BRISTOL, Tenn. – Trevor Bayne has a reason to smile returning to Bristol (Tenn.) Motor Speedway.
The Knoxville, Tenn. native returns to the “World’s Fastest Half-Mile” after finishing fifth in April’s Food City 500, his second top-five finish of his career since an upset victory in the 2011 Daytona 500.
Whether it was a good car or just good luck, or maybe even a combination of both, the effort was a boost of confidence that only allowed Bayne’s season to gain traction.
“It definitely gives us something to build on,” said Bayne of his spring performance. “When we came here the last time we left being in the Chase, I believe, so to be this much further into the season and still be in that same situation we’ve done a good job building off of that finish. For me, I’m not a guy who would tell you that a driver gets confidence all of a sudden and he goes out and starts winning races because his confidence is up.
“Your confidence is up because your team is doing something that you can be confident in, and that’s what we have going on this year. I can be confident in my guys because they’re doing their jobs well.”
The strong finish for Bayne in 500 grueling laps in “Thunder Valley” was more than just about satisfaction for himself, but his Roush Fenway Racing team as a whole.
In an era where performance has never been closer, the trio of Roush Fenway Racing has been behind and struggling to catch up. With signs of improvement with practice speed or a solid starting position – the finishing position – what counted most still lacked.
This season and lately not so much and everyone is noticing.
“My guys can have confidence in what I’m trying to do on the race track because they know I’m putting the effort in,” he added. “So that momentum and that confidence comes from something that’s real. It’s not like you just say to yourself, ‘Oh, I’m gonna show up and be confident today,’ and you go faster.
“It’s just building and trusting and working together as a team. Like I said, I think that’s something we’re doing really well together and that’s what we can hope to continue to do these next four weeks and then see where we’re at and re-evaluate after that and see how we race the last 10.”
Through Watkins Glen two weeks ago, Bayne has scored the most top-10s of any RFR driver with five and is tied with teammate Ricky Stenhouse Jr. with two top-fives a piece, but the 25-year-old Bayne says while the improving performance is a step in the right direction, it’s not where he or the organization wants to be.
“Yeah, I mean we’re definitely not where we want to be because we’re not winning races yet, but where we are in contention, the fact that we’re contending and we’re in the discussion for a Chase spot on points says a lot about what my team has done this year,” he added.
After working with crew chief Bob Osborne last year, Matt Puccia joined forces with Bayne this season and with an average finish of 17.8 through 22 races, the chemistry seems to be getting better and Bayne agrees.
“Matt Puccia has been a great fit for me,” the three-time NASCAR winner spoke. “He’s a guy that has helped me keep my head and worked really hard together. He’s a guy that will put in the hours and I’m in that same boat, so I feel like we mesh really well together at the race shop. We discuss things. We have a lot of conversation leading into the race weekend. How we expect it to go and typically it goes that way. Right down the line, Matt is a little superstitious so he didn’t like that I said it at the meeting on Tuesday at the race shop, but we haven’t had anything fall off our race cars.
“Our guys have done a great job of making sure the details are done, and that’s why we’re in this situation. We probably aren’t as fast as some of the guys we’re racing around for this spot in the Chase, but we’ve been consistent. We’ve made progress in that area. Myself, other than Indy, I don’t feel like I’ve made too many mistakes on the race track that has cost me points. Maybe there have been days where if I really had just nailed everything I could have gained two spots or three spots early in this season when we first started working together, so I feel like we’ve maximized every race and that’s why we’re here. So I’m really excited about that.”
And with Roush Fenway Racing satellite driver Chris Buescher gunning for a spot in the Chase for the Sprint Cup after a surprise win at Pocono Raceway earlier this month, Bayne himself is focused on doing what he can to add another RFR contingent into the Chase for the first time since 2013.
The good news for Roush Fenway Racing fans is the Concord, North Carolina-based team is starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel and with 14 races left in the season, the team is focused on building on that speed, finesse and feedback that will hopefully amount to a victory before season’s end.
Is that realistic?
Maybe.
But for now, patience is still a virtue.
“I’d love to see more raw speed in our race cars and in myself when I unload for practice and get back to how we were early in this season when we were qualifying really well,” sounded Bayne. “We were making the final round almost every week and the last few weeks we’ve kind of fallen into that second round area and that makes racing a lot harder.
“I want to get back to that raw speed from early in the season and continue to execute like we’ve been doing. But I’m really impressed with what Roush Fenway has done. It’s very tough in this sport to turn things around when you’re chasing a moving target, so they’ve done a great job. All of the gains we’ve made are showing results and that’s what we want to see.”
Follow Chris Knight on Twitter @Knighter01.
