Liberty National Life will be on the No. 6 for the first time at Atlanta

Since Trevor Bayne has been running full-time for Roush Fenway Racing at the upper level when he moved up in 2015, AdvoCare has been the only sponsor that has adorned his No. 6 Ford Fusion.

That is about to change this weekend at Atlanta Motor Speedway.

Liberty National Life Insurance will be on the No. 6 Roush Fenway Racing Ford for the first of multiple races this season for Trevor Bayne.  In November, RFR and Liberty National Life announced their partnership that would begin with the Folds of Honor 500 at Atlanta Motor Speedway this weekend.

Trevor Bayne is coming off a 10th place finish in the season opening Daytona 500 and hopes to carry that momentum over to Atlanta where he started third last Spring in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series.

Trevor Bayne finishes 6th in Can Am Duel

Trevor Bayne piloted his No. 6 AdvoCare Ford Fusion to a sixth place finish in Thursday night's first Can-Am Duel 150 qualifying race at Daytona International Speedway. The result of Bayne's finish put him 11th in the starting lineup for the Great American Race on Sunday afternoon. 

Trevor Bayne talks with owner Jack Roush after the Can-Am
Duel Qualifying race on Thursday night.

"My AdvoCare Ford felt really good tonight," said Bayne after the 150 mile event.  "It pushed like crazy and runs bottom better than any car I've ever really had here.  Really made tonight a fun night and helped us learn what we need to do over the next couple of days to get this car ready for the 500 on Sunday."

Trevor Bayne started the 60 lap event in 10th position and quickly charged to the top-five and in third position by the time the 7th lap was complete in the first Can-Am Duel.  Bayne made a huge save when Jamie McMurray got into the back of his No. 6 AdvoCare Ford Fusion on lap 8.  Bayne was shuffled to the back of the top-ten by the time that that competition caution flag waved on lap 25. 

Crew Chief Matt Puccia brought Bayne in for four fresh Goodyears, sending him back out in 11th position for the lap 30 restart.  Bayne would then move himself back inside the lead pack of cars, as he would take the middle to get himself up to 6th place when the caution flag lap flew at lap 48.

He battled side by side with Matt Kenseth in the closing laps to get inside the top-five and made a quick move to get in front at the line by Kenseth got the fifth position back before the two crossed the line.  Bayne crossed the line 6th in his No. 6 AdvoCare Ford Fusion.

Bayne, Stenhouse can make two-car system work at Roush Fenway Racing

This weekend it is a nice mid-70 degree weekend for racing at Daytona International Speedway and the haulers rolled in on Thursday night to start things off for the season.  The teams began to unload their equipment on Friday afternoon to begin preparation for Daytona Speedweeks and there will be a big difference this season for Trevor Bayne and his organization.

While the sport is taking a major change in its sponsor, Roush Fenway Racing is as well and just about everyone has heard it.  For the first time in their career Trevor Bayne and teammate Ricky Stenhouse Jr., will be a two-car operation together.  Roush and veteran Greg Biffle parted ways right before the end of the 2016 season and it made many people wonder what would happen with the team.  For years there has been a veteran face among the organization to build upon, now the two younger drivers are what is left to to move forward into the future.

Bayne and Stenhouse worked together from September 2010-2012 in the NASCAR Xfinity Series

Bayne and Stenhouse worked together as a strong pair in 2011

and even though Bayne missed most of the 2012 because of sponsorship issues, the two drivers had immediate success in the series together.  The two won 9 races and Stenhouse won back to back championships when the two were teammates in the series.  So this isn't their first rodeo working together as teammates in a two-car system.  While neither driver has yet to find full success in the upper level of NASCAR, there are some pieces fans and the media have left out when discussing these two drivers.  They've not had top-notch cars since they've been running in the series.

There is that lone win between the two drivers in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series that came from Trevor Bayne's win in the 2011 Daytona 500.  So I go on something that many people have tried to point on in the media.  You have to look at sponsorship dollars right now at Roush Fenway Racing and in years passed, there just wasn't enough money and sponsors to fully field three to four race cars and be competitively in the top circuit of the sport.  Right now Roush has two cars and enough sponsors to fully spread the money around to make sure that they put it all in the right places and there are a couple of other pieces to the puzzle that needs to be talked about as well.  Bayne and Stenhouse likely don't cost as much on a monetary scale as say a Greg Biffle or Carl Edwards so it is a lot easier to take the money from the sponsors and put it into finding what else is going on in their race cars.

