A look at the No. 6 Advocare Racing crew

BOB OSBORNE
Crew Chief
DOB:  06/05/1974

Home town:  Chester, PA

GREG EMMER
Car Chief
Hometown:  Allenton, WI

 

CORY BALDWIN

Front Tire Changer

DOB: 07/25/1990
Hometown: Severn, MD 

 @cbaldwin699

 

ALAN TROUTMAN

Front Tire Carrier 

RICHIE WILLIAMS

Jackman

DOB: 03/10/1983
Hometown: Camden, SC.@NascarQB

KALE UPHOFF

Rear Tire Changer

DOB: 10/03/1982
Hometown: McFarland, WI
@KaleUphoff

BRADLEY SUTTON

Rear Tire Carrier

DOB: 12/20/1980
Hometown: China Grove, NC

JOSH PECH

Gas Man

DOB: 07/14/1987
Hometown: Mooresville, NC
(@Showtime17Pech)

Mark Martin won't be driver's coach at Roush, wants to step away from the track

It was July of last year, that Mark Martin said he was returning home to be a drivers coach for Roush Fenway Racing's Xfinity Series program drivers.

During Media week Jeff Burton said on NASCAR America that Jack Roush made the mistake of not keeping Mark Martin on as their driver's coach to help work with Trevor Bayne and others.  So it's been a constant question asked by fans, is Mark Martin not going to be there in 2015?  The answer is "No".  That was the answer that Martin gave to a fan yesterday and then he gave his complete answer this morning.

Mark Martin @markmartin  ·  2h 2 hours ago

I didn't want to go to the races. I've done enough of that for now. Except for dirt track. RT @dustincary: @markmartin what happen at Roush?

I respect his decision to not keep the position, Mark Martin has been racing since he was 16 years old, and around NASCAR since 1988, even before when he raced in the early 80s and returned with Roush Fenway in 88.  I can't blame Martin for wanting to back away from NASCAR and not be around the races.  He's been doing it so long, and he wants to be around the dirt track circuit it appears with Jared Landers.  

Deep down, I had a feeling when Burton remarked on it that Martin just couldn't be around NASCAR without being inside a race car.  It's an addiction that it is hard to break, and I just believed that it had nothing to do with his relationship with Jack Roush.  

RFR replied on their facebook page to a fan blaming them for letting him go with this comment

 ".Mark decided at this time that he just simply didn't want to make that much of a commitment. Mark is a great guy, he did a great job last year. Nobody gave more of themselves to this sport and nobody deserves more to relax a little bit at this point. We certainly respect that."

Bayne will fight uphill battle with critic fans and media

It's easy to see the negativity that some fans and the media can layout about Trevor Bayne heading into the 2015 season with his first full-season with Roush Fenway Racing.  All you have to do is go onto twitter.com and search his name and see some of the comments fans are making about towards him and his chances of winning this season.

Bayne has faced adversity since the begnining

Bayne has been faced with many uphill battles from the beginning.  He lost his ride with Diamond Waltrip in 2010 due to sponsorship problems, then Jack Roush stepped in and signed him to a new deal that year.  Later that year, he ran his first Sprint Cup Series race with the Wood Brothers team at Texas Motor Speedway and finished in 18th.  The following year was one of the first major setbacks, even though, he scored the biggest upset victory in Daytona 500 history that year, Bayne became ill after the race at Texas in 2011, and it was reported that he had Lymes Disease at the time, he missed five races that year due to the problem.

Then in 2012, it seemed that he was facing the same problem at Roush that he was with Waltrip's organization, no sponsorship, and very slim schedule in the then Nationwide Series.  He was still running for the Wood Brothers with little success.  It was announced that the following year he would be taking over the No. 6 Ford Mustang with sponsorship from Cargill Beef.

Bayne scored his second career win at Iowa in 2013, the same week he and his wife Ashton were married.  Later that year Bayne made the announcement that Advocare would be sponsoring him in 2014 in the Nationwide Series, and on November 12, 2013 he made another announcement that many believe would setback his career.  Bayne announced that he was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis, doctors cleared Bayne to keep racing.

"I am in the best shape I've ever been in, and I feel good," Bayne said in the announcement. "There are currently no symptoms and I'm committed to continuing to take the best care of my body as possible."

On May 24, 2014 Roush Fenway Racing made the announcement diehard Trevor Bayne fans had been waiting to hear for a long time.  Trevor Bayne would be bringing the iconic No. 6 Ford back to the track in 2015 with full-backing from Advocare.  The sponsor and driver seem to be a perfect fit for one another, as Advocare is a company that has helped many people change their health standards.

“AdvoCare is excited to move to the Sprint Cup Series with Roush Fenway and Trevor next season," said Mike Vaught, AdvoCare director of sponsorships said during the announcement.  “Roush Fenway is a great partner, and Trevor and his wife Ashton are great ambassadors for AdvoCare. We are looking forward to the No. 6 car racing in the Sprint Cup Series in 2015, carrying the AdvoCare colors."

