"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. 

Bayne "Back in Black" for 2018 with AdvoCare

You can hear AC/DC "Back in Black" when you look at the new No. 6 AdvoCare Ford Fusion for 2018 when the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series returns to the track at Daytona in February. 

This will mark the first time since 2006, when Roush Fenway Racing patriarch Mark Martin ran a black AAA Ford in his final race behind the wheel of the No. 6 Fusion.   Martin ran a black paint scheme with white numbers, while Bayne's number will remain the AdvoCare red. 

"This new paint scheme is pretty awesome," Trevor Bayne said.  "If you look through history a lot of the great drivers have driven black race cars as their primary scheme and I am pretty excited to have one as well going into 2018.  I think that this new look by AdvoCare is really great and shows that we mean business every time we head out onto the race track. 

"This scheme just makes me even more excited about getting back behind the wheel in 2018.  It is really cool to have the No. 6 Ford black again for Roush Fenway.  I know that Mark ran really well in these colors and hopefully we can replicate that same success next season."

Next year will be Bayne's fourth year behind the wheel of the No. 6 Ford, each year he has been able to make improvements on his statistics from the following year. 

Roush Fenway needs to go back to its roots

Burton(left) and Martin share a conversation
during the 2001 season

Racing has certainly changed in the last 18 years, however, success can certainly be something that burns a company when they aren't keeping themselves up.  Jack Roush has been around since 1988 and his Hall of Fame driver of the past Mark Martin and another driver shared something in the late 90s and early 2000s that helped provide the company with one of the strongest working cores in the sport but once Martin and teammate Jeff Burton were gone the working core at RFR was gone.

Back then the two believed in helping one another -- even if -- it meant in return the other driver would run better than the other.  Back then Martin and Burton was part of Roush's five car operation, however, they were housed in the same shop together. I do not see that these days with this organization.  Since these two drivers parted ways with Roush it went to "I have to beat my teammate system."  Martin and Burton had a system where all come together to make the organization better and that is what needs to happen with Trevor Bayne and Ricky Stenhouse Jr., even if Stenhouse is racing for playoff positions. 

The organization has to have two drivers willing to work with one another and two crew chiefs that

Bayne and Stenhouse need more of a working bond in the
Roush Fenway shop

have that same attitude.  I believe back in the day Jimmy Fennig and Buddy Parrott shared that same idea and the cars and success reflected it on the race track.  There has to be that will to want to be a successful pair of teammates in this sport.  Martin and Burton knew what it took to make that happen, so if there are notes that were left behind by these two drivers Roush's current drivers need to take a look at them and see how being a working pair in the garage can win you races. 

People speculated in 1998 that Martin was given better race cars than Burton, however, the teams kept working together to find more speed and were solid contenders all the way around .  I think that there is a missing piece at Roush Fenway Racing right now that they need to find to bring back some of their driver chemistry that they had in the late 90s with Martin/Burton and get the cars back up front.

Bayne is currently 21st in the standings and you can tell the 6 team is not getting the same equipment as the 17 throughout the playoff run.  It is just a disappointment to see the cars perform this terrible and know there are ways to get more out of a team and know that the team is missing that little tiny piece of the puzzle.

Stenhouse playoff run maybe good for RFR but has another effect on Bayne

While it is good for Roush Fenway to get into the playoffs, their moves to make sure Ricky Stenhouse moves forward has a totally different effect on Trevor Bayne and his season. 

Trevor Bayne and his team are struggling through the run of
playoffs as the focus is on teammate Ricky Stenhouse Jr

You can argue that it is the Ford issue, the crew chief issue but fact is, right now Bayne and his No. 6 team are pretty much lab mice for the 17 team until they fall out.  The money is flowing into the 17 team and here is the major down fall that is having on Bayne and his team.  The sponsorship dollars that are suppose to be going into Bayne's car probably are going to Stenhouse to try and make it further and fans can clearly see it. 

