CHARLOTTE – 2011 Daytona 500 champion Trevor Bayne will compete in the ARCA Racing Series presented by Menards race at Pocono (Pa.) Raceway on June 6 for Cunningham Motorsports.
Bayne will make his series debut in the No. 22 Ford Fusion as a teammate to Tom Hessert III. The Knoxville, Tennessee native has never competed at the 2.5-mile triangle, thus making the 80-lap ARCA race a perfect opportunity for the Roush Fenway Racing driver to get additional seat time at the “Tricky Triangle” before Sunday’s Axalta “We Paint Winners” 400.
“I think for me, I’ve never raced at Pocono before in anything, so I’ve never seen the place in person so I need to get as much seat time as possible,” said Bayne Friday at Charlotte Motor Speedway. “It’s not uncommon to see teams do that. I think Kyle Larson did it a couple years ago. “Pocono will be fun. I’m looking forward to it. I think it’s a track I’ve always looked forward to racing at.”
Realizing the success that Larson had last year at the 2.5-mile triangle, Bayne is hoping for similar results in three weeks.
“Seat time is great,” added Bayne. “He (Kyle Larson) got up to speed really fast and I hope to do the same thing. I think that will provide that opportunity (to do well Sunday). I’ve never raced an ARCA car ever in anything. I went a different route in the K&N Series and Hooter’s Pro Cup Series so it will be a little different, a little bit of fun to race the ARCA Series. The learning curve will be the race track. That will be a lot of fun to figure out.”
Cunningham Motorsports co-owner Kerry Scherer said his team was looking forward to hosting a driver of Bayne’s caliber.
“We are excited to have the chance to race with a Daytona 500 winner,” Scherer told CATCHFENCE.com Friday morning. “We also appreciate the confidence Roush Fenway has shown in us to give Trevor the equipment and support to win the race.”
Cunningham Motorsports announced in February they had formed a driver development program with Roush Fenway Racing. Kyle Weatherman, a RFR development driver has competed in three races with them this season with a career-best second at Salem (Ind.) Speedway in April. Before 2015, Chicago-based Roulo Bros. Racing had long time been Roush Fenway Racing’s ARCA development team, winning the championship in 2012 with Chris Buescher.
The decision to put an inexperienced NASCAR driver in an ARCA car at Pocono is nothing new. Over the years, several of NASCAR’s top teams have either fielded their own car or aligned with a strong ARCA team to nestle their driver into a comfort zone at one of the circuit’s most demanding tracks.
Larson won last June’s ARCA race at Pocono in a Chip Ganassi Racing car, then capped off the weekend with a fifth place finish in the next-day Cup race. Other NASCAR drivers who made their Pocono debut in an ARCA car include Justin Allgaier, Ty Dillon, Chase Elliott, Travis Kvapil, Joey Logano, Casey Mears and Ryan Newman to name a few. They are all also former Pocono winners in the 63-year old tour.
With Bayne entered for the eighth ARCA race of the season, he becomes an instant contender. More importantly, a win in the Pocono ARCA 200 would give the 24-year old some much needed a confidence after a lackluster Sprint Cup season thus far. Following Kansas, Bayne has just three top-20 finishes this season with a pair of 18ths at Martinsville (Va.) Speedway and Texas Motor Speedway highlighting his first full year of Cup. He sits 29th in the championship standings.
Cunningham Motorsports has already won a race this season. Earlier this month, Blake Jones pulled off an upset win in the ARCA race at Talladega (Ala.) Superspeedway passing Hessert on the last lap after he ran out of gas. Paul Andrews, the 1992 Sprint Cup Series champion crew chief for Alan Kulwicki will lead Bayne’s ARCA team.
Bayne hinted that Pocono may not be the only track he seeks another racing series to gain seat time.
“I’ve never been to Sonoma either so I’ll be looking for opportunities to get on the race track there,” Bayne said.
When asked if he would consider running the NASCAR K&N Pro Series West event, Bayne quickly replied, “We’re just trying to figure that out now. What the opportunities are.”
Bayne, a two-time NASCAR XFINITY Series winner confirmed that Advocare will sponsor his ARCA car next month.
“Nothing but Advocare on my race cars for now so I’m excited about that.”
Follow Chris Knight on Twitter @Knighter01.
