Bayne reacts to Dover penalty, baby news

Bayne was fined $20,000 and placed on probation through Dec. 31 by the sanctioning body on Wednesday for exiting his car without the supervision of safety officials during last Sunday's FedEx 400 benefiting Autism Speaks at Dover International Speedway. He also had been summoned to the NASCAR hauler for consultation on Sunday.

"It's really tough," Bayne told NASCAR.com on Friday at Pocono Raceway, site of Sunday's NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Axalta 'We Paint Winners' 400 (1 p.m. ET, FOX Sports 1, MRN, SiriusXM).

"It's something they take very serious and I take very serious. Obviously, safety is a priority and I understand that. It's a hard pill to swallow as big as the fine is for what I did. My car was on fire and I got out of the race car, which you are going to have to do. I felt like I was trying to exit the racing surface to get to the ambulance. I guess I needed to wait on the ambulance to get to me.

"I made a mistake and it won't happen again. It's really unfortunate. I felt like it was not an intentional thing by any means."

Bayne was involved in a three-car crash with HScott Motorsports teammates Michael Annett and Justin Allgaier in the 175th lap of the race. Bayne's car skidded to a stop with severe front-end damage, he dismounted during the caution period and walked down the banked track surface in Turn 1 to the awaiting ambulance for the mandatory ride to the infield care center.

NASCAR formalized the rule, which is presented as a reminder during each pre-race drivers' meeting, last August after a fatal accident involving three-time premier series champion Tony Stewart. Stewart was driving a sprint car at Canandaigua (N.Y.) Motorsports Park's half-mile dirt track when driver Kevin Ward Jr. exited his car after a crash and was struck and killed.

The rule allows a driver to leave his or her vehicle before the arrival of safety personnel in the event of extenuating circumstances, such as fire.

Bayne's infraction came two days after a similar incident involving driver Jennifer Jo Cobb, who walked onto the track surface to express displeasure with eventual NASCAR Camping World Truck Series winner Tyler Reddick as vehicles circled during the yellow flag. Cobb was fined $5,000 and placed on probation through Dec. 31.

Thursday brought better news for Bayne with the announcement that he and wife Ashton are expecting their first child.

"We're really excited," Bayne said with a wide smile on his face. "Ashton and I have been looking forward to this for a long time. I feel like we had good timing here so far with it being a December baby, so we will be able to be home for the first couple of months with it and they'll travel with me. There's a lot of babies in the garage so we definitely aren't on our own in this. Just really excited about it."

Kyle Busch, Brad Keselowski and Landon Cassill have all welcomed children into the fold in the past month.

This weekend, Bayne will be pulling double duty at Pocono, running the Sprint Cup race on Sunday and the Pocono ARCA 200 in the ARCA Racing Series on Saturday afternoon. With no prior experience at the Tricky Triangle, the 2011 Daytona 500 winner is looking for as much seat time as possible.

"I've never run anything at Pocono so that's the point just to get seat time on this racetrack to learn," Bayne said on Friday before ARCA practice. "I want to get as many laps as possible and I think that's a good way to do it. I've never been in an ARCA car before this racetrack so got to learn those as well. Feel like its going to be a lot of fun."

The additional seat time was fun indeed and a success for Bayne as he scored the pole position for his first ARCA race and roared to victory. That came a day after Bayne qualified 33rd for Sunday's Sprint Cup race.

Kyle Larson won the ARCA event at Pocono last year ahead of his first start at the track.