As a former crew member I would have took it as a slap in the face if I was the 17  crew that got Stenhouse into the playoffs and then told I was being swapped to the 6 team because they were faster.  They got Stenhouse there, they should have had the chance to get him to the finish line.  I heard at the beginning of this year that the cars would be built equally and there would be only several differences in case one car was faster than the other, yet I just don't see that right now. 

Performance is an issue, plain and simple and you need both cars performing at their maximum and with the organization flushing it to the 17 team to try and move forward it is truly a bitter time.  I never seen this happen when Mark Martin and Jeff Burton were teammates, the two worked together to make sure each other performed as well as the other.  It was a partnership in the garage when these two were teammates.  Since then Roush Fenway Racing has turned into more of a competition between its teammates than a working partnership.

These finishes are not good on attracting sponsors that the 6 team needs for next season either.  It still remains to be seen how many races that they have left this season where the car will carry that dreaded 401k sponsorship from Ford and Roush Performance.  The fact of the matter is Bayne carried the team with full sponsorship for two seasons and AdvoCare backed off after last year to a part-time sponsorship but remained the major sponsor on the car.   Liberty National Life stepped up as well this season, along with Performance Plus Motor Oil, however,  you've still got to put money into a car that the sponsorship provides and make sure they perform to its fullest and right now its clear RFR isn't with the 6 team. 

This season seven races have gone with those 401K sponsors as we used to call them at the shop when I worked.  So that's a lot of money that needs to be found and RFR is hurting the 6 team by hindering their performance during the 17 team's Playoff run.

Now it's time for NASCAR to take it all away for cheating race teams

It is clear that NASCAR isn't getting the attention of teams like Joe Gibbs Racing who like to twist the rules quite often in the sport with the penalties that they are handing out right now.  So in my opinion it is time to do something even harsher to the teams that break the rules. 

I was a crew member in both local and NASCAR competition so I know that teams like to bend the rule book to get every little inch that they can.  However, when I look at the result of this past weekend when Denny Hamlin's two teams were penalized for the same exact issue in the two NASCAR divisions it is time to go with a heftier penalty than encumbering the finish, suspending the crew chief and taking points away as NASCAR did. 

NASCAR needs to think now about suspending the entire team for a race or two.  That meaning if you have a penalty such as this you can't race for an entire weekend, driver, crew chief, everyone, the entire team is suspended along with the car and the win needs to be completely stripped away and given to the next car in line that passes inspection.  Also fans need to understand that NASCAR can't do a complete inspection at the race track and find what they did on Hamlin's car at the track, a lot of it has to be done in the R&D Center at North Carolina. 

It is time that if you illegal to disqualify people and take the wins away and give the victory to the guy that truly deserved to win the win race.  I think there doesn't need to be any of this stuff about  "encumbering a finish," just truly take the finish away and send the guy back to dead last in the running order of the race like many of short track divisions would do in an event.  Also I think it is time NASCAR takes the top-5 cars from each divisions to R&D each week because who is to say one of the top-5 cars isn't illegal either?  It is just time for much harsher penalties.

I believe this past weekend Hamlin tried to hide something when he backed the car into the wall and did his burnout.  So it is time NASCAR looks at a different penalty system.

Bayne, Roush salute Mark Martin with first win paint scheme

For the third year in a row Trevor Bayne will be honoring NASCAR Hall of Fame driver Mark Martin with one of its throwback paint schemes at Darlington Raceway next weekend.  This time it is a paint scheme with a lot of significance to the organization and driver as it was the same one Martin drove to Roush Fenway's first victory in 1989.

The race was the AC Delco 500 on October 22, 1989 at North Carolina Speedway in Rockingham when Martin finally broke the barrier in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series after 57 races together.  Martin would carry the paint scheme to that single win, 602 laps led and 28 top-ten finishes. 

