Trevor Bayne relieved to make Daytona 500 field
Last year's Daytona 500 winner Trevor Bayne said securing a spot in the 2012 field without having to rely on a Duel result was a huge relief - and now hopes he can find more sponsorship to prolong his 2012 season
The Wood Brothers driver did not have a guaranteed Daytona start as his car was not within the top 35 in last year's Sprint Cup owners' points standings. But he secured one of the three spots available for the fastest non-guaranteed drivers in qualifying when he went ninth quickest yesterday.
"It's a lot of relief," said Bayne. "Now we're back to the same position we were in last year. We started the Duel knowing we were locked in and it was just wherever we finished, and now we're back right there, so I'm ready for it."
Bayne currently lacks the funding to contest either the NASCAR Sprint Cup or Nationwide Series full-time, and his Nationwide team boss Jack Roush hopes ensuring a Daytona appearance will entice sponsors.
"Certainly it helps. Trevor is the reigning Daytona 500 champion and we have not managed to put together full sponsorship for either the Cup programme or Nationwide programme, but we do have ongoing conversations," said Roush.
"I don't know that there will be any great improvement in our prospects based on this, but it would certainly have been a downer if we had failed to qualify or if we would have had a problem with our car on that lap."
Bayne admitted he was surprised how tough it had been to raise money for 2012.
"I thought we'd be full-time Nationwide and full-time Cup this year, to be honest, right after the 500," he said. "But as the season wore on and nothing was really happening, this [current uncertainty] is kind of what I figured [would happen].
"I'd hoped to run full-time Nationwide this year. We have the first three races right now and then we're going to go from there. I figure if we can maybe be leading the points by then, then it would be hard for them to stop racing, but you would hope you could accumulate some kind of funding or some kind of sponsorship after the year that we had last year."
Duel one line-up: Pos Driver Team/Car 1. Carl Edwards Roush Fenway Ford 2. Dale Earnhardt Jr Hendrick Chevrolet 3. Marcos Ambrose Petty Ford 4. Ricky Stenhouse Jr Roush Fenway Ford 5. Trevor Bayne Wood Brothers Ford 6. Tony Stewart Stewart-Haas Chevrolet 7. Aric Almirola Petty Ford 8. Paul Menard Childress Chevrolet 9. David Ragan Front Row Ford 10. AJ Allmendinger Penske Dodge 11. Brad Keselowski Penske Dodge 12. Kevin Harvick Childress Chevrolet 13. Jeff Burton Childress Chevrolet 14. Juan Pablo Montoya Earnhardt Ganassi Chevrolet 15. David Stremme Inception Toyota 16. Jamie McMurray Earnhardt Ganassi Chevrolet 17. Danica Patrick Baldwin Chevrolet 18. Terry Labonte FAS Lane Ford 19. Michael Waltrip Waltrip Toyota 20. Denny Hamlin Gibbs Toyota 21. Michael McDowell Parsons Ford 22. Landon Cassill BK Toyota 23. David Gilliland Front Row Ford 24. Mike Wallace Max Q Ford 25. Robby Gordon Gordon Dodge Duel two: Pos Driver Team/Car 1. Greg Biffle Roush Fenway Ford 2. Casey Mears Germain Ford 3. Jeff Gordon Hendrick Chevrolet 4. Martin Truex Jr Waltrip Toyota 5. Mark Martin Waltrip Toyota 6. Jimmie Johnson Hendrick Chevrolet 7. Matt Kenseth Roush Fenway Ford 8. Ryan Newman Stewart-Haas Chevrolet 9. Joey Logano Gibbs Toyota 10. Kasey Kahne Hendrick Chevrolet 11. Tony Raines Front Row Ford 12. Kyle Busch Gibbs Toyota 13. Kenny Wallace RAB Toyota 14. Dave Blaney Baldwin Chevrolet 15. Kurt Busch Phoenix Chevrolet 16. Elliott Sadler Childress Chevrolet 17. Joe Nemechek NEMCO Toyota 18. Regan Smith Furniture Row Chevrolet 19. Bobby Labonte JTG Daugherty Toyota 20. Bill Elliott NEMCO Toyota 21. David Reutimann BK Toyota 22. Robert Richardson Jr R3 Toyota 23. JJ Yeley Robinson-Blakeney Toyota 24. Clint Bowyer Waltrip Toyota
Be part of the Autosport community
Join the conversationShare Or Save This Story
BMW's Vanthoor frustrated by "harsh red flag" call in Imola WEC qualifying
Ricciardo could feel new F1 chassis difference in China
McLaren to introduce first F1 2024 upgrade package in Miami
WEC Imola: Ferrari 1-2-3 in dominant qualifying feat
The ex-F1 driver taking on NASCAR with a new team
The early benefits and challenges of NASCAR's Next Gen car
How Penske's rookie sensation opened NASCAR's new era in style
Six key themes to follow in the 2022 NASCAR Cup season
Subscribe and access Autosport.com with your ad-blocker.
From Formula 1 to MotoGP we report straight from the paddock because we love our sport, just like you. In order to keep delivering our expert journalism, our website uses advertising. Still, we want to give you the opportunity to enjoy an ad-free and tracker-free website and to continue using your adblocker.
Top Comments