 |
| Bayne challenged late for a top-3 finish in the Pure Michigan 400 |
With the race restarting in over-time, Bayne would restart behind Larson on the outside line in the fifth position and gave the driver of the 42 car enough of a push to get around two Furniture Row Toyota's in the end. Bayne also made a daring move to get around Erik Jones and Matt for third and fourth before hitting a patch of oil dry in the turn 3 section of the track that sent him up the track but he would rally back around Austin Dillon for fifth place.
It was his only top-five finish of the season, in what has been a season filled with tough finishes for Trevor Bayne and his team. After the finish, Bayne moved up to 19th in the points standings but with just three races to go before the playoffs begin, it will take a victory for Bayne to get in.
Even if Trevor Bayne does not make it in, he's out to make a statement the remainder of the season with his team.
"We're still not in the Chase yet and we have to keep pushing and making our cars faster and for Ricky's sake, who's in the Chase," said Bayne after the race. "We have 13 races left with or without the Chase to go make a statement, win races and run well. It feels good to be in contention. We still aren't the fastest race car. We can't beat them on raw speed, but we can put ourselves close with fuel strategy, tire strategy and trying to be in the mix at the end. And that feels really good from what we're used to."
Bayne had a fast car in the first stage of the event as he was turning laps as quick as the race leaders and making gains on the top-10 pack of cars. After the end of the first stage the team made adjustments that didn't sit well with the car and Bayne began to fall back in the field. It would take until the final run of the final stage for Bayne to show up when crew chief Matt Puccia made the call to go to the end on fuel.
Once again it seemed like Indianapolis all over again when the caution flag came out on lap 185. Bayne's team took the chance with two tires and came out first in the pits, however, four cars remained on the track. With nine laps remaining in the race, Bayne seen himself back in the same position he was in at Indy, he was in fifth place and on older tires. Another caution fell on lap 195 that would red flag the event and Bayne would restart in 6th place behind Kyle Larson.
He would eventually give Larson the push to win the race and make the move through to get into the top-five.
"That's what we needed," said Bayne after the Michigan event. "Man, if it stayed green we had another shot like Indy to hold off that 78, but we had a caution at the wrong time. I got a great restart and pushed the 42 to the lead. I went for it in turn three and it didn't stick. It got massive loose and ended up fifth. Third and fifth, that's not a big difference. If I went home thinking I should have gone for it in three, I would be kicking my butt. But it's a great day for our team. We needed this to recover a little bit."
After being wrecked on the restart at Indianapolis, Bayne took the chance at Michigan and came home fifth.
"It's refreshing. We've had a tough couple of months not getting the results we thought that we deserved. Today, to get a result feels really good. We had fast car early on. We had fuel strategy at the end. Probably gonna have a shot to beat the 78 if it stayed green. Got a caution and I was like 'Oh man, here goes Indy again.' We had a good first restart. The second restart was even better. We were able to push the 42 up to the lead and getting into (turn 3) I tried to go for it from the top and hit the Speedy Dry, and got loose, and came home fifth. Cost us a couple spots. Man, when you're in that position you have to go for it. I wouldn't have slept good at night if I didn't stuff it in there and try something. It just didn't stick. It feels really good for our team."
No comments:
Post a Comment