I think that Roush made some key organizational moves in the off-season to put people in other positions and remove certain people as well.  Do I wish that there would have been a lot more people hired from outside of this organization to bring in new voices and ideas?  You're darn right I do.  I think that this is a starting point, however, for this team to try and find its grip.

When you shuffle a third car out of the organization there is a big change.  However, there is something else that comes with this as well.  I believe when Greg Biffle was there, the possibility was higher say for the team to sit and take what the veteran driver wanted over the other two drivers in the organization.  Now I think it is a pretty much even drawing board with Bayne and Stenhouse in the Cup Series.   In years passed, I somehow feel the team was afraid to criticize the members and drivers and say they were running terribly.

This season is a fresh start almost for an organization that truly needed it. 

Looking Forward to 2017: Key's to finding success for Bayne

The 2017 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series season will be one filled with many changes for Trevor Bayne on the circuit, but there are some key factors staying the same that will help him out through this season.

Bayne is entering his third full-time season on the circuit this year for Roush Fenway Racing after driving part-time for the Wood Brothers from 2011-2014 in the famed No. 21 Ford.  In Bayne's first two years at Roush, the organization has failed to provide the driver with cars to compete inside the top-10 on a regular base but changes made in the off-season to the organization might be some of the key pieces to get the No. 6 Ford Fusion up front this season.

No. 1 Crew Chief Matt Puccia:  This will be the second season that Bayne and Matt Puccia have been able to work together on the No. 6 Fords at Roush Fenway.  Last season, Puccia and Bayne had moments where it appeared they were coming around and showing signs of being potential contenders in the Cup Series.  They had top-five finishes at Bristol and Daytona and were competitive at tracks such as Dover and Watkins Glen.  The two kept their composure throughout the season and were able to come back several times after being wrecked to record solid finishes inside the top-10.

Puccia helped Bayne improve in every category of statistic except the win column last year by scoring more top-fives, more top-tens, better average start and finish and laps led than any year past.

No. 2 Restrictor Plate Tracks:    Probably the strongest point of Trevor Bayne and Roush Fenway's year in 2016 was on restrictor plate tracks.  Bayne was a solid contender in the four plate events last season.  He was up front battling for the win in the July Coke Zero 400 at Daytona.  Bayne battled himself through pack in the final laps and finished 3rd in the event.  He also was 10th in the Spring Talladega event but fell back at the finish of the fall event and finished 17th.

Considering Bayne won the 2011 Daytona 500, six years ago, it will be a strong note that the team will continue to be contenders on the plate tracks this season.  Bayne has been strong since the get go on these fast paced drafting events and the Roush cars with the help of former crew chief Jimmy Fennig have remained fast at Daytona and Talladega.

No. 3 No More Stenhouse VS Bayne:  During the Media Day at Charlotte, Trevor Bayne and Ricky Stenhouse Jr., both spoke about the importance of working together instead of against each other in 2017.  The two drivers have been teammates since 2010 when Bayne first arrived at Roush Fenway Racing after being let go by Michael Waltrip Racing after sponsorship issues.  For two years, Roush had a gimmick on social media called Ricky VS Trevor with many videos of them challenging each other to many things away from the track.

Bayne and Stenhouse worked well with one another in the NASCAR Xfinity Series together from 2010-2012 before Stenhouse was moved to Cup Series racing full-time in 2013.  The two have to share what they find with each other and make sure their crew chiefs and teams share the same line of thought.  Roush Fenway Racing's strongest years were when Mark Martin and Jeff Burton were able to work together as a solid pair in the sport and they made things work, along with their teams and crew chiefs.

No. 4 Remain Focused And Look Forward:  Last year, Trevor Bayne was able to work with an experienced spotter Roman Pemberton who finally was able to catch some of the issues going on while Bayne was driving the race car.  The biggest issue was his talking while driving the car and trying to telling Puccia and Pemberton what was going on every 2-3 laps.  Pemberton and Puccia calmed him down and got his focus more on the driving and letting them handle the car.  That needs to be more of the focus this season going forward.

