Bayne, Osborne starting to click

Trevor Bayne and Bob Osborne began this season with a lot of unknowns with each other as the two were paired together in the off season of 2014.  Up until a few weeks ago at Michigan, there were many people questioning whether or not Jack Roush had put the right crew chief with Trevor Bayne for his first full season in the Sprint Cup season.

After last weekend's race at Kentucky Speedway the questions are being answered.  Bayne and Osborne have began to click and it is showing in their results on the track.  The 13th place finish that the team ended up with didn't reflect how well they actually ran throughout the whole night.  Bayne fell behind early on and lost a lap to the leaders but was the lucky dog on lap 99 and from that point on, the No. 6 Advocare Ford moved towards the front of the field.  Bayne made it into the top-20 by lap 141 and only needed six more laps to make into the top-15.  By lap 156, he was into the sixth position and he would maintain his track position inside the top-10 through the late race run.

Bayne & Osborne talk during practice at Kentucky Speedway

The showed on Saturday night that they are finally understanding one another on the radio, as Osborne was able to make adjustments to the car to better fit Bayne.  It wasn't until the late race run when Bayne's car began to become loose that the car lost track position and he fell to 13th.

"We're making gains with this Advocare Ford Fusion and we've got to keep rolling with it," said Bayne after the race.  "  The 17 finished 11th, so that's good for our organization.  We're getting better and showing that it wasn't just a fluke to finish in the top-10 just once.  We're proving that we can be there every week and that's what we have to do."

As I look back over the last month and a half, I think winning the ARCA race at Pocono was a confidence booster for Bayne and getting the track position helped him.  Also this was Bayne and Osborne's 18th race together and the chemistry is finally beginning to click between the two of them.
It takes time to build team chemistry, however, as it has been shown in the last few weeks these two are clicking on all cylinders.  Also spotter Freddie Kraft deserves credit for keeping Trevor Bayne out of trouble and keeping him paced.  The pit crew has been on top of their game as of late, as they showed on Saturday by not losing any track position during the entire race.

This weekend the series will be going to Loudon where Trevor Bayne has never turned a lap in a Sprint Cup car.  Bayne, however, has four career starts in the NASCAR Xfinity Series at New Hampshire Motor Speedway with 1 top-five and 3 top-tens, leading 58 laps in the 2011 race at the track.

Bayne scores second top-10 of 2015 in Wild Daytona finish

Trevor Bayne had been inside the top-3 for much of the closing stages of the Coke Zero 400 at Daytona International Speedway.  Bayne earned his second top-ten finish in the last three events in a wild finish at the speedway.

Bayne's 9th place finish ties his season best at Michigan 

Bayne looked was fifth fastest in the first practice session until the first huge wreck of the weekend that sent the No. 6 Advocare team to a backup car.  Rain cancelled qualifying and with Bayne being fifth in practice would start the race where he ran in practice.  Bayne and crew chief Bob Osborne made the decision early on in the race to go to the back to avoid being involved in any wrecks.  Following the competition caution flag at lap 25, Bayne found himself in 27th.

He would quickly move back into the top-20 and maintained his track position until the caution on lap 54 for Carl Edwards single car accident.  During the caution period, Osborne would bring Bayne in for four tires and fuel and putting him in 31st as several stayed on the track.  Bayne would waste little time during the next run as he was able to get to as high as ninth place before making a little contact with the outside wall as he barely avoided a multi-car crash involving several in turn 2.

The damage was not enough to hinder Bayne's performance as he returned to the track in 15th.  He would move toward the front, as he would only need five laps to get inside the top-five.  Bayne continued to move forward as he was in third place by lap 127, and the Knoxville native would maintain his position through the closing laps of the race, even moving himself into second place at lap 143; before being shuffled back to fifth place before the caution fell at lap 149.

Bayne was shuffled back on the final restart and in the last lap crash that seen Austin Dillion fly into the catch fence, the No. 3 of Dillion went over the top of Bayne's No. 6 Advocare Ford before Bayne was turned after the finish of the race.

