LAS VEGAS, Nev: Trevor Bayne desperately wants to put together a full-time ride for the 2023 Xfinity Series season and with his eighth start this year for Joe Gibbs Racing this weekend at Las Vegas (Nev.) Motor Speedway, the former Daytona 500 champion is continuing to showcase to the NASCAR world that he is more than ready.
After earning a second place starting position for his penultimate Xfinity Series race of the season, Bayne would nearly find disaster early in the Alsco 302 after getting completely sideways on Lap 4 while battling Noah Gragson for the runner-up position.
Falling back to 12th, Bayne informed his team that his car “is really, really loose now. The rear tires are killed.”
Despite the early race setback, Bayne was able to crawl his No. 18 Devotion Nutrition Toyota Supra back to 11th at the end of Stage 1.
Restarting Stage 2 in 14th – Bayne would continue to muscle a tight race car but utilize the speed and the increasing popular high lane to climb back inside the top-10 to ninth at the end of Stage 2.
Reporting to crew chief Jason Radcliff that his car was still tight, he needed help on both ends of the race car to get the feel that he would hope that would surge him forward in the second half.
During their routine pit stop though, Bayne would be penalized for a safety violation after one of his crew members fell triggering the penalty.
Falling to 20th for the restart but ducked behind the lap cars too, Bayne would cleverly and carefully drive back through the field to seventh when green flag pit stops took place.
When the cycle completed, Bayne sat eighth.
A late race caution would come out on Lap 162 when Brandon Jones would take a short spin in Turn 2.
Pit stops would once again come into play and the No. 18 driver would bring the car in for tires, fuel, and an adjustment as he was still tight all around the track.
With 35 laps to go in the race, Bayne would return to the track seeded comfortably inside the top-10 and utilize the remainder of the caution-free race to vault back into the top-five for his fifth top-five result of 2022.
“You have that grey strip at the top and once the 9 (Noah Gragson) got behind me, he moved up to where I was running it in and my car just got tight as I was taking rubber,” said Bayne after the race.
“The only way I could get it to turn, ironically after spinning out from being loose was to find grey race track and at the end, it just got too rubbered up and I got too tight.”
Even with an eventful race, Bayne’s hard work delivered his sixth top-10 of 2022.
“I think it’s been as eventful now as it could ever possibly be. I spun out, got a pit road penalty, and drove back to fifth,” he said. “When I got to fifth, I felt like I moved the top up better than anybody.”
Exiting the race car, Bayne would get lightheaded and would be taken to the infield care center to be evaluated where he was quickly seen and released.
“When I got out of the car, my left ear was ringing, and I knocked one of the crush panels out, so I don’t know if I got gassed,” Bayne explained. “All I can say is I guess I was trying as hard as I could there.
“In the end, a fifth-place finish is good, but my opportunities are winding down here, and I’ve got one left at Homestead, and I feel like we’ll be good there, but I want to win one of these things so bad.”
When he was asked what could be done to get that elusive win Bayne said, “We just have to get off pit road. That’s been our Achilles heel all year. Probably cost us four races.
“The guys have good stops when they’re good. We just have some mistakes we have to clean up and today it was somebody falling over the wall. What do you do? You just have to come back and race hard.”
Bayne will make his ninth and final Xfinity Series start of the season at Homestead-Miami (Fla.) Speedway in Contender Boats 300 on Oct. 22, 2022, at 4:30 p.m. ET on ULAS VEGAS, Nev: Trevor Bayne desperately wants to put together a full-time ride for the 2023 Xfinity Series season and with his eighth start this year for Joe Gibbs Racing this weekend at Las Vegas (Nev.) Motor Speedway, the former Daytona 500 champion is continuing to showcase to the NASCAR world that he is more than ready.
After earning a second place starting position for his penultimate Xfinity Series race of the season, Bayne would nearly find disaster early in the Alsco 302 after getting completely sideways on Lap 4 while battling Noah Gragson for the runner-up position.
Falling back to 12th, Bayne informed his team that his car “is really, really loose now. The rear tires are killed.”
Despite the early race setback, Bayne was able to crawl his No. 18 Devotion Nutrition Toyota Supra back to 11th at the end of Stage 1.
Restarting Stage 2 in 14th – Bayne would continue to muscle a tight race car but utilize the speed and the increasing popular high lane to climb back inside the top-10 to ninth at the end of Stage 2.
Reporting to crew chief Jason Radcliff that his car was still tight, he needed help on both ends of the race car to get the feel that he would hope that would surge him forward in the second half.
During their routine pit stop though, Bayne would be penalized for a safety violation after one of his crew members fell triggering the penalty.
Falling to 20th for the restart but ducked behind the lap cars too, Bayne would cleverly and carefully drive back through the field to seventh when green flag pit stops took place.
When the cycle completed, Bayne sat eighth.
A late race caution would come out on Lap 162 when Brandon Jones would take a short spin in Turn 2.
Pit stops would once again come into play and the No. 18 driver would bring the car in for tires, fuel, and an adjustment as he was still tight all around the track.
With 35 laps to go in the race, Bayne would return to the track seeded comfortably inside the top-10 and utilize the remainder of the caution-free race to vault back into the top-five for his fifth top-five result of 2022.
“You have that grey strip at the top and once the 9 (Noah Gragson) got behind me, he moved up to where I was running it in and my car just got tight as I was taking rubber,” said Bayne after the race.
“The only way I could get it to turn, ironically after spinning out from being loose was to find grey race track and at the end, it just got too rubbered up and I got too tight.”
Even with an eventful race, Bayne’s hard work delivered his sixth top-10 of 2022.
“I think it’s been as eventful now as it could ever possibly be. I spun out, got a pit road penalty, and drove back to fifth,” he said. “When I got to fifth, I felt like I moved the top up better than anybody.”
Exiting the race car, Bayne would get lightheaded and would be taken to the infield care center to be evaluated where he was quickly seen and released.
“When I got out of the car, my left ear was ringing, and I knocked one of the crush panels out, so I don’t know if I got gassed,” Bayne explained. “All I can say is I guess I was trying as hard as I could there.
“In the end, a fifth-place finish is good, but my opportunities are winding down here, and I’ve got one left at Homestead, and I feel like we’ll be good there, but I want to win one of these things so bad.”
When he was asked what could be done to get that elusive win Bayne said, “We just have to get off pit road. That’s been our Achilles heel all year. Probably cost us four races.
“The guys have good stops when they’re good. We just have some mistakes we have to clean up and today it was somebody falling over the wall. What do you do? You just have to come back and race hard.”
Bayne will make his ninth and final Xfinity Series start of the season at Homestead-Miami (Fla.) Speedway in Contender Boats 300 on Oct. 22, 2022, at 4:30 p.m. ET on USA.
Follow Grace Krenrich on Twitter @Grace3140.
