"There is something fundamentally wrong"

Yes that was the statement that Matt Kenseth made on the scanner during the KC Masterpiece 400 on Saturday night to crew chief Matt Puccia after several changes were made to help improve the car.  The basis of this is, the car couldn't be fixed with changes the crew was making to the race car and that means one of two things, the shop is not providing the proper setup to the 6 team or the crew chief/engineering team is not doing the home work on what the driver has been telling them to make the cars better.

In Puccia's tenure as a crew chief he's had 246 starts, and only 3 wins with veteran Greg Biffle.  

When you look up fundamentally, you get this  - used to make an emphatic statement about the basic truth of something.  So in racing terms Kenseth meant "fundamentally, this is a matter the shop will have to fix."  

There are a lot of questions floating around after last weekend now concerning how well the 17 team has been performing compared to the 6 team.  I've been saying it since about July of last year when Stenhouse won the second race at Daytona, that the 17 had something different than the 6 car did.  To some fans they still want to believe that Matt Kenseth is still just there to help improve the performance of the No. 6 team, however, many have already let the cat out of the bag that Trevor Bayne will not be returning to the team next year and will be looking elsewhere.  
 
After this situation can you really blame him?  They brought someone else into the team to prove what he has been saying for the past year.  The rude awakening that Roush Fenway Racing got this past weekend was nothing more than a funny statement to many fans.  It showed what kind of move that they had really made two weeks ago.  There is a basis of performance that is missing with this organization and has been for many years.  

It is the same reason guys such as Matt Kenseth, Carl Edwards, Greg Biffle and Chris Buescher are no longer with this organization anymore.  The upper-management of the team cannot figure out where their problems are really at, even after making several key moves two years ago to the aerodynamic field, engineering, they're still behind the 8 ball.  

So when you put what all was said during Saturday night, you really have think how far behind is this team?

Roush does not have a Bayne problem, they've got their own issues

Matt Kenseth's results on Saturday night ended much different
than many in the media and fans expected it to.
(May 11, 2018 - Source: Brian Lawdermilk/Getty Images North America

For two weeks now all we have heard is how Matt Kenseth was going to come in and make an instant change with the 6 car.  The media, along with leadership at Roush had been laying the results on Trevor Bayne, yet after last night the tides seem to be turning.

On lap 18, Kenseth complained of the car being "too tight."  Matt Kenseth never could get the 6 car passed the 25th position, he was put a lap down before the competition yellow at 32.  Kenseth complained much of the same about the handling of the car that Trevor Bayne has since early Summer 2017.  "Car is pretty much undriveable right now, no rear grip, ton of air in the tire"

By the mid-point of the event, Kenseth was three laps down and still struggling with the handling of the race car and the crew chief Matt Puccia who has been on the pit box since 2016 made very little headway for improvement.   The end result was when Kenseth was four laps down and involved in the late race wreck.  

“Freaking four laps down and we wreck, you’ve got to be (expletive) me,” Kenseth said on his radio.

It's not hard to analyze the problem here if you've been following Trevor Bayne for the past few years and really been listening to his radio since last May.  Bayne's radio transmission has been pretty much of the same reaction towards the car as Kenseth's was night, so when have listened to fans and the media bash him for the past two years you have to put the margins together and realize that this has been a major cause from 1-the crew chief and 2-the equipment.  

“I expected us to be a little more competitive than that, so it was a really tough weekend all around,” he said. “We obviously have some work to do. The good news is, it’s got to get better.”

Kenny Wallace this morning on twitter had an observation as well.  He put "Matt Kenseth has proven the 6 needs work, this makes Trevor Bayne look good."

I am really proud of Trevor Bayne for showing up to Kansas and being a "team player."  I wouldn't expect anything less of this young man.  If you really know him, you know, he has the determination and the will to want to compete and succeed as much as anyone else in this garage.  What Roush Fenway did to him was out of line and last night results are just a showing of just how far off this organization truly is.

Even the way Trevor Bayne is, deep down, in the back of his mind he probably was thinking "see Jack, Steve, Mark this wasn't me, it's your cars."  I think that so many people had those high hopes for Kenseth to jump right into this and see him run better than Trevor Bayne but didn't realize just how far off this team really is right now.  I know the person this young man is, he is going to take it in stride and go week to week and make the best of things.  However with the results that the team got last night it proved one thing.

So in other words, Roush does not have a Bayne problem; they've got a problem with equipment. 

It is something I've preached since Ricky Stenhouse Jr. won at Talladega last year, Bayne has been given the short end of the stick at RFR.  The equipment has been different, the setups just aren't up to par compared to the 17 car.  Those that want to compare Trevor and Ricky's accomplishments in the NASCAR Xfinity Series also need to remember, Trevor Bayne missed much of 2012 because of a sponsorship issue, and his issue with MS in 2011 cost him as well.  He came into the deal when the equipment began to fall off with the company.  