Back to Back Top-tens gives Trevor Bayne confidence going to Darlington

Trevor Bayne's 7th place finish at Bristol was his second consecutive top-10

After a rough start in 2017, Trevor Bayne has taken the past two weekends and scored back to back top-ten finishes at Michigan and Bristol; two different styles of tracks on the circuit.  The top-ten finishes in consecutive weekends are the first time in Bayne's career that he has scored top-ten finishes in two straight events since joining the Monster Energy Cup Series in 2010. 

While there are only two races remaining in the regular season before the playoffs begin, Bayne pretty much knows that he has to win at either Darlington or Richmond to get in.  His team has began to carry more momentum over the past few weeks after getting a little bit of luck on their side, even after blowing a tire at Bristol and hitting the wall at Bristol.  Bayne was able to rally back in the latter part of the event and get up to seventh before the checkered flag fell. 

"Obviously, we need to win.  That's what our goal is,"Trevor Bayne stated.  "Seventh is great but we have to get (to victory lane).  I'm really proud of these guys and the gains we're making.

"It's been a rough time through the summer but we're coming back now."

Bayne feels that the teams execution all around has been the difference in their performance the past few weeks.

"Just execution," Bayne said when asked what he thought was the key to the last two finishes.  "I feel like the last month we had strategy, things went our way and we've gotten results from it.  Here at Bristol, Roush Fenway always gives us good cars and we've had really good runs the last four or five races."

"Our Ford was fast at the end when it mattered.  At one point we blew a tire, hit the fence.  I thought we were going to get lucky and get back back on the lead lap.  Got on the lead lap, got a caution, and put new tires on it and started passing cars.

"It's great to get back-to-back top-10s and it really gives us some momentum going forward toward these last two races before the playoffs begin."

Darlington itself has been pretty rough on Bayne the last two years.  While running paint schemes in honor of Mark Martin, he's had two races with issues.  In 2015 he had a tire issue that regulated him to a 35th place finish, and last year the engine let go in his No. 6 AdvoCare Ford Fusion that resulted in a 40th place finish.  If Bayne can continue his improvement going to Darlington, the results should improve there as well.

Trevor Bayne scores first top-five since July of 2016 at Michigan

Bayne challenged late for a top-3 finish in the Pure Michigan 400

Trevor Bayne gave Kyle Larson a little help on the final restart of the Pure Michigan 400 on Sunday to help him him win his third straight race at Michigan Speedway but it also propelled Bayne to his first top-five finish of the 2017 season in the Roush Performance Ford.

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."

Times have changed and fans are tired of cup drivers in lower divisions

I look at the NASCAR Xfinity Series schedule this season and the race winners and I only see six wins from drivers that are not full-time Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series drivers on the win column and three came from William Byron.

You can be one of those fans that think that the sport is making one of its judgment calls, however, I think the officials needed to set even stiffer limitations to the regulars because the sport needs a change.  Yeah I am one of those fans that think Kyle Busch, Brad Keselowski, Joey Logano, Kevin Harvick, and Kyle Larson have had enough play time in the two lower divisions and if you look at the drivers that have spoken up about this topic the most it has been Busch, Keselowski, Harvick and Larson.  Why?  It is because they are the ones that have ran the most races the past 4-5 seasons as a MENCS regular.

Mark Martin was a regular in the winners circle in the 90s

Fans keep bringing up how we didn't hear fans gripe about Mark Martin winning races in the 1990s, well I am going to take you back in time a little bit to Martin's winningest season that came in 1993.  He ran a total of 14 races that season in the No. 60 Winn Dixie Ford for Roush,   That season there was a 28 race schedule, and there was only 12 races won by cup regulars, 7 by Martin, 2 by Dale Earnhardt, 2 by Micheal Waltrip and 1 by Bill Elliott.  Also the schedule had a bit of a different phase as well, as NASCAR raced at many more venues away from cup tracks like Hickory, Rougemont, Nazareth, Myrtle Beach, Milwaukee, and  Indianapolis Raceway Park.

If the series went back to the direction it had years ago I don't believe you would see as many cup regulars in the races to begin with.  However, the major venues took the course and took over the schedule and you no longer have races at these small venues anymore like we used to have on the schedule.  Even Mark Martin himself sees that times are changing and that the need for a cup regulars in the series are not as serious as before.

