Nearly nine months after winning the Daytona 500 in his first attempt, Trevor Bayne finally got his first victory in NASCAR’s second-tier series.
Bayne powered past Roush Fenway teammate Carl Edwards after a restart on Lap 194 of 200 and held off hard-charging Denny Hamlin for the victory in Saturday’s O’Reilly Auto Parts Challenge Nationwide Series race at Texas Motor Speedway.
Bayne crossed the finish line .142 seconds ahead of Hamlin, who started from the rear of the field after Kyle Busch, scheduled to drive the No. 18 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota, was parked for the weekend for wrecking Ron Hornaday Jr. in Friday night’s Truck Series race.
Edwards, who dominated the event until the final caution flew on Lap 189, after Jason Leffler scraped the Turn 4 wall, came home third, followed by Clint Bowyer and Brad Keselowski. NASCAR.com
“This is incredible,” said Bayne, who led just the final six laps. “I had a good feeling going into this week all along. It’s been a long-time coming. My guys have worked so hard to get a Nationwide win. We’ve been through a lot to get here. That was cool to go up there and race with Carl Edwards and Denny Hamlin for a win. We had to pass the best to get there.”
Earlier this year, Bayne missed five Nationwide races while recovering from symptoms that include: nausea, fatigue and impaired vision. The 20-year-old had been hospitalized at The Mayo Clinic in Rochester, MN, undergoing tests for what doctors believed to be at that time an “inflammatory condition.”
Bayne has been on a roll in Nationwide lately, posting four straight top-10 finishes.
Hamlin, substituting for Kyle Busch in Joe Gibbs Racing’s No.18 Toyota, had to start from the rear of the field due to a driver change.
“A lot of drivers have switched cars, and it’s hard to do it in things that are not set to you,” said Hamlin, who is Busch’s teammate at JGR. “We have a totally different body frame and height. It’s tough. I’m so proud of this team. The pit crew did an amazing job to pick me up every time I came on pit road.” MiamiHerald.com
Nationwide points leader Ricky Stenhouse finished sixth and has a 17-point lead over Elliott Sadler with two races to go. Sadler, who came in 15 points back, finished ninth after running ahead of Stenhouse for much of the race.
“That’s better than where we were when we came in and that’s really all we can ask for,” Stenhouse said.
Back in February, the 20-year-old Bayne became the youngest Daytona 500 winner in race history when he won the season opener.
“I don’t know if you could script a story like the year I’ve had,” Bayne said. “It’s crazy to think only one year ago I was making my first Cup start and to come back here to Texas and get our first Nationwide win, this is a place I’m gonna love from now on.”
Edwards said the victory was huge for Bayne.
“He’s been through a lot that anybody in his position would consider that a big journey that he’s been on and to be as young as he is and to have so many changes in his life right now, and for him to handle everything as gracefully as he has, I think, says a lot about him,” Edwards said. “So it’s neat to see someone like that have some success.” ESPN
Click Here to Read More:
NASCAR Nationwide Series: O’Reilly Auto Parts Challenge at Texas - Race Results
| 
|