Notebook: Practice wreck forces Bayne to backup car

Notebook: Practice wreck forces Bayne to backup car


AVONDALE, Ariz.—Trevor Bayne came back down to earth in a hurry.
In his first lap of practice Friday at Phoenix International Raceway, the Daytona 500’s youngest winner slapped the Turn 3 wall after his brakes failed to slow the No. 21 Wood Brothers Ford.
“On pit road, I told them the brakes felt like they weren’t working right,” Bayne, 20, said after the incident. “I paced myself getting into the corner, and the brakes just never worked.
“Even down the backstretch, I was playing with the bias, trying to get them to dial, but then I went off into the corner, and they just never worked, and it never slowed down.”
Wood Brothers Racing unloaded a backup car for Bayne, who missed the rest of the first practice session as the team put an engine in the car.
“It’s the first backup car I’m going to have to go to, but I don’t know what happened to the car and why the brakes weren’t right there,” Bayne said.

Patrick says she can learn from Bayne
Trevor Bayne’s life has been revving on the red line ever since Sunday, when he stunned the stock car racing universe with his unlikely victory in the 500.
Despite shuttling from one appearance to another over the four days that followed the race, Bayne has remained exceptionally well-grounded.
Who says so? None other than Danica Patrick, 28, who has inspired her share of media attention over the past few years. Patrick and Bayne appeared together at a charity event Thursday night at the Arizona Biltmore.
“Honestly, he’s such a nice kid,” Patrick said Friday, after posting the 24th-fastest speed in the first Nationwide Series practice session at Phoenix. “He’s so down to earth. He’s so into charity and things like that. I tried to talk him into buying something expensive with his prize money, but he doesn’t want anything—so apparently I have a lot to learn from a 20-year-old.
“I don’t know if he needs much advice. I think he’s got his head on straight, he seems to have good people around him, and all I said from my experience was, ‘Just continue to be yourself.’ ”

Records fall Friday
Cool temperatures were conducive to hot laps Friday at the 1-mile track. In the first Sprint Cup practice session, Kurt Busch posted a lap at 136.539 mph, bettering the record 136.389 mph Carl Edwards ran during qualifying last November.
“We went out in qualifying trim, and I think that I got a draft—or at least the air was broken up—when I chased (Clint) Bowyer down right in front of me, and that might have added to our car running a little faster,” Busch said.
“Our goal was to go out right away and post a fast lap, in case qualifying is rained out.”
Busch’s fast lap held up through second practice. That means he’ll go out last in Saturday’s qualifying session among drivers already locked into the field. If qualifying is rained out—and there’s a 60 percent chance of rain in Phoenix on Saturday—Busch will start Sunday’s Subway Fresh Fit 500 from the pole.
The Camping World Truck Series track record also fell Friday, with pole winner Clint Bowyer (133.949 mph) and second-place qualifier Austin Dillon (133.695 mph) breaking the record 133.605 mph Dillon set during qualifying in November.
By Reid Spencer

Sporting News NASCAR Wire Service
(February 25, 2011)