Trevor Bayne was on his way to a solid finish Sunday afternoon at Chicagoland Speedway when a flat right-rear tire required an unscheduled trip down pit road. Bayne had rebounded from a previous pit road speeding penalty and gotten the handling heading in the right direction on his No. 6 AdvoCare Rehydrate Ford. With the laps dwindling down, Bayne was left settling for a 26th-place finish at Chicago.
“That speeding penalty and flat tire really hurt our end result,” said Bayne. “The car was on the splitter hard for most of the race, but Matt (Puccia) made some good calls in the pits to help the handling come around. We even got back on the lead lap after my speeding penalty, but the flat tire put us in a hole. We’ll move on to Daytona.”
Bayne started the race 21st and had his hands full right from the start. His No. 6 AdvoCare Rehydrate Ford was hard on the splitter and extremely tight handling. Then, to make things a little more challenging, the hose came off the cool box, making the hottest race of the year even hotter for Bayne.
After pit stops for tires, fuel, shim, wedge and air pressure adjustments, the No. 6 came alive around the mid-point of the race. Bayne was able to capitalize on a caution and take the “wave around” to get back on the lead lap and take the green for the final stage from the 23rd position.
Under caution during the final stage Bayne pitted of adjustments and was caught speeding on pit road. Bayne had to start at the tail end of the field and while he was racing his way back through the field made contact with the outside wall.
The contact resulted in a fender rub, which led to a flat tire. Bayne had to make an unscheduled trip down pit road for tires and to have the fenders cleared. The flat tire cost Bayne two laps to the field and resulted in a 26th-place finish.
RFR PR/Photo Credit Jared C. Tilton/Getty Images