"I don't really know where I stand on that," said Martin when asked about cup drivers competiting in the Xfinity Series. 

"I was able to participate; I didn't run that many races," the Hall of Fame driver stated while unveiling a paint scheme that Clint Bowyer will driver at Darlington next month.  "I ran 14 to 16 races a year for a number of years.  But at the time it was important, I think, for the series to have Cup drivers do the series for a lot different reasons."

"It's a different day and age today," Martin stated.  I like what's going on nowadays, I like the rule today and where they go with it from there I'm sure will work...The racing, the world, the hardware, everything has changed since the '90s.  I'm ok with what they're doing and OK with where they're looking at heading to limit it even more."

Next season NASCAR will begin with heavier limits.  Drivers will more than five years of experience in the Monster Energy Cup Series will now be limited to seven races in the NASCAR Xfinity Series down from a maximum of 10 races this year.  Drivers with the same experience will also be restricted to a limit of 5 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series events, down from seven events this year.

The rules will also make it so the finales for both series are off limits to Cup regulars earning championship points in the Monster Energy Cup Series regardless of experience in the series.   Additionally the Xfinity Series' Dash 4 Cash program four race stretch with bonus money will be off limits to any Monster Energy Series driver.

Many people are saying fans are sour about cup drivers, however, it hurts ratings when these guy's constantly wins races and he's winning events by 3-plus seconds over other drivers.  So it became time for NASCAR to change these rules.  

Last season, Trevor Bayne only ran one event that came at this weekend's weekend Zippo 200 at Watkins Glen.  With the Roush Fenway program not running their Cup drivers like most teams, I don't see this effecting their program much. 

The one thing I do believe that this could have helped possibly in the past.  Had Chris Buescher, Bubba Wallace and Trevor Bayne won races without cup drivers in the field, possibly sponsors would have taken notice to them and they would still have rides with RFR with the exception of Bayne.  I believe that not winning hurt Wallace finding sponsorship and on several occasions he might have had the field not been filled with cup veterans.

Why Roush needs to remain two-car team in 2018

Yesterday I wrote about Steve Newmark's comments on SiriusXM NASCAR Radio about the Roush Fenway Racing organization remaining a two-car operation in 2018.  Today is my day to put it all in my perspective on why it is the best thing for this organization at the moment.

Trevor Bayne talks with car owner Jack Roush at Michigan

The starting point here is, Roush Fenway is still searching for more speed on intermediate tracks after a lot of changes that were made to the team.  While Ricky Stenhouse Jr., has been able to win on restrictor plate tracks this season, the team is still looking for the speed with both drivers at other places.  So to add a third car one year after dropping down to two just isn't a smart move when the organization has not completely gotten the speed back into their race cars.

To justify staying this way just look at what Team Penske did back in the late 2000s.  They ran three race cars and struggled with them.  They switched back to two cars in 2011 and a year later were about to win a championship with Brad Keselowski in 2012.  Penske has remained a two-car team since and helped back the Wood Brothers to keep their third driver on the track in the 21.  I believe that Roush has taken this same road to bringing themselves back up the ladder.

Sponsorship is also a major effect on the organization.  Where the two years prior, AdvoCare completely backed Trevor Bayne they are not this season.  Once again this weekend Roush Performance Parts is on Bayne's Ford Fusion at Kentucky Speedway.  So here is that little issue that fans of Bubba Wallace keep wanting to gripe about when he got dropped after Pocono.  Wallace has not won a race since he first arrived at Roush and the sponsorship didn't come with him.  So with issues going on to keep the two primary cars in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series going forward they had no choice but to drop the 6 Xfinity program out.

Years ago unsponsored cars were white and black on the track but around Roush's 25th anniversary in the sport, they started to change that.  Bayne ran several events in a 25th Anniversary Roush Fenway car in 2013, a Roush CleanTech car and other Roush related products but here is the problem with that; when those companies are on the car it was what we used to call a 401K sponsorship on the car.