No. 5 Roush Fenway Cars Need Improvement:  For the past few years, Trevor Bayne has had to hear the media and fans throw the comments at him and the problem is he has been driving cars that are midpack class since coming onto the Cup Series scene except for a few events.  The key changes in the off-season should provide some of that, as Kevin Kidd has provided some changes as the new Director for the Cup Series program. 

Both Bayne and Stenhouse have been acknowledged as mediocre at best drivers, but the fact is both drivers can race with the best of them.  It is the cars that are the biggest problem at Roush right now.  I think that some fans and media don't take into consideration that drivers who race cars such as these two have the last few years, it isn't always the driver, or even the crew chief for that matter.  If the team begins to get the cars better you will see the two drivers show a huge improvement on the track.

Bayne and Stenhouse ready to work together in 2017

Both drivers a year older, a year wiser and now having to do something that they have never done before at Roush Fenway Racing.  For the first time in Trevor Bayne and Ricky Stenhouse's careers they will be the two drivers going forward with the organization in 2017.

Trevor Bayne talks to the media on Tuesday

When Trevor Bayne first arrived on the scene at Roush Fenway in 2010, there was that little theme Ricky VS Trevor that went on for their first two seasons while running in the NASCAR Xfinity Series now the atmosphere and culture has taken a shift with the two drivers.  Now there is no Ricky VS Trevor, it is the two of them against the rest of the competitors. 

Bayne said during Roush Fenway's facebook live when he brought up the most asked question was what was going to be different being a two car team this year?

"We are excited to go to work together, I've been telling everybody early on when we were at Roush Fenway Racing it was always Ricky VS Trevor,  and I think we're kind of passed that.  That kind of mentality of which team is going to be the best on the race weekend and who's going to beat who, it's now going to be Ricky and Trevor verses every other organization, Roush Fenway verses Hendrick and Joe Gibbs and everybody else. 

"We know we have to work together to be the best we can be and help our guys out and keep them going through the whole season."

Stenhouse seemed to carry on Bayne's thoughts about the shift in the relationship at Roush Fenway for the new season. 

"Yeah I'm excited," stated Stenhouse.  "The guys in the shop are really working well together from both teams.  Even down to making parts for different generator carts, they'll make two for each of em.  They've just been really working really well together, so I'm excited to see that keep evolving over the year and I do think we have really good personnel in the right positions.  Everybody is wanting to make it the best year yet, that we have had, Trevor and I in our Cup careers and get Roush Fenway back to where they belong."

"With the people we moved around I feel like they are making their own race team, like they're working that hard; it's not just for someone else.  We all want to win.  I feel like we got the right people in the right places and we're ready for 2017."

Trevor Bayne 2017 Season Preview

Liberty National Life joins the 6 team in 2017

The 2017 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series season will mark his third full-time season in the premier series of NASCAR for Roush Fenway Racing.  After his first two seasons behind the wheel of a completely backed No. 6 AdvoCare Ford Fusion, there will be a change on the horizon for Trevor Bayne and his team this season with new sponsors on board for the 6 car.  November 30th, Liberty National Life joined the team, and just a couple of weeks ago it was announced that  Performance Plus Motor Oil will be a sponsor on Bayne's car.

The one thing staying the same this season is for the first time in Bayne's career he'll be able to have a familiary voice over the radio with crew chief Matt Puccia and spotter Roman Pemberton will be returning to work with Bayne this season on the No. 6 Roush Fenway Racing team.  Last season both helped Bayne make big improvements on his first season in the premier division in NASCAR by having more top-fives, top-tens, laps led, better averages in start and finish, and a huge jump in his final position in the standings.

Matt Puccia returns as Bayne's crew cheif in 2017

This will be car owner Jack Roush's 30th season in the big leagues of the sport.  Dating back to when it first began when he signed newly inducted Hall of Fame driver Mark Martin in 1988, however, the team went through many changes in the off-season to try and help improve the team after another winless season went on the table in 2016.  Earlier this week, Ford's Global Director Pericak said that he was encouraged by the changes that Roush Fenway has made this off-season.

