(Photo: Josh Jones | The Podium Finish)
LOUDON, N.H. — Trevor Bayne recorded his fourth top five in six tries this season for Joe Gibbs Racing, finishing second to Justin Allgaier Saturday in the Crayon 200 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway.
Bayne, 31, is running an eight-race slate in the No. 18 car in the NASCAR Xfinity Series. Before New Hampshire, he most recently finished second at Nashville Superspeedway.
“I’ve got to figure out how to win one of these things. We’re so close,” Bayne said after Saturday’s race. “You used to finish second and you were pumped. Now it’s like ‘ah, man.'”
Bayne qualified for Saturday’s race in sixth and got off to a great start, taking the lead six laps into the race. But, he surrendered his lead to teammate Ty Gibbs on Lap 23 and dropped back to sixth at the conclusion of Stage 1. Bayne grabbed two more spots in a caution-free Stage 2 to finish fourth.
Several accidents plagued the early part of Stage 3 but Bayne escaped all of them