That meaning that the money is coming straight from the organization and not from a corporate organization like AdvoCare or Liberty National Life.  The same goes for when Ford Performance is on the cars as well, instead of running a blank car it is a way for the team to advertise for the manufacturer or the car owners main company.  Sponsorship is the driving point of this sport, and the company needs more of it to fill some of the holes for 2018.  Fans want to have this little debate about the organization asking too much for sponsorship, however, since Newmark came in, I have heard all that changed when Geoff Smith parted ways as the Team President. 

Smith in my opinion was responsible for the big split between Mark Martin and Valvoline back in the early 1990s because he wanted too much from the sponsor.  I believe now Newmark is smarter about getting sponsorship for the cars and takes what they can get for the cars. 

The one thing that RFR did not downsize was its engineering department last fall.  While going from 3 cars to 2, the team kept it's engineering core the same and added to it.  Roush still has work to do in getting their chassis's better but they're finding speed as the season goes on. The goal is to get back to a three car organization but not until they have speed back in the main two cars for the organization. 

Newmark: Objective is to stay two cars in 2018

Stenhouse and Bayne will remain the two-car duo at RFR

Roush Fenway Racing President Steve Newmark stated on Tradin' Paint on Tuesday afternoon that the intent was for the organization to remain a two-car Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series team in 2018 and remain with one NASCAR Xfinity Series program as well. 


The team began this season with two cars in each series but last month but with the lack of sponsorship on Darrell Wallace's No. 6 car, the team was forced to shut down the cars program after Pocono.  There are many who believe that owner Jack Roush should have kept Wallace's program floating with his own funding, however, with the sponsorship issues on the Cup Series side as well it wasn't possible.

"I think our objective right ow and plan is to stay two (cup) and one (Xfinity)," Steve Newmark said on SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.  "On the Cup side, that's clearly our direction.  I think even if sponsor came for the third team, I think right now we feel this process has worked." 

"We made a very painful decision to cup down to two this year, and we had the option to stay at three but decided that the most important thing is to put our cars in the best position to win.  To do that, we thought that it was best to consolidate to two teams but maintain the same size engineering staff and R&D and laser focus that on the two cars." 

This season Ricky Stenhouse has found victory lane twice (both on restrictor plate events) and the organization as a whole has turned the corner with their program.  It would be hard for them to add a third car for 2018 so quickly, as Newmark stated even with the aid of sponsorship on the table.  That leaves Chris Buescher out in the wind once again.  He will likely be staying at JTG Daugherty for next season.

"Chris has done a great job.  We fortunate that he and Tad (Geschickter, owner of JTG Daugherty) have struck up a great relationship and he's getting some great experience there."

 There is an option on the table if Roush doesn't want to sell it's charter for the No. 16.  They can lease the charter from the 6 or 17 cars out to JTGD for another year to keep Buescher going as well. 

Daytona is Bayne's best shot on the schedule to win before the playoffs

After a dismal finish at Sonoma Raceway that was brought on by overheating issues with his No. 6 AdvoCare Ford Fusion the driver will now go to one of his best tracks on the circuit and try and do what his teammate Ricky Stenhouse Jr., did in May at Talladega. 

Bayne finished 10th in February at Daytona

Daytona International Speedway has been one of Trevor Bayne's strongest points in his career.  He won the 500 in his first try and he's been very strong in the past at plate racing when he hasn't been taken out in the huge multi-car incidents.  Last July, Bayne drove the No. 6 AdvoCare Ford to a 3rd place finish in the Coke Zero 400 at the track and was right in contention for the victory the last few laps of the race.

Bayne has scored 2 top-fives and 4 top-ten finishes in his career at the track, and if the team is going to push to make it into the Playoffs off of a victory this will be the place that they have their best chance at doing so.  Bayne finished 10th in the Daytona 500 earlier this season after being involved in several incidents and still kept his car up in the race for a solid finish. 

