Bayne-Osborne could help revive Roush's No. 6

Trevor Bayne and his newly assigned crew chief Bob Osborne might have a lot more in common than many really know.  Osborne was put on the back burner midway through 2012 when he was replaced by Chad Norris on Carl Edwards' team.  Bayne has had setbacks of his own, dealing with MS, having to wait the last few years for a sponsor to finally come along that would fit in with his style.

Advocare has stepped up to the plate and sponsored the team.  After just half a season together last May, Advocare and Roush Fenway Racing announced with Mark Martin away from the track that the No. 6 was returning to the track in the Sprint Cup Series full-time in 2015.  Bayne has worked mostly with Chad Norris through his career at Roush Fenway and Donnie Wingo with the Wood Brothers organization, neither are quite the style crew chief that Bob Osborne is.  He is an engineer turned crew chief, one of Roush's long-time employees, as he was once the head engineer on Mark Martin's No. 6 Fords with crew chief Jimmy Fennig.

Osborne has a lot of experience on top of the pit box, as he won 18 races with Carl Edwards from 2004-20012.  He made a comment with Claire B Lang a couple of weeks ago that his intent was always to return to the top of the box and accomplish somethings he wasn't able to do so before, like winning a championship.  Bayne was interviewed a week later and said "it was great to have a veteran guy around that has worked with young drivers before."

Bayne said before he was used to his teams thrashing to get the car, and Osborne's approach was different to run things like a test.  Bayne said he hoped it worked, and felt that Osborne brought great calling to the box, and compared Osborne to Brad Keselowski's crew chief Paul Wolfe.  Bayne felt that his experience in the NASCAR Xfinity Series cars would pay off with all the changes that the officials made to the cars to slow them down.  He has combined experience in both the series with Roush and the Wood Brothers, and as Osborne stated he is very technically experienced with the cars and what they need. 

The two have a lot to prove together, as many naysayers are already counting on failure between the two. 

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Osborne ready for success with Bayne

On Wednesday, Claire B Lang interviewed crew chief Bob Osborne on his return to the top of the pit box for Roush Fenway Racing with Trevor Bayne.  He said he always had the intention to return to the track from the time he stepped down in 2012.

"His technical skill is very high, uh the experience level isn't, um, isn't there yet." stated Osborne on Wednesday night.  "He has some cup experience, and of course some Nationwide experience and shown potential at both levels.  Just think that the skill level that he has and the potential that skill level has to grow yet is impressive to me."

Then Osborne said the one thing that comes to mind when you really think of Trevor Bayne outside of the race car.  "On top of that his attitude is phenomenal to me, you won't find a happier fellow in the garage area." 

Bayne always has a smile on his face, through the good and the bad.  Lang even mentioned, every time he is interviewed he has that smile on his face. Osborne worked with Carl Edwards when he first came into the series and there was a lot of success with the two paired together.  Osborne feels that that Bayne will have to adapt to the changes of the length of races, both mentally and physically.   
There are some fans that question the pairing, as Edwards success faded away with Osborne in their final year together but this will be a fresh start, with another "Bright eyed, bushy tail" driver as Lang called Bayne. 

There are several people from the media saying that Jack Roush will not give Bayne time to pull in the success that he has with Ricky Stenhouse Jr., however, with Bayne's experience already running for the Wood Brothers team the last few years, he knows some of the techniques needed to perform in the Sprint Cup Series cars.  Also with the engine and aero package being changed in Sprint Cup, it might favor someone like Bayne who has been racing full-time in the Xfinity Series (then Nationwide) over the past few seasons. 

Osborne to crew chief Bayne in 2015

Trevor Bayne will have a one of Roush Fenway's veteran crew chief's atop of his pit box in the 2015 season.  Roush Fenway Racing announced this morning that Bob Osborne will be making his return to the pit box after a two-year hiatus from crew chiefing in the sport.  Osborne was the crew chief at Charlotte when Bayne failed to make the field in the October event, the team likely will be falling back on the No. 99 team's points from 2014 in 2015 to start off the season.

Osborne stepped down in mid-2012 because of medical issues, until stepping down he served as crew chief for Carl Edwards from 2004-2012, all but 27 races in his career.  This will be Bayne's first full-time season in the Sprint Cup Series after serving part-time with Wood Brothers Racing team for the past four seasons and becoming the youngest ever winner of the Daytona 500.

Bayne has worked with Mike Kelley and Chad Norris in the NASCAR Xfinity Series most of his career, so Osborne will be a different mix on top of the pit box.  Osborne has nine years of experience as a crew chief with 297 starts, 18 wins, 86 top-fives, and 142 top-tens, along with 11 poles, mainly coming from Carl Edwards' performance.  After New Hampshire in July of 2012, Osborne stepped down because of his illness and Chad Norris took over his position. 

Bayne's former Sprint Cup crew chief Donnie Wingo at the Wood Brothers organization has moved on to work with David Gilliland at Front Row Motorsports.

