Trevor Bayne

From a driver on the edge of being on the Chase Grid to the first man out, 2016 may yet still be the best season to date for Bayne, the 2011 Daytona 500 champion.

Solid finishes mixed with some luck has found Bayne as one of the guys who is almost on his way to making the grid for a Chase berth.

Bayne had a dismal performance in qualifying starting 32nd on the grid, but as the race went on, he picked off cars one by one and was a serious threat for a top 10 finish. With the carnage that ensued all around the Upstate New York track, Bayne kept his nose clean and wound up with a ninth place finish.

“This is a good weekend,” Bayne smiled. “A fifth (in the XFINITY Series) and a ninth. That is a good road course weekend for me, considering I am not a road course ace.We made progress and that is really good. We are excited. Hopefully we can keep getting better at these and contend for a win one day.”

Bayne now finds himself six points out of the Chase Grid, in 17th, with only four races remaining in the regular season.

The NASCAR Sprint Cup Series returns to action for race 23 of the 26-race regular season, the Bass Pro Shops/NRA Night Race, from Bristol Motor Speedway on Aug. 21.

The opinions expressed are those of the writer and do not necessarily reflect the views of Race Chaser Online, Speed77 Radio, the Performance Motorsports Network, their sponsors or other contributors.

About the Writer

Rence Brown is Race Chaser Online’s West Coast-based correspondent, residing in California and carrying a passion for NASCAR dating back to his first encounter with the sport in 2006, when he viewed a NASCAR Sprint Cup Series from Bristol Motor Speedway.

Brown, 23, graduated with a degree in theater, but is going back to school to pursue a journalism degree at Pierce College.

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