“It stinks to tear a race car up at the checkers but that is the first time I have gone to the infield care center and not been broken hearted from a bad run,” Bayne said standing outside the DIS infield care facility at nearly three a.m. Monday. “I feel we had a top-five run going there. It was pretty wild. There at the end off of four everybody was trying to go everywhere. We got rooted out by the 41 car and ended up ninth. We will take it.“

TREVOR BAYNE, No. 6 AdvoCare Ford Fusion (Finished 9th) -- “I am good to go. It stinks to tear a race car up at the checkers but that is the first time I have gone to the infield care center and not been broken hearted from a bad run. We finished 9th I guess or wherever they line us up at after they look at all of it. I feel we had a top-five run going there. It was pretty wild. My car was kind of sluggish at the beginning and we got into the wall when Kenseth wrecked off four and it narrowed it up just enough and toed it in just enough that it started handling really good and got really fast. We drove up to the top four but it was really tough battling those Hendrick cars when you have three of them lined up together. We were able to hold our own and Denny (Hamlin) and I worked well and Paul Menard gave me some good pushes. There at the end off of four everybody was trying to go everywhere. We got rooted out by the 41 car and ended up ninth. We will take it. I feel we had a solid race today. That AdvoCare spark, you need it at three in the morning to keep you sharp. I never got tired in the race and I am sure everybody else was dragging a little after a long day at the race track. I was impressed by the fans staying in the stands and hopefully everyone is alright from that crash.”  

TALK ABOUT THIS CRAZY DAY, STARTING THIS RACE AT NEARLY MIDNIGHT AND ENDING AT THREE IN THE MORNING. “It is kind of back to your roots of short track racing or whatever where you don’t know what time you will get out of there. I remember as a kid leaving the track at four in the morning sometimes. It is kind of back to that. Like I said, we have some of the best fans in the world that will sit in the stands through the rain and lightning and whatever until three a.m. and I really appreciate that.”  

DID YOU SEE ANY OF THAT LAST WRECK? “I didn’t. I was almost through it I think when the 11 slid back up and then I had nowhere to go. I don’t know what happened yet, I just heard about it. I hope everyone is alright.”

Bayne scores first top-ten since 2012 at Michigan

Trevor Bayne scored a season best ninth place finish and his first top-ten since Talladega in 2012 in a rain drenched event at Michigan Speedway on Sunday afternoon.

Bayne started the race in 20th position, he was able to maintain his position on the track through the first run of the race, as he improved to the 18th position just before the first red flag of the afternoon at MIS on lap 11.  The officials tried to get the race going once again at lap 19, however, rain began to come down hard again and the NASCAR team lost the track.

Bayne makes a move around teammate Ricky Stenhouse Jr

When the racing resumed, Bayne maintained his position inside the top-20 until a lap 40 competition caution gave crew chief Bob Osborne a chance to make adjustments on Bayne's No. 6 Advocare Ford Fusion.  Bayne was in 26th after the caution, following another delay on lap 51.

Bayne was able to use the long green flag afterwards to move back into the top-20 during the stretch. He was able to run longer on fuel than most of the cars ahead of him, working his way inside the top-10 prior to the caution coming out on lap 124.  After pitting under caution for four tires and some adjustments, Bayne came back out for the final restart in 13th place.  Bayne made a 3 wide move on the outside of turn two to get back inside the top-10, as he raced his way up to ninth before rain came down to finish off the race at lap 138.

"I feel like this was a really solid weekend for this No. 6 Advocare team," said Bayne after the race.  "We qualified inside the top-20 and made really good gains on the car throughout practice.  We had a good car today, that had good speed all race long.  It's great to come home with a top-10 finish  (Crew Chief) Bob (Osborne) made a great pit call and we were able to catch a break with that caution.  This feels great"

Bayne will look to ARCA, K&N Series for experience at Pocono and Sonoma

Competing in his first year full-time in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series for the first time in his career, Trevor Bayne will look to two new series to gain some experience at two venues that he has never turned laps at in his career.

Bayne will run the ARCA race on June 6 at Pocono Raceway for Cunningham Motorsports, a Roush Fenway Racing affiliate for their development program.  The car will be sponsored by Advocare his full-time sponsor in Sprint Cup, and be the No. 22 Ford Fusion in the field.  Bayne has never competed at the "Tricky Triangle" so the experience will help him get tuned to the track for the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race.

