is the catch in all of this people.  Yes you are seeing the 21 car run a lot better but remember they have support from Team Penske right now, where when Trevor Bayne ran the car it was with Roush.  Since 2010, Bayne was setup to go into a Roush car in the Sprint Cup Series, it was a matter of finding sponsors and the right leverage to get him there to make it happen.  AdvoCare made the deal happen in 2014, and he parted ways with the 21 team. 

The deal with WBR served its purpose to get Bayne much needed experience but fact of the matter is, he was meant to be part of Roush Fenway from the start.  I look back at what Bayne has gone through since joining this organization and many car owners would have given up on him, so I think there is a sense of loyalty on both sides between Jack Roush and Trevor Bayne.