Trevor Bayne drove his No. 6 AdvoCare Ford Fusion to a 13th-place finish in the Daytona 500. Bayne was a contender in the top 10 a majority of the race until an unscheduled pit stop for a loose wheel put him a lap down to the field.
“That was a hard-fought race and kind of heartbreaking,” said Bayne. “We had a few times we had to recover and were able to do that. We’ve got to clean stuff up and not have mistakes. The guys on the team did a great job and I am happy with how we performed today. A lot of times you leave thinking you should have done 20 things differently, but today I felt like I did all I could do. That is a great feeling. We made a day out of it. I look forward to getting to Talladega and then back here to Daytona in the summer when handling is a big deal. We will go to work for Atlanta.”
Bayne started the Daytona 500 from the 18th position and drafted his way up to 11th by the time the first caution was display just nine laps into the 200-lap race. Bayne pitted for fuel only, but received a penalty for a crew member over the wall too soon. NASCAR issued a tail end of the longest line penalty and Bayne took the ensuing restart from the back of the pack.
Bayne made steady gains throughout the course of the race and by the midway point was up in the top five. The field took the green for the final Stage on lap 126 with Bayne in the fifth position. Just a few laps later Bayne reported back to his crew he felt a vibration. The vibration resulted in an unscheduled pit stop for a loose wheel. The green flag pit stop put Bayne one lap down to the field.
While in the “lucky dog” position a caution never fell the way the No. 6 AdvoCare team needed, but with some help from his spotter, Bayne was able to avoid multiple incidents on track and emerge unscathed. Despite being trapped one lap down, Bayne was able earn a 13th-place finish to kick off the 2018 season.
RFR PR/Photo Robert Laberge/Getty Images