Kevin Kidd takes over as the competition director for the organization and Tommy Wheeler will now be the organizations operation director.  It was announced last week that Mark McArdle had parted ways with the team and went to Chip Ganassi Racing.  The other major change many fans probably have already heard went down, Roush Fenway Racing will go back to a two car team for the first time since 1995 when they were running Martin and Ted Musgrave in the 6 and 16.

The one thing that helps is Bayne and his teammate Ricky Stenhouse have worked together in the Xfinity Series as a two-car operation from 2011-2012.  They had great success as teammates in the series and the chemistry was well spread.

Bayne's strongest points last season was the two restrictor plate tracks and the concrete at Bristol and Dover.  If Roush Fenway can improve on its aerodynamic program and get the cars better on the intermediate tracks the competition line should be better at the organization. With Stewart Haas Racing joining Ford Performance this season it could be key for RFR to get back up front.  Ford has primarily relied on Roush and Team Penske for the last several years, now with a major four car operation moving in it could bring back a little bit of light to what Ford had in the late 90s with Roush, Robert Yates and Penske. 

Martin Gracefully takes his place in the Grandest Victory Lane of All

I did over 100 tweets this week with memories of Mark Martin's many wins, accomplishments and other moments in the sport of auto racing.  However it doesn't add up until you listen to what this small icon of a man had to say in front of many people last night in the NASCAR Hall of Fame while being inducted.

Mark Martin being introduced by Jack Roush Friday night

I can remember just about every win Mark Martin ever had in the No. 6 Roush Fenway Ford.  There was a special relationship between Martin and former car owner Jack Roush and you could tell it last night when the two were on stage with one another.  There will always be a special place for Mark Martin in the No. 6 car, he is the man that helped build this organization for Jack Roush brick by brick, layer by layer.

You rarely hear of second chance drivers successfully coming back and making it in this sport but Mark Martin is proof it can happen.  He overcame the obstacles and Jack Roush gave him that second chance to make it.

Matt Kenseth, the 2003 Monster Energy Cup Series champion, and the man Mark Martin seemed to have hand picked in 1997 to be his protege to come to Roush's team was who introduced Martin on Friday night.

Martin reflected on the 1984 year, standing outside of Daytona International Speedway and looking through the fence at the cars, drivers, and teams working after he had lost his sponsorship for the Cup Series.  And then discussing second chances.

"Jack Roush gave me that second chance," Mark Martin said last night during his induction.  "Jack we battled side by side for nearly 20 years and I never once questioned your will to win or your determination to succeed.

"We not only won a lot of races, but you helped mold me into the man I am today.  I can't thank you enough for what you have done for me, everything, for the opportunity to even stand up here tonight on this stage, but more importantly the role you played in me becoming the person I am today."

There is a golden line of respect that Mark Martin represents and he is a rare breed.  The type that doesn't come along but ever so often and he has earned his place in more ways than just statistics. 

Martin thanked the many people that helped get him to the grandest victory of all.

"To every person that ever worked on any of our teams, I salute you," Martin said.  "This is your moment.  Our moment.  The road was long, and sometimes the mountain seemed insurmountable; but in the end, here we stand.  In the Grandest Victory Lane of all.  We made it to the NASCAR Hall of Fame."

Once again Mark Martin as he has for many years laid the credit to other people besides himself. A very graceful and humble speech from the veteran who many consider the best to never win a championship in NASCAR's premier series.  

Richard Childress and Rick Hendrick both got up before Mark Martin, each car owner had praise for the driver who won 40 times behind the wheel of a Cup Series car.  During the 1990s, Martin and Roush had some of the biggest championship battles with Childress and Dale Earnhardt and Hendrick and Jeff Gordon.  He eventually went on to race for Hendrick in 2009 and win 5 times.

I now get ready for the 2017 Monster Energy Cup Series with Trevor Bayne.  There's still that brick that Mark Martin laid to this foundation for the driver I go for today.  I hope everyone that is a fan of this organization knows what kind of a true champion Mark Martin is.  I am grateful that Trevor Bayne has a lot of the same respectful qualities that Mark Martin did.  Respect, honesty, a handshake, a graceful speech to thank everyone that got you where you are today. 

It doesn't take a trophy to make you a true champion.  This man did it in every way on and off the track.  Here's to you Mark Martin, you did make it to the Grandest Victory Lane!