Former Roush Fenway Racing crew chief and 1992 Championship winner with Alan Kulwicki Paul Andrews will be the crew chief for Bayne's team when they race in ARCA on June 6th.  It appears Bayne will also run an Advocare Ford Fusion in the K&N West Series race on June 27th, there's no word on who will put the car together for Bayne for the road course event.

Bayne has road course experience from the NASCAR Xfinity Series at Road America, Wakins Glen, and running events in Mid-Ohio, and Montreal.  However Sonoma Raceway has different up hill twist and turns that it will help to gain some experience on before Bayne races the Sprint Cup Series event there.

Osborne gets my vote of confidence

Bob Osborne is the veteran crew chief Bayne needs

The NASCAR Sprint Cup Series is at its All-Star week, and even though the No. 6 Advocare Ford has yet to get a top-15 finish this season I still give Bob Osborne my vote of confidence.  I'm not a car owner, the driver, or crew member that works under the crew chief but in the first 11 races I have listened to every race he's called and I see how well he is handling what is going on with the cars and Trevor Bayne.

I have watched what has happened with Ricky Stenhouse his first few years in the Sprint Cup Series and having crew chief changes right and left.  He's worked with 3 different crew chiefs in the matter of 3 years, and I just don't feel that the crew chief is the issue with Bayne and his finishes.  Roush Fenway is struggling all the way around the board, it's not the engine program because if you look at how well Roger Penske's organization is performing with the same engine, that erases that problem.  You then have to look at the chassis, and in my opinion that is the full course problem. 

They have been building new chassis's for the future and it was ran this past week at Kansas.  Bob Osborne seemed to have Bayne heading in the right direction on Saturday night before he got had a late race mishap that damaged the nose of the Advocare Ford.  One thing I have taken from the first few races that I never did see out of Chad Norris or Donnie Wingo, Bob Osborne is telling Bayne not to take other drivers crap.  Early in the race when Kyle Larson had his entry blocked off in the pits, Bayne was told "if the 42 doesn't have common courtesy to stop short, YOU stop short and block him in the pits."

I see Osborne as a teacher, he's worked with the younger drivers before and won races with Carl Edwards, 18 to be exact.  The chemistry between Osborne and Bayne is there, the cars just need to get better for the driver and crew chief to be able to find a better pattern on race weekends.  I don't think that the fans on social media really want to pay attention to the quality of equipment that Bayne and Bob Osborne has had to work with this season, but more they pay attention to the statistics that they've put up.

The fact is, I don't think that you can grade a driver and crew chief on their finishes when the equipment just isn't up to par with the other major teams in NASCAR.  Roush is hurting, but I believe that they're working to find its problem but it has taken more time than expected.  

As I stated before I look at what Roush has done with Stenhouse, and moving a driver from crew chief to crew chief is one of the worst things for a young driver that is coming up.  Both Bayne and Stenhouse are proven winners, but their statistics fell off when RFR's equipment began to take a slide backwards.  It takes more than one season to really find that right chemistry with the crew chief and driver in my opinion, and I believe Osborne will be working with Bayne for much of the future.  He has the know how to get the cars better, and he's got that engineering background that pays off as well 

Bayne has a future with Roush Fenway Racing

The media has been blasting 24 year old Trevor Bayne since last weekend's incident at Talladega Superspeedway.  Many questioned whether he had a future in the Sprint Cup Series and it was debated on ESPN's Burning Questions. 

Jack Roush gave Bayne the chance in 2010

 

 

 

The Roush Fenway Racing executives including car owner Jack Roush, Robbie Reiser, Kevin Kidd and McArdle all know that a lot of the problem with their finishes is a problem that their team hasn't been able to find in the chassis.  Greg Biffle said today they have made small gains but have yet to find the real issue with the car.  The team is running their new chassis for the second time this season in Kansas and they have slowly made gains through practice.
Mark

Bayne is in his first full-time season with Roush Fenway, people have commented that he has the experience with the Wood Brothers team from the 2011-20014 seasons, however, when you are part time there isn't enough consistency of working with the same team every weekend.  Now he has a veteran crew chief with Bayne are only in their 10th race of working with one another but each week the two seem to show that their chemistry is getting better and better.  They've also faced some engine issues in the No. 6 Advocare Ford, at Bristol they looked to have a decent car until something electrical came around and made the car run on seven cylinders at the half mile.