There is a margin to fall back on and Roush lost it around 2012.  No one knows where they did, I have my own theory but I will not go into it.  Yet this company began to struggle well before Bayne and Stenhouse were in their seats, it is the reason that drivers like Kenseth himself, Carl Edwards and Greg Biffle are no longer with the organization.  Biffle once called it a sinking ship.

You can fish around for the problem all you want but I've listened to this teams radio for the past 4 years since Bayne became a full-time driver and if you want to lay it on feed back to the team.  I have heard Bayne give the same feedback to the team and crew chief that Kenseth did.  It's the crew chief and the engineers that have to take what the driver gives them and make the car better.  simple air pressure adjustments don't fix ill-handling race cars.

So as I said before, Roush doesn't have a Bayne problem, they've got their own issues to fix.

Bayne deserved better at Roush

 You can sit and argue this with me until you are blue in the face and I am too, I have followed the working surroundings of Roush since the day this team was formed in 1988.  The fact is, Jack Roush has always had a surrounding piece where one car runs better than the other.  It was that way in his sports car operation, it moved through his stock car shop when they went to two cars in 1992 and it has always remained that way. 

The jest of this comes from a decision made last week to take Trevor Bayne out of the 6 for a majority of the races and part him with Matt Kenseth for the races that appears his sponsorship AdvoCare isn't on the car.  Let us just sit here an analyze a few things for a minute to get a better apprehension of what I am saying when I mean Bayne deserved better with this company.

April 27, 2018 -  Trevor Bayne stands at Talladega during
qualifying
Source: Josh Hedges/Getty Images North America

1.  No Driver Deserves to Find Out from Family - Jack Roush let this out on SiriusXM that Bayne found out through a family member that this deal was going down last Monday night.  In no way shape or form should a driver have to find out from a family member that this is happening, and nor should a family member find out before the driver what is going on.  To me that showed the first true sign of Roush's true colors right there, and while they made a statement that they planned to take a flight to Knoxville and tell Trevor, I don't buy it one bit at all. 

2.  Jack Roush and Mark Martin set the deal up almost a month and half ago - If you listen to Mark Martin on several podcast he made the statement that Roush asked to call Matt Kenseth over a month ago and did so and got the ball rolling to get him back into a race car for the company.  So that left ample opportunity for them to notify Bayne of what was going on.  I believe that Roush and Martin played the biggest part in this deal and if you go back to when Martin says he made the first call to Kenseth, that's when the performance truly started to fall off the map of the 6 car totally.  I feel that Martin and Kenseth have more into the deal than what is being led to believe after you hear Matt Kenseth say he wants to have more of a role after he is done driving. 

3.  Stenhouse gets 4 crew chiefs since going full-time, Bayne two?  - Yeah, you read that right.  Ricky Stenhouse Jr., went through three crew chiefs before Brian Pattie was able to help him win two races last year.  Trevor Bayne has worked with Bob Osborne and Matt Puccia, and they have not been the pick of the litter in my opinion when it comes to making decisions on changes with the race car during the races.  You can't just make a simple air pressure adjustment and expect a car that is handling so negatively to go back to the positive.  I think that this is one of those moves that shows a motive of how Jack Roush either loves you or he hates you, and it's been that way since this company started. 

A crew chief is the leader of the team and Puccia has not been able to get the results, even with veteran Greg Biffle when he was his crew chief on the 16 car.  The basis is, the crew chief needs to be able to listen to the driver and make sure he pulls the right changes from the engineer.  But where I am getting at, when one driver goes through 4 crew chiefs and the other has gotten two and he's the one getting replaced, something just isn't right with this picture. 

Conclusion - I believe this company has been a let down to Trevor Bayne since he came here.  Bayne has been loyal, he's never thrown anyone under the bus, while I do feel there's been times he should have thrown the whole organization under but that is not his style.  Many fans didn't like how Trevor handled the situation with the media last week, I was proud of him.  He was at the toughest track on the schedule and he wanted to focus.  Then after being wrecked, he thanked AdvoCare and the people that supported him through this tough time, not one mention of Roush.  I was proud of how he handled that situation.  He didn't need to thank the team that had just pretty much handed him his pink slip and put someone else in his ride for a majority of his races. 

It's time Trevor Bayne goes in a different direction

Michael McDowell, driver of the #34 K-LOVE RADIO Ford, and Trevor Bayne, driver of the #6 AdvoCare Ford, speak during practice for the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Toyota Owners 400 at Richmond Raceway on April 20, 2018 in Richmond, Virginia. (April 19, 2018 - Source: Jared C. Tilton/Getty Images North America)

I have been sitting here with my blood pressure rising everyday since this news broke about Matt Kenseth coming back and pretty much taking over the 6 car except for the races that AdvoCare is going to be on the car.  There is something that sits on your mind a lot when ill-minded decisions are made by an organization that you have been a fan of and even been a part of since 1988. 

