FONTANA, Calif. – The surprise of the 2016 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series season may just be Trevor Bayne.
Twice in the first events this year, Bayne has driven the top-qualifying Ford in time trials. He started third at Las Vegas, and on Friday at Auto Club Speedway, he advanced to the final round of knockout qualifying and earned the sixth position on the grid.
In the Atlanta race itself, however, Bayne quickly fell back through the field and finished 22nd, two laps down. In Sunday’s Auto Club 400 (3:30 p.m. ET on FOX) , the 2011 Daytona 500 winner hopes his race performance will match more closely what he accomplished in qualifying.
“I think we’ve learned throughout the whole season,” Bayne said before Saturday’s first practice session at the two-mile track. “It’s just which way the track is going to go and how aggressive do we have to be with our adjustments throughout the race to keep up with it.
“Last year, and years past – even in XFINITY – we always freed up the car through practice and maybe started the race too free. This year, with this (lower-downforce) aero package and tire, every race we’ve started way too tight and our first run we’ve been tight, and then we’ve had to work throughout the race to free up the car.”
That was certainly the issue in Atlanta, where Bayne struggled with a tight handling condition from the outset.
“We just weren’t aggressive enough freeing up the car throughout the race,” he explained. “The first run we were OK, but we just got tighter all day long. I don’t think my car (at Auto Club) drives the same as my Atlanta car. I think it’s a little bit freer balance already. It’s more neutral through the whole corner, whereas at Atlanta I kind of compressed tight.
“So I don’t think it’ll be as much of an issue here, but even at Vegas and Phoenix we’ve been tight every week. That’s something we’ve learned from a lot. We’re not perfect yet or we would be on the pole and leading every lap, but I think we just know we’ve got to be more aggressive changing the car throughout the race.”
If Saturday’s opening practice was any indication, however, Bayne and crew chief Matt Puccia still have work to do in race trim. Bayne was 25th fastest in the session, nearly four miles-per-hour slower than Carl Edwards, who topped the speed chart at 187.906 mph.
Greg is the author of "The Nuts and Bolts of NASCAR: The Definitive Viewers' Guide to Big-Time Stock Car Auto Racing" and has been published in major publications across the country including the Los Angeles Times, the Cleveland Plain Dealer and the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. He was also a contributor to Chicken Soup for the NASCAR Soul, published in 2010, and the Christmas edition in 2016. He wrote as the NASCAR, Formula 1, Auto Reviews and National Veterans Affairs Examiner for Examiner.com and has appeared on Fox News. He holds a BS degree in communications, a Masters degree in psychology and is currently a PhD candidate majoring in psychology. He is currently the weekend Motorsports Editor for Autoweek.
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