CONCORD, N.C. — In the closing lap of the opening segment of last week’s Sprint Showdown, Trevor Bayne saw an opening just after the restart and went for it. With a spot on the line in the Sprint All-Star Race where $1 million would be at stake, there was no hesitation.
“I guess I’ve always kind of driven that way but it doesn’t get talked about it because it’s like for 25th and sometimes it doesn’t work because it doesn’t stick,” Bayne told NASCAR.com at Charlotte Motor Speedway, site of Sunday’s Coca-Cola 600 (6 p.m. ET, FOX, PRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).
“Right now, when I’ve got cars that are capable of doing that and when it’s for the win, it just looks a lot different. It’s kind of always been my style on late-race restarts being able to go for it.”
That aggression came out in the Sprint All-Star Race as well where Bayne battled and traded paint with Kurt Busch en route to the Roush Fenway Racing driver ending up with a seventh-place result.
And while that seemed to open some eyes at the track, Bayne has quietly been making strides in his second full-time season in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series. Thanks to a new rules package that caters to his driving style, his growth behind the wheel and a burgeoning partnership with new crew chief Matt Puccia, Bayne sits 18th in the point standings. That is the highest spot for the three-car Roush organization heading into Sunday’s race.
The pairing with Puccia, who replaced Bob Osborne atop the No. 6 pit box ahead of this season, has been just the tonic for Bayne in a solid bounce-back campaign. Puccia had been atop the No. 16 pit box for Bayne’s Roush teammate, Greg Biffle for the prior four-and-a-half-seasons. The two have come to a quick understanding and that has paid off on the track.
“We’ve known each other for a long time ever since I came to Roush really, we’ve been buddies,” Bayne said. “I think that relationship from the past and kind of going through the same struggles last year and coming back together and both of us needing to revamp everything. He was going to end up being a XFINITY crew chief and that’s not what he wanted to do. Things weren’t looking up on the 6 team over here, so we were both kind of what each other needed to revitalize our careers.”
Part of the bond between the duo comes in the form of becoming new fathers in the past year. Last December, Bayne and his wife Ashton, welcomed their first child, Elizabeth Kate, into the world. Puccia and his wife, Alyssa, welcomed their first child, Kennedy Harper in October.
“Matt’s daughter is two months older than ours. We’ll talk on the plane and he will show me a video of her doing something new and I’m like, ‘oh boy, this is what I got to deal with in two months,’ ” Bayne said. “Now, Kennedy, his daughter is crawling around so I’m cherishing the moments while Ellie’s still immobile and lays still and I can keep up with her.”
He may only be 25 years old, but Bayne has already had a career full of peaks and valleys. In just his second career Sprint Cup start; he won the sport’s biggest race, the Daytona 500 in 2011 at the age of 20 years old. He was sidelined for two months in 2011 and was later diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in 2013. Last season in his first full-time season in the sport’s top level, Bayne finished 29th in the point standings (and was no higher than 22nd during the course of the season) with just two top 10s in 36 races.
“When you are struggling, you are super analytical about everything,” Bayne said. “You look at everything you are doing. You analyze it. You try to make it better and sometimes that hinders you. I actually feel like I worked way harder at it last year than I’m having to this year. Sometimes that’s what it takes. It’s got to come naturally.
“I’m not saying I’m not working at it because I am. There’s a lot of things I learned last year that I implemented whether its post-race notes or spending time with the simulator. … I can’t really say it’s anything I’m doing, but when things are clicking it just makes it easier on everybody.”
This year, Bayne already has three top 10s in the season’s first 12 races and is looking for a spot in the 16-driver Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup. The cutoff to the Chase is roughly three-and-a-half months away with 14 races to go. At present, Bayne sits eight points out of the 16th and final Chase Grid spot held by AJ Allmendinger. The driver of the No. 6 Ford views consistency as his ticket into the Chase.
“Right now, our goals are to finish top 15 every week, be on the lead lap. Don’t dig ourselves a hole,” Bayne said. “Kansas, we blew a left rear tire and maybe could have avoided losing some of those laps had we pitted sooner when we knew we had a rub. We can’t make mistakes. If you minimize that, you’ve got a good shot at it. … People are going to have bad days. You look at July in Daytona, you got to get through that race. You got to have a solid finish there like we did at Talladega (10th-place in May).
“When the opportunity strikes to get a win or to run top five, you got to make those points up when you can, so you got to be pretty aggressive. I think our best chance is to points-race in right now, so those top 15s, top 10s we got to keep clicking them off like we’ve been doing.”