What Jack Roush bringing back the No. 6 to a long-time fan

If you have been a fan for a long period of time you know the history that Mark Martin had with Jack Roush's team in the No. 6 Fords.  For the majority of Mark Martin's career he raced in Roush's Fords and was able to win 35 Sprint Cup Series events with the organization from 1988-2005.

I was a fan of the Batesville, Arkansas driver from the time he stepped into Roush's No. 6 Strohs Light Fords in 1988.  Mark never raced anyone with hard aggression on the track, I liked how he could win races without the bumper like Earnhardt Sr., and Rusty Wallace.  Mark was the gentleman's racer.  To this day, I think Mark and Jack were robbed of at least two championships from NASCAR on stupid calls in 1990 and 2002.

When Mark left Roush I went for a different driver because I am a long-time Ford Racing fan.  I had a lot of hard feelings when Mark departed.  I knew he and Jack Roush still had a solid relationship with one another because they were a strong pair through the years.  When the announcement was made last May that Trevor Bayne was to bring the No. 6 Advocare Ford Fusion up to the Sprint Cup Series its return, it made things clearer for myself that Carl Edwards was not going to be making his return.  So I had a decision that I'd go with the car that I grew up rooting for as a fan.

In a lot of ways I feel Mark Martin and Trevor Bayne are a lot a like in their driving styles.  Neither have a very aggressive style, which Trevor is criticized for a lot.  Trevor carries himself off the track with a lot of respect just like Martin did in his career.

In November I asked Mark if he was ready for the 6 to make its return
  Mark Martin        ✔ @markmartin Follow

Yes sir. RT @TBayneDiehards: @markmartin are you ready for 2015 and the 6 car to return full-time?

 Roush's legacy began with the No. 6 Ford in 1988 in NASCAR, it will return to the track in just about 61 days.  It has been a long-time coming for Bayne and the car number, as Bayne has been with Roush's organization since the fall of 2010 and Roush has not ran the car number since Ricky Stenhouse had the car on the track at Daytona in 2012 for the Daytona 500.  Bayne attempted to make the field at Charlotte and did not have any points to fall back on when he did not have the speed.  

There a lot of old No. 6 fans like myself looking forward to seeing what Bayne can do in Sprint Cup full-time in 2015.  Just having the 6 car back on the track fills a void!  

Roush could be expanding Xfinity program in 2015

It didn't take long for the news to break last night about Darrell Wallace Jr., wanting out of his deal at Joe Gibbs Racing and as soon as it did the first organization that popped up as the possible organization for the 21 year old driver to go to was Roush Fenway Racing.

The program had only plans to run Elliott Sadler, Chris Buescher and Ryan Reed in the series next season with a part-time program with Sprint Cup Series regular Ricky Stenhouse.  Rumors however have changed those plans and have Wallace heading to what could possibly be a fifth car for Roush in the lower division.  So what car number would that put Wallace in? 

Stenhouse is already set to drive the No. 6 car in a few races next year, however, from what I have been told the organization still has the rights to the No. 17 that Tanner Berryhill has used.  So there are possibilities that Roush could run five cars in the series if they needed to do so.   A formal announcement to add Wallace to the lineup should come soon, as the expectations are that Trevor Bayne's former crew chief Chad Norris will be taking the role as Wallace's crew chief.

No one could have predicted this when the season ended last month at Homestead-Miami Speedway where Wallace won the season finale in the Camping World Series for Kyle Busch Motorsports.  In 6 career starts in the Xfinity Series, Wallace has 4 top-tens and 1 pole, with an average start of 7.2 and average finish of 12.7.

He has made 44 starts in the Camping World Truck Series with 5 wins, 14 top-fives, and 26 top-tens with 3 poles, averaging a 9.9 start and 10.8 start.

With Fennig stepping down, Bayne's crew chief likely down to 3 guys

Jimmy Fennig told reporters this weekend that 2014 would be his last season on top of a pit box for Roush Fenway Racing and plans to retire at the end of the season.  So now leaves the question about who will be the crew chief for the 6 car when Trevor Bayne moves up to the Sprint Cup level next season?

I have thought it over and there's likely two choices Roush has in the box to replace Fennig.  Bayne's current crew chiefs from the No. 6 Nationwide Series team Chad Norris and Donnie Wingo who is crew chief of the No. 21 car for the Wood Brothers crew.  Wingo is a very experienced crew chief in the Sprint Cup Series, while Norris has time in both divisions and has had success with Bayne in the Nationwide Series.

However, Roush might take another direction, possibly adding Scott Graves as the crew chief.  Roush likes to have guys with an engineering background on top of the pit box.  Graves has had success in the Nationwide Series this season working with Chris Buescher and they were able to score a win a few weekends ago at Mid-Ohio.  I don't see a big shakeup with the 17 and 16 crew chiefs as this was Stenhouse and Kelley's first years back together in Sprint Cup.

So now it will be a guessing game until RFR makes the announcement for the 6 team, probably coming late October or early November.