By: Zach Catanzareti, Staff Writer
Each week, Kickin’ The Tires will highlight the 20th-place finisher from the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series. Standing as the middleman in weekends with 40-car fields, there is sure to be a story behind each one.
For the second week in a row, Trevor Bayne finished 20th in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series.This time, it came at ISM Raceway in Sunday’s TicketGuardian 500, the fourth race of the 2018 season.
Now, you can say a couple things about back-to-back finishes of 20th in a 37-car field: A showing of consistency of sorts or disappointment times two.
In terms of “happiness,” a top 20 at ISM is something fairly new to Bayne. With only one top-20 finish in seven prior starts, a portion of the result was taken with pride to crack the mark for only a second time.
But for the most part, this result partnered with the latter in disappointment. Bayne and his Roush Fenway Racing team expect and want more than barely top 20. Sunday in Arizona gave teams a difficult platform to race, sparking rampant pit strategy, melted beads and a day of short runs capped off with a 114-lap run to the end.
Bayne, like in Las Vegas last weekend, struggled with handling and it was compounded when he made contact with Joey Logano in Stage 3.
“Our AdvoCare Ford was a handful,” Bayne said. “We overall just struggled with the handling all weekend. Our car was really good on the long runs, but we just lost too much track position on the short run.”
The finish puts Bayne into 23rd in driver points heading into the last leg of the West Coast Swing, Auto Club Speedway.
“It’s definitely not the performance we wanted,” he said of ISM. “But we will keep digging and hopefully can finish off the West Coast Swing in California on a strong note.”
In four prior starts, his best finish at Auto Club is… you guessed it, 20th in 2016.
List of 20th-Place Finishers So Far in 2018
Daytona: Gray Gaulding
Atlanta: Alex Bowman
Las Vegas: Trevor Bayne
ISM: Trevor Bayne (2)
Racing for 20th: ISM Raceway
By: Zach Catanzareti, Staff Writer
Each week, Kickin’ The Tires will highlight the 20th-place finisher from the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series. Standing as the middleman in weekends with 40-car fields, there is sure to be a story behind each one.
For the second week in a row, Trevor Bayne finished 20th in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series.This time, it came at ISM Raceway in Sunday’s TicketGuardian 500, the fourth race of the 2018 season.
Now, you can say a couple things about back-to-back finishes of 20th in a 37-car field: A showing of consistency of sorts or disappointment times two.
In terms of “happiness,” a top 20 at ISM is something fairly new to Bayne. With only one top-20 finish in seven prior starts, a portion of the result was taken with pride to crack the mark for only a second time.
But for the most part, this result partnered with the latter in disappointment. Bayne and his Roush Fenway Racing team expect and want more than barely top 20. Sunday in Arizona gave teams a difficult platform to race, sparking rampant pit strategy, melted beads and a day of short runs capped off with a 114-lap run to the end.
Bayne, like in Las Vegas last weekend, struggled with handling and it was compounded when he made contact with Joey Logano in Stage 3.
“Our AdvoCare Ford was a handful,” Bayne said. “We overall just struggled with the handling all weekend. Our car was really good on the long runs, but we just lost too much track position on the short run.”
The finish puts Bayne into 23rd in driver points heading into the last leg of the West Coast Swing, Auto Club Speedway.
“It’s definitely not the performance we wanted,” he said of ISM. “But we will keep digging and hopefully can finish off the West Coast Swing in California on a strong note.”
In four prior starts, his best finish at Auto Club is… you guessed it, 20th in 2016.
List of 20th-Place Finishers So Far in 2018
Daytona: Gray Gaulding
Atlanta: Alex Bowman
Las Vegas: Trevor Bayne
ISM: Trevor Bayne (2)