Surely, it was a day of mixed emotions for Trevor Bayne at Charlotte (N.C.) Motor Speedway.
He was fastest in the first NASCAR Nationwide Series practice, his wife, Ashton finished fourth in the Better Half Dash, claimed eighth in final Nationwide practice, but his solid day was shattered when Bayne failed to qualify for Saturday’s NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Bank of America 500.
Not only did it mark the first time in 56 Cup Series attempts that Bayne failed to earn a starting berth in his young Cup career, but it also is believed to have left a Roush Fenway Racing Cup car on the sidelines for the first time since 2006 at Homestead-Miami (Fla.) Speedway with then driver Todd Kluever. Roush Fenway Racing missed the 2014 NASCAR Nationwide Series season-opener with development driver Chris Buescher at the helm.
However, Bayne’s chances of making his 10th Cup Series start of the season and first ever for Roush Fenway Racing may have been doomed from the start.
In the lone practice on Thursday afternoon, Bayne and his No. 6 team struggled to find speed and track time. Bayne’s No. 6 AdvoCare Ford Fusion only turned eight laps around the 1.5-mile speedway and found themselves nearly sixth tenths of a second behind session leader Kevin Harvick.
In knockout qualifying, Bayne made three attempts to earn a starting spot, but came up short. Bayne averaged just the 38th quickest lap overall, but with no owners points to fall back on, the Knoxville, Tennessee native found himself the lone car failing to qualify.
Bayne’s opportunity to compete in two races, instead of just Friday night’s Drive for the Cure 300 have ended.
Thursday night’s performance was also disappointing for Bayne’s jump-start to the 2015 NASCAR season, where the two-time Nationwide Series winner will advance to Cup full-time for RFR.
Thankfully, Bayne is expected to have the owner’s points from the No. 99 of Carl Edwards to fall back on.
Too little. Too late.
NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Qualifying Nuggets:
• Kyle Busch won the Coors Light Pole Award for the 55th annual Bank of America 500 with a lap of 27.357 seconds or 197.390 miles per hour. It was Busch’s third pole of the season and second at Charlotte (N.C.) Motor Speedway in 22 races.
• Kurt Busch set the track qualifying record in the second round, with a lap of 198.771 miles per hour. The previous record was 195.624 mile per hour set by Denny Hamlin in May of 2013. Busch broke the 21st track qualifying record set this season. Furthermore, Busch’s speed was the fastest qualifying lap at a 1.5-mile track in NASCAR Sprint Cup Series history. The previous fastest speed was set by Kevin Harvick earlier this year at Texas Motor Speedway at 198.282 miles per hour.
• Notables: Tony Stewart (fourth); Kevin Harvick (seventh); Dale Earnhardt Jr. (ninth); Carl Edwards (10th), Joey Logano (13th); Danica Patrick (14th), Brad Keselowski (17th), Kasey Kahne (19th) and Jimmie Johnson (21st).
Follow Chris Knight on Twitter @Knighter01.