Bayne has faced these obstacles through his career.  This year, he will face a lot of fans trash talking and the media saying he's on the hot season to perform in his first season full-time.  However, it appears that the company sponsoring him and Roush Fenway are very pleased with his performance in the past to make the jump to the highest level of motorsports competition this season. 

Mark Martin also said he looks forward to his old car returning to the track for the first time since the Daytona 500 in 2012.

“That number brings back a lot of memories,” said team owner Jack Roush. “It reminds me of all the battles we fought to get to where we are today; the victories and the defeats. Success in NASCAR does not come easy. It comes at a price and requires a great deal of passion, sacrifice, dedication and hard work. To me the No. 6 exemplifies all of that.

"Trevor Bayne is a Daytona 500 champion already and a fine young man in our sport who has worked really hard and having experience of working with Advocare over the past several years has been a great experience as well.  I know the combination will be awesome and I can't wait to see you guys on the race track in 2015,"  Mark Martin exemplified during the video he did for the announcement. 

Bayne not eligible for Sprint Cup Series Rookie of the Year

 After many reports earlier in the off season were out that Trevor Bayne would be able to compete for the Sprint Cup Series Sunoco Rookie of the Year honors, it appears that he now is not eligible to compete for the award.

Reports started coming out on twitter late on Wednesday night that Bayne was not eligible.  The word is that with his 58 starts in the Sprint Cup Series that Bayne compiled at the Wood Brothers Racing organization in the Sprint Cup Series was too many races to be eligible to compete for the award.  I tweeted Claire B Lang host of Dialed In on Sirius NASCAR radio about the issue and this morning I was given this answer.

Bayne's 58 starts in the 21 equal out to 1 1/2 seasons

Claire B Lang ‏@ClaireBLang

@TBayneDiehards @TravisFuguet NASCAR has indicated that they will not make an exception for him- he's run too many races..to b ROY elegible

Bayne was asked yesterday during an interview with PRN if he knew if he was going to be able to compete and he wasn't quite sure, but said if he wasn't it was ok with him.  In his 58 starts with the Wood Brothers he only was able to accumulate two top-ten finishes, both on restrictor plate tracks at Daytona and Talladega, one of which was his unforgettable victory in the 2011 Daytona 500 in the 21 car.

Bayne made a point yesterday that even though he was able to get the experience with the famed 21 team, it was also difficult because you would run two races and then not be back on the track for sometimes two months and you were back to starting over.  

Bayne "pumped up" to be driving Roush's famous 6 car

It was September of 2010 that Trevor Bayne first joined the Roush Fenway organization after he was let loose by Diamond-Waltrip Racing when no sponsorship could be secured for the No. 99 team.  It didn't take long for news to start spreading that Jack Roush was going to put the young kid behind the wheel of one of his Xfinity Series cars, even if it meant sponsoring him on his own.

After five years of waiting it out, through the good and the bad, Trevor Bayne is finally able to make a full-time start with Roush Fenway's No. 6 team.  Bayne was asked how excited he was for this upcoming season and replied "Yeah we are, I can't thank Jack Roush and Ford enough for the last five years, that they've stood behind me to get to this point." said Bayne.  "It's been a little bit of wait but it's been a great time driving the No. 21 car but now I get the opportunity to drive for the man I signed up to drive for 6 years ago"

"Pressure, I don't feel any pressure I feel like I have my own expectations, but I don't feel any pressure from it.  I feel like I've had enough experience over the last few years to go out there and give everything I got every lap.  I think when you start feeling pressure that's when you make mistakes.  I just have to know I'm going to give it my all."

Bayne has a few tracks on the schedule that he has yet to make a visit to in his career.  Of those are Pocono, Martinsville, and Sonoma and it sounds like plans are in the works to possibly run the ARCA race at Pocono and to make a run in the K&N West Series race at Sonoma if possible.  He will have veteran crew chief Bob Osborne on board this season so it will be an extra step in finding his grip in the series.

People look at the last few years of Bayne running the No. 21 car and question his statistics but he made a point that while running the part-time schedule with the famed Wood Brothers organization.  That even though they ran the races, the split where they would run two-three races and then the major break would throw them off in the summer time to start all over again. 

Later on PRN he was asked about pressure with the car number and responded "A little but I've had that with the 21 car as well," stated Bayne.  "The two cars I've gotten to drive there are a lot of shoes to fill.  I can't thank Jack enough for letting me pull out his 6 car."

"I think just being part of this group with Ricky and Greg, I'm hopefully going to catch the upswing a little bit with Roush Fenway Racing.  "I feel like the last couple of years has been a little tough on them."

"Competition wise, I have Bob Osborne on my box.  He's very talented and a lot of experience crew chief and won a lot of races and gives me confidence moving forward."

There is still no clear answer on whether or not Bayne will be able to compete for Sprint Cup Series Sunoco Rookie of the Year with the new rules that NASCAR put in place a few years back, however, it appears that he will be illegible to run for the award.

"It's hard to believe Daytona was [four] years ago and I feel really thankful for the opportunities I've had over the past few years to develop as a driver and a person," Bayne said. "I'm probably more appreciative for this opportunity than had I gone Sprint Cup racing full time in 2011. Jack has stood behind me and been a man of his word and I appreciate that."

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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