Bob Osborne brings a different mindset to the track than
the crew chief Bayne has worked with before

Bob Osborne who is back from a 3 year hiatus of being a crew chief.  Osborne and

At Richmond, the team had a very solid car but were caught two laps down when they made a green flag pit stop.  RFR executives know that it isn't the drivers when the problem exists within all 3 teams.  Jack Roush took the chance in 2010 on Trevor Bayne and he's given him the chance to progress. Bayne's Daytona 500 win in a way might have put a more negativity with him than positivity because of the expectations that came after winning the race.  He was only 20 years old at the time and many put a lot of heaping expectations on his future.  He has faced many hurdles on his way to getting a full-time ride in Roush's No. 6 Advocare Ford Fusion.  Sponsorship and health have been the main issues for Bayne, he missed 27 of 33 races in the 2012 season in the NASCAR Xfinity Series racing due to the fact a sponsor couldn't be found for his car.  He ran the Wood Brothers Ford in 16 races that season.

Advocare is the first sponsor that Trevor Bayne has had that has been fully comitted to a full season of racing in his career in NASCAR and the pairing has been solid.  I believe when this deal was setup, everyone that was part of it know that they had a long road to get Roush Fenway's team back to the level it was.  Both Trevor Bayne and Ricky Stenhouse were successful behind the wheel of Roush's Xfinity Series program and are talented drivers.  It's just a matter of getting the cars back to the same level as its teams' drivers. 

Take Advice from the man before you

I have been going back in time and remembering things that Mark Martin had to go through before he was able to get Jack Roush's car to victory lane at Rockingham in 1989.  Many struggles from blown engines, wrecked race cars and many people questioning him on the way.  Martin was 30 years old when he won first race for Roush Fenway Racing and I still remember it to this day. 

Now 26 years later, Trevor Bayne is in the No. 6 Ford for Roush.  Bayne has been through the same struggles but he can fall back on the man before him for some little advice from the past.  I heard Mark Martin once say you had to be successful at anything as competitive as NASCAR you have to be thick skinned and tough, or you won't survive.  I truly think that Trevor Bayne is a thick skinned and tough Tennessee boy that knows he has what it takes to be successful behind the wheel.

Bayne is in his first full season in the No. 6 Ford

I'm sure he has seen all the people who question his skills, not so aggressive style.  But remember that other guy that ran this car before?  Mark Martin always was questioned for his clean driving style, he won 40 times in his Sprint Cup Series career, 35 of those were in Roush's 6.

I was questioned on a forum this week by a fellow Roush-fan why I chose Trevor Bayne because he just didn't seem to have what it took to make it at this level.  The man was a Biffle fan.  I replied "I chose Bayne because he's the kid that always has a smile on his face, through all the hard hits he's taken, the kid keeps a smile.  I like his attitude on the track and off of it, and he reminds me a lot of Mark Martin."

Bayne has had his struggles off the track dealing with his health issues and until the last two years getting a sponsor to support him.  Advocare stepped up to the plate and the two seem to have a great working relationship with one another.  Bayne is a great rep for the company, he's keeping himself in physical shape and has a sponsor that helps provide an extra boost with their products. 

There are a lot of steps to take for this young man, he's only 24 years old, 6 years younger than Martin when he finally won his first race, and he's already won NASCAR's biggest race at the youngest age ever.  Bayne has a remarkable mindset, he's very knowledgeable when it comes to the setup of a race car and if the cars improve for him, he'll begin to make that gain on the track.  I was at Talladega this past weekend and got into a heated discussion with a Kevin Harvick fan about how Trevor Bayne handled himself on the radio.  The many made a reference that he lost respect for Bayne because he wouldn't cuss on the radio in a wreck.  I replied "That's the reason I respect and like this guy, he's a Christian and doesn't need to cuss." 

For all the years I went for Mark Martin, I can't recall hearing him cuss a crew chief or fellow racer.  It was the reason many respected him as a statesman of the sport.  Trevor Bayne has a long way to go, but I feel confident if he heeds the words of the man that made his ride so popular through the years, he'll be there in the future.