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NASCAR Sprint-Cup Series
CUP: Bayne Still Believes In Wood Brothers
Trevor Bayne is keeping his expectations tempered toward this year's Daytona 500...
Jared Turner  |  Posted January 14, 2012   Daytona Beach, FL
Trevor Bayne participates in a press conference Friday at Daytona International Speedway. (Photo: Getty Images)
Trevor Bayne sent the NASCAR world into shellshock by winning the 2011 Daytona 500 in just his second career Sprint Cup Series start and one day after turning 20 years old.

This week, nearly 11 months later, Bayne has been among 32 drivers back at Daytona International Speedway for preseason testing.

If Bayne can back up last year’s stunning victory with a second straight triumph in The Great American Race, he’ll become the first driver since Sterling Marlin in 1994-1995 to capture consecutive Daytona 500 wins.

But the always-candid youngster has a confession: He doesn’t expect to make it two in a row.

Then again, neither did he ever expect to arrive at Daytona this year as the defending race winner.

“I'm kind of the same mindset that I was last year,” Bayne said after Friday evening's test session at the 2.5-mile track. “Last year I came in thinking there's no way we can win this, and now I'm coming back saying there's no way we can win two in a row, but then the Wood Brothers keep showing up with great race cars and they keep showing up with the guys that can do it and that can win, and I think that's what's so important."

Bayne, ready for a second straight part-time season in the iconic No. 21 Wood Brothers Ford, calls his Daytona 500 victory “humbling.”

He fondly recalls the outpouring of congratulations he received in the following days and weeks – including a memorable phone call the night of the race from second-place finisher Carl Edwards.

“I was actually eating dinner and he called me,” Bayne said. “I was like, ‘Man, Carl Edwards is calling me. This is cool.’ Because at that point, I had talked to him a couple times. I go outside and answer the phone and he's like, ‘Man, congratulations. What do you think I could have done different? I've been thinking about it this whole time. Should I have went high, should I have went low? I keep beating myself up. Do you think I made the right move?’

Trevor Bayne and the Wood Brothers team celebrate after winning the 2011 Daytona 500. (Photo: Getty Images)
"I'm like, ‘I don't know, man. I've got no idea. I didn't see it from your perspective.' But that was really cool when he did that.”

The challenges Bayne has faced since that unforgettable day are perhaps one reason the youngest ever 500 winner remains so grounded.

Sidelined with a mysterious illness that was later diagnosed as Lyme disease, Bayne missed five Nationwide Series races last summer from what was supposed to be a full Nationwide Series campaign for Roush Fenway Racing.

Bayne returned to Nationwide competition at Chicagoland Speedway in June and has had no more health issues. But his on-track results last season were mixed, as he won a Nationwide race at Texas Motor Speedway but never threatened for another Sprint Cup victory.

Bayne didn’t know until early January that he would be back with the Wood Brothers for another part-time Sprint Cup schedule. His status for the 2012 Nationwide season remains unclear.

“All off-season long we didn't know what was going to happen,” said Bayne, who is scheduled to make 12 starts this season in the No. 21 car. “I kind of sat back to see if I was going to be running a Nationwide car or a Cup car or what I'd be doing; if (Ricky) Stenhouse would be in the 21. Nobody really knew. I think even the Wood Brothers were at a loss for words for a little while.

“And then finally it all came back together that we could be together again, and there's no better team for me to be driving for. ... I think the Wood Brothers are great racers that have done it for a long time, and they just want to race.”

Bayne’s win in the Daytona 500 was the first for the 62-year-old Wood Brothers organization since Elliott Sadler took the team to victory lane at Bristol in March 2001.

“It's an honor to drive for the oldest team in NASCAR that's still standing, and it's no wonder that they're still winning races, and I think we can do it again this year,” Bayne said. “We're just going to have to work really hard at it.”

Jared Turner is an Associate Editor for SPEED.com, covering NASCAR and Formula One, and is an Editor for TruckSeries.com. His professional motorsports writing career began in 2005.

DAYTONA PRESEASON THUNDER TESTING: During the Jan. 12-14 test sessions at Daytona International Speedway, fans can submit questions and comments through Twitter @SPEED (http://www.twitter.com/speed) using the #daytonatesting hashtag.
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