Trevor Bayne was looking forward to taking his No. 21 Motorcraft/Quick Lane Ford Fusion to the high side of the race track in Sunday’s Auto Club 400 at Auto Club Speedway.
But he got a little higher up the track than he’d planned, and that resulted in a frustrating day for the rookie driver and his Wood Brothers race team.
Bayne bounced off the outside wall in the opening laps of the 400-mile race and fought a tight condition the rest of the way.
The damage to the Motorcraft/Quick Lane Fusion wasn’t enough to totally derail the team’s effort, but it was enough to prevent Bayne from being able to rejoin the lead lap and get the finish he and his team were hoping for.
“Today was a long day,” Bayne said. “From the first lap to the last lap we were tight the whole time, sliding the nose through the center of the corner and all the way off.
“I couldn’t get the gas down and that cost us a lot of speed and a lot of position.”
Bayne said his first run-in with the wall caught him a little off guard.
“We took off tight and I didn’t expect it to give out like that,” he said. “You could lean on it and lean on it and then it just felt like just take off.
“That is what happened at the beginning there.”
Bayne and the Motorcraft crew now head to Martinsville Speedway for the Goody’s Fast Relief 500. Martinsville is the home track of the Wood Brothers team, which for most of its 61 years in NASCAR was based in nearby Stuart, Va.
As part of their weekend schedule, Bayne, his crew chief Donnie Wingo will join the original Wood Brothers – brothers Glen, Leonard, Ray Lee and Delano – to greet the team’s friends and fans on Friday night at the Wood Brothers Shop from 7 to 9 p.m. The shop is located at 21 Performance Drive in Stuart, and admission as always is free. For more information visit www.woodbrothersracing.com
Wood Brothers Racing PR
- Dover Weekend Schedule - April 21, 2024
- Kaulig Racing Race Recap | Ag-Pro 300 - April 20, 2024
- Odd Tony Stewart Talladega Post Race Q&A - May 7, 2012