I have listened to Jack Roush, Steve Newmark, Mark Martin and Matt Kenseth and heard so much the past couple days that I'd really say something to either one of them if I got around them this week, let's first discuss Mark Martin and Jack Roush.  They have a history together of course and according to Martin, the owner called him almost a month ago to call Kenseth and try and get him back into a car.  Kenseth agreed to come back.  So lets use our heads here and mark it here.  One month ago this move was made and lets look at how Bayne has been performing since then. 

A month ago would have been Martinsville.  His best finish is 12th at Texas, he has not qualified better than 13th and that was in the same race. I listen to the scanner every week and there's nothing but disappointment when I hear how Matt Puccia handles things with changes to the car.  The team has showed up to the track with mediocre race cars, plain and simple, and they cannot improve.  Alright now lets fast forward to two races ago at Bristol.

I was listening to the radio and I hear a voice from the past and I hear Jason mentioned.  I knew it was Jason Hedlesky, who used to spot for Carl Edwards and was Kenseth's spotter the last year at JGR.  Now I knew something was going on and it was fishy.

So I listened to Jack Roush and Tommy Wheeler last night on SiriusXM and they made this claim that that it was true that Trevor knew nothing about the situation until a family member called him and alerted him of the rumors.  To me that is where this whole piece of the puzzle is the biggest mess I've ever heard.  You do not do this to a guy that has been loyal to you and especially nine races into the year.  This was a clear cut move to get Bayne out. 

The one person in the media that seems to really be able to see this is Dale Earnhardt Jr., and he made a comment that it was that time where Trevor needs to keep his contacts (sponsors/Advocare) close and find a team that he feels that he can perform well and win with.  It was time to get away from Roush Fenway Racing and I agree with him. 

He needs to do exactly as Earnhardt said and rebuild his reputation because this company is a major reason why his reputation is hurt.  I think the one thing that he does have is a sponsor that truly believes in him and they like him for who he is. Fans keep bringing up his multiple sclerosis that he was diagnosed with in 2011 after winning the Daytona 500 with the Wood Brothers.  The fact is Trevor Bayne has not had a flare from MS since he was first diagnosed.  I believe that fans need to realize this had nothing to do with his health, this was a move by Roush and it is to phase him out of this company.

It is time for that change to come, whether it be moving to a top-tier Xfinity team or another cup team and get his career back on track.  I think he will handle this professionally and eventually he will get a better opportunity than what he has at Roush Fenway Racing.

Daytona 500 will mark 7 years

When Trevor Bayne first came into the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series it was suppose to be in development role with the Wood Brothers in 2011.  After starting one race at Texas Motor Speedway in 2010 and finishing in the top-10 the Wood Brothers and then affiliate Roush Fenway Racing decided to put Bayne behind the wheel of the legendary No. 21 Ford Fusion for a part-time schedule.

No one expected the outcome that would come in just Trevor Bayne's second career start that would be the 2011 Daytona 500.  Bayne started his weekend off being one of the fastest cars on the track and qualifying third on February 20th behind the Hendrick Motorsports duo of Dale Earnhardt Jr and Jeff Gordon.  On Thursday afternoon he showed some strength drafting with Jeff Gordon but finished 19th in the second duel. 

The final restart of the race

During the race, Bayne was a strong contender throughout the event drafting with strong contenders Jeff Gordon until he was taken out of the event and David Ragan until he was black flagged for moving over to soon on a late restart that put Bayne in front of the field after a lap 202 green-white-checkered restart.  Many thought Bayne was a sitting duck on the final restart with veteran driver Bobby Labonte behind him and veterans Tony Stewart and Mark Martin lined up together.  However, Bayne's Ford was able to stay out in front with a push from Labonte and when a hard charge from Carl Edwards came Bayne moved down to slow the progress of the No. 99.  Bayne would cross the line as the youngest winner of the Daytona 500 at 20 years and 1 day old. 

"I keep thinking I'm dreaming.  Our first 500 -- are you kidding me?" Bayne said "To win our first win our second ever cup race, I mean this is just incredible.  Wow, this is unbelievable.  How cool is it to see the Wood Brothers back in victory lane?  It's crazy to get my first win before a Nationwide win, I didn't know how to get to victory lane!"

It has now been seven years since Bayne won the Great American race in his second career start and he is still with Roush Fenway Racing driving the No. 6 Ford Fusion and will go for his second 500 victory this coming weekend in the 60th Daytona 500 at DIS.