With Stenhouse, Ryan Blaney and Austin Dillon now winning this season it pretty much has made it a situation where the No. 6 team has to win to get in now.  They are 18th in the standings, Dillon is 22nd but with a win.  Bayne is now 86 points behind Matt Kenseth who is 12th in the standings and the first driver without a victory.  So to make up those points is pretty much going to be out of question. 

The strengths of the Roush Fenway Racing restrictor plate program is where the fastest cars at.  Former crew chief Jimmy Fennig has been the head of the program since stepping down as the crew chief in 2015 and he's kept the Roush plate cars up to par with everyone else.  Stenhouse's win at Talladega in the May event was proof of that.  Now it's time Bayne gets that win at Daytona.

Danica Patrick needs to take a lesson from the past on how to treat fans

The King started the trend in the 70s

I heard about the incident that happened last Friday at Pocono with Danica Patrick before most fans on social media did because a facebook friend posted her video and it wasn't even everything that was said.  Danica did get booed by a couple of fans, and had she just keep on walking I wouldn't have even thought about writing this article today.

Reading comments from fans the past I seen some think that getting an autograph is not in the driver's job description, however, I want to go back about 45 years to when Richard Petty really began this trend in this sport where drivers sign for fans and don't even think a second about it.  The King's autograph is probably the least rare of any driver in the sport but it is because he took the time and energy throughout the years to spend time and give fans the respect to sign a shirt, maybe a diecast, or a piece of paper from the local news where he won the week before.

This is the man that led NASCAR from being a moonshine stream to being mainstream.  There is a story of Richard Petty that has been told where he sat in the heat in the 1970s and signed for every race fan until everyone left.  He was who changed the sports fan cultural around and made it different than Major League Baseball and the NFL where most athletes charge you for their John Hancock.

So here is where we are with Danica Patrick.  I think that every driver in the garage area has been booed at one time or another and they just keep on walking and ignore the fans that did it.  She came back to the group of fans that had one or two men that did the booing and gave them all a lecture, as I said the friend of mine was part of this group and she had nothing in this.  Instead of signing a few autographs to people that didn't make the gesture she goes and gives everyone a lecture on her feelings being hurt.

"Since I'm old, instead of taking the booing, I want to tell you guys...I do the best I can.  I mean, if you're a real fan you know that I'm not just -- my job is not to sign autographs right?  My job is to drive a car and to tell the crew chief what's going on."

"I don't appreciate the booing.  It hurts my feelings I'm a f'n person, you know what I mean?  I'm a person too.  I have feelings."

To me she should have just walked away if she didn't want to sign autographs for the group of fans that was standing there instead of lecturing fans about her poor feelings.  I seen several people tweet over the weekend about meeting Trevor Bayne and what kind of a great person he was to meet.  There are some fans that think you aren't a true fan if you don't agree with what Danica did on Friday afternoon, however, I can tell you; as a fan and a former crew member fans shouldn't have to listen to a driver cuss them.  It's one listen to hear it on TV or on the radio, however, she stepped over the line when she did it in their face.

You can defend Danica Patrick but her actions this past week was not a solid representation of what drivers in this sport should be like.  What makes it worse for her is that she is fighting for sponsorship and if I were a sponsor I certainly wouldn't want a driver that makes that kind of a statement to fans at the race track.

Richard Petty set the prime example.  If you look at the man's signature today, I still don't think it has changed at all in the last 50 years.  It's why he is the most respected man in this sport.  Maybe Danica Patrick should take a lesson from the KING!

Wallace not the first to have a door closed due to sponsorship dollars

If you are a Trevor Bayne fan and been following him for quite sometime, you definitely remember 2012; don't you?  Yeah Trevor Bayne started off that 2012 NASCAR Nationwide Series season, as it was called back then, now the Xfinity Series with five top-15 finishes and was sitting in the same place Darrell Wallace Jr., is currently in right now in the standings 4th.

Roush Fenway Racing had to pull the plug on it's No. 60 program that season because of a lack of  sponsorship funding after the fifth race of the season at Auto Club Speedway when Bayne finished 14th.  Luckily for Bayne he had a part-time gig with the Wood Brothers team at the time in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series to run the No. 21 Ford that season in 16 races.

Bayne had to compete part-time in 2012
In the Wood Brothers No. 21

Roush Fenway Racing's going through this once again with Wallace.  They were able to stretch the amount of races a little further than they were with Bayne and make it to the 12th race of the season, but it is still something that has fans wondering about the posture of the marketing crew at RFR right now.  I have read numerous remarks from fans about Roush asking too much money for a sponsorship, however, I believe that was back in the day when Geoff Smith was the president of the organization.  I believe that the company has since learned to take what they are able to get for sponsors to go on their cars.

Just like with Bayne, Wallace lucked up and there was an open seat in the upper ranks of the NASCAR world.  Richard Petty Motorsports decided that they would give him a chance to go forth and debut this coming weekend at Pocono Raceway.  This season Globe Life and Leidos stepped up to sponsor Wallace in several races but it just wasn't enough to keep the train going on the right track.

Back in 2012, Roush was in a similar situation as they are in this year.  Their MENCS teams were not fully funded and the could not fund two competitive NASCAR Xfinity programs.  Steve Newmark, at the time knew that it was not a reflection on the driver, but how the team was that season.  In 2013, Matt Kenseth moved on to Joe Gibbs racing allowing Ricky Stenhouse to go full-time in the No. 17 Cup car, which put Trevor Bayne in a car that had major funding by Cargill.  Eventually he would pick up a major deal with AdvoCare that would become his leading sponsor in Cup.

This year, you are seeing the samething.  So far in 2017 on the Cup level, Trevor Bayne has had three races with cars that were unsponsored, Ricky Stenhouse Jr., has had one event so far.  Whenever you see Roush Performance or Ford EcoBoost on one of these cars, it is what we considered back in the day to be a 401K sponsorship, meaning the money was coming from the company and it's employees.



You might question the move by Roush but the importance is to get their Cup program back into full speed.  So the funding that they were putting into the 6 Xfinity program will likely go into the MENCS for the rest of the year.

NASCAR makes major swing to change schedule for 2018

NASCAR announced on Tuesday, May 23, that the 2018 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series schedule would have a significant change next year.

It will start with the "Great American Race" being moved back to its old traditional date on Presidents Day weekend on February 18th.  It will be the start of a swing of changes to the schedule revamping for next season.

The three-quarter mile Richmond International Raceway will move from being the last race before the playoffs to being the second race in the playoffs next season.  It's spring event in April will also have another change returning to being a night race on April 21.

Chicagoland Speedway will be moved from being the first race in the playoffs in the past to being July 1st right before the historical July Speedweeks Coke Zero 400 at Daytona.  Making a solid start to NBC Sports run on TV next season with two huge events.

One of the more noticeable moves on the schedule is Indianapolis Motor Speedway taking over the cut off race before the playoffs begin next season. But even bigger is the move that Charlotte Motor Speedway has coming for 2018.  It's October race that is traditionally a 500 miler on the 1.5 mile oval will now be on the track's road course in the infield.  It adds all types of tracks to the playoff scenario for 2018.

Las Vegas Motor Speedway will also host two events next season starting with its traditional date in March and then another race to kick off the Playoffs.  

2018 MONSTER ENERGY NASCAR CUP SERIES SCHEDULE
Feb. 11: Daytona International Speedway (Clash / Daytona 500 Qualifying)
Feb. 15: Daytona International Speedway (Duel)
Feb. 18: Daytona 500
Feb. 25: Atlanta Motor Speedway
March 4: Las Vegas Motor Speedway
March 11: Phoenix Raceway
March 18: Auto Club Speedway
March 25: Martinsville Speedway
April 8: Texas Motor Speedway
April 15: Bristol Motor Speedway
April 21: Richmond International Raceway
April 29: Talladega Superspeedway
May 6: Dover International Speedway
May 12: Kansas Speedway
May 19: Charlotte Motor Speedway (Monster Energy All-Star Race)
May 27 : Charlotte Motor Speedway
June 3: Pocono Raceway
June 10: Michigan International Speedway
June 24: Sonoma Raceway
July 1: Chicagoland Speedway
July 7: Daytona International Speedway
July 14: Kentucky Speedway
July 22: New Hampshire Motor Speedway
July 29: Pocono Raceway
Aug. 5: Watkins Glen International
Aug. 12: Michigan International Speedway
Aug. 18: Bristol Motor Speedway
Sept. 2: Darlington Raceway
Sept. 9: Indianapolis Motor Speedway
Sept. 16: Las Vegas Motor Speedway
Sept. 22: Richmond International Raceway
Sept. 30: Charlotte Motor Speedway
Oct. 7: Dover International Speedway
Oct. 14: Talladega Superspeedway
Oct. 21: Kansas Speedway
Oct. 28: Martinsville Speedway
Nov. 4: Texas Motor Speedway
Nov. 11: Phoenix Raceway
Nov. 18: Homestead-Miami Speedway

Stenhouse's win at Talladega was "wind in Roush's sails"

It had been 101 races since a Roush Fenway Racing car had visited victory lane in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series.  It went back to Sunday, June 22, 2014 at Sonoma when Carl Edwards won the race at the road course out in California.

Jack Roush was all smiles on Sunday

So when Ricky Stenhouse won the Geico 500 on Sunday afternoon it really did throw wind to the sails in the organization at Roush Fenway Racing.  There are a lot of team members that have stuck through the grit and grind since that last win happened at Roush, they've heard all that talk that they were not capable of winning ever again; and the doors were ready to close on the organization.  Yet everyone of these guys that worked to get back to victory lane held through and have been able to see this organization turn around in just the last 9 months. 

It started from the top. 

Robbie Reiser was moved from being competition director after holding the position for almost ten seasons.  Kevin Kidd and Tommy Wheeler came in and have made swift changes into the organization that have seen much better results on the track this season than in the last few years in the MENCS. 

Jack Roush has hope that the win on Sunday is a solid impulse for even more victories this season.

"It gives us fresh wind in our sail," said the 75 year old car owner.  "We've got over 300 victories in NASCAR.  The number that I hold dear is 40 years of racing, drag racing, road racing and NASCAR.  I've won over 450 national events, and it puts another chapter in that record."

It was not long ago that Roush was the flagship organization for Ford Performance in NASCAR.  All around the board, they were a force in NASCAR's top tier division all the way down to the truck series and then something took a major change.  Around 2012, Roush Fenway Racing began to take a slide backwards and veteran drivers Matt Kenseth and Carl Edwards parted ways with the organization within three years of one another to go to Joe Gibbs Racing. 

It was then late in the 2016 that a decision was made for Roush's last veteran driver Greg Biffle to part ways with the team.  Both Roush and Biffle mutually agreed that it was time for a change for both parties and it left the team with two cars and systematically in a position to improve. 

At the heals of the decision, it left the team in a position to do much needed work in their management department.  Robbie Reiser as I said was replaced with Kevin Kidd and Tommy Wheeler was put into a management role as well.  New roles were giving to younger members and the team freshened up the way that their cars were built within. 

Many questioned Bayne and Stenhouse when the decision
was made to go to two cars

Then there was one other little thing.  The team was left with two very young drivers that many people considered underachievers in the sport.  The only one to win a race was Trevor Bayne in his second start in the 2011 Daytona 500, so many were questioning how this would work out.  On Sunday when Stenhouse won, Bayne congratulated his long-time teammate on social media, even after being involved in the huge wreck late in the race. 

While it is only one victory for the organization, the team owner still believes that there a lot more to come for his drivers. 

"We'll win a race with Trevor before this year is over unless I miss my guess," Roush said.  "But honestly we can get ourselves ready for the last 10 races to make a championship run."