Daytona 500 champion Trevor Bayne and IndyCar star Danica Patrick will be making their return to the NASCAR Nationwide Series this weekend at Chicagoland Speedway.
Patrick is back after a nine-race NASCAR layoff, during which time she returned to her full-time Indy Racing League gig. The native of Roscoe, Ill. has been steadily improving in her young stock car career – the STP 300 will be her 18th NASCAR Nationwide Series race since February, 2010 – Patrick was ninth in the series driver standings and had collected the best finish ever for a female driver in NASCAR’s national series (fourth at Las Vegas) before starting the IRL season.
The other emerging star returning is Trevor Bayne, who has been recovering from an illness with symptoms including nausea, fatigue and impaired vision and has not raced since finishing sixth on April 23 at Nashville. He’s currently 16th in the driver standings, 54 points out of 10th. Bayne returns to a team with white hot momentum. Roush Fenway Racing has won three consecutive races in three different cars – the first time a team has done that in NASCAR Nationwide Series history.
Bayne is also running a part-time double-duty schedule for the Wood Brothers, the legendary team with which he won the “Great American Race” in February. Bayne is expected back in the No. 21 Ford for the NASCAR Sprint Cup race in two weeks at Michigan.
Heading into this weekend at Chicago, Patrick has made one start at the 1.5-mile track, finishing 24th in 2010. Bayne has made two starts at Chicago, posting a best finish of 12th in 2009. Bayne has the better pre-race Driver Rating of the two with an 83.1 compared to Patrick’s 59.2.
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