Trevor Bayne Auto Club Speedway Post-Race Recap

Aaron's #99 Takes 11th In California

Trevor Bayne’s strong performance in Saturday’s Stater Bros. 300 at Auto Club Speedway resulted in a 11th-place effort  and moved the Aaron’s Racing team into 24th in the NASCAR Nationwide Series point standings.  Bayne, who celebrated his 19th birthday on Friday, qualified the No. 99 Diamond-Waltrip Racing machine in the 10th spot for Saturday afternoon’s event.  He fought a tight-handling race car early in the race but was able to stay in the top 15 for all 152 laps of the event.  A late caution, with five laps remaining, forced the race into over time and Bayne wrestled with his competitors to keep the No. 99 machine in the top 10.  However, the No. 12 of Justin Allgaier beat him to the line and the Knoxville, Tenn., native crossed the finish line 11th. 

DWR NNS Race Results

Trevor Bayne, No. 99 Diamond-Waltrip Toyota Camry - Finished 11th

DWR Driver Standings

Trevor Bayne, No. 99 Diamond-Waltrip Toyota Camry - 130 points, ranks 24th

Gained 16 spots in the NNS point standings

165 points out of the lead

TREVER BAYNE, No. 99 Aaron’s Dream Machine Toyota

- Started 10th and finished 11th

- Fought a tight-handling race car for the majority of the race

- A great pit stop by the over-the-wall crew on lap 121 allowed Bayne to pick of three spots on pit road

- Raced inside the top 14 for all 152 laps of the Stater Bros. 300

- Grabbed his 8th top-15 finish in only 17 NNS starts

LOOKING AHEAD TO LAS VEGAS

Trevor will be making an appearance on Friday, Feb. 26 from 7:00 p.m. – 7:30 p.m.  in The Pub at the Monte Carlo.  Also, please visit www.montecarlo.com/nascar to book a room and receive special NASCAR rates. 

BAYNE QUOTE:  “At the beginning of the race we were a little bit tight so we made some good adjustments.  We never got the front end turning any better but we just unhooked the rear where I could get it set in a little bit better.  That was a good change.  We found the high line late after following Brendan Gaughan and Carl Edwards and a couple people that really ran the top well.  That rocketed us towards the front.  The middle of the race we got on the top and ran down people in front of us by four-tenths of a lap.  That was what set us apart in that center section of the race because we could make some moves to get up towards the front.  That put us in position to get good pit stops and everything that followed.  Very last stop, we were one of the first teams to pit for four tires and I thought we’d be digging to the front and I got trapped in the middle.  The 88 (Kelly Bires) barely got his nose outside of us coming to the green flag and that just trapped us in the middle and we had to fight back.  We got through turn two and had a big run but they got the high line and got back around us.  We’ll take an 11th-place finish, especially after coming out of Daytona.  Our Aaron’s Dream Machine is pretty in the garage, no marks on it so that’s a good thing.  We can make our cars better because they’re not on a wrecker.  We’ll come back next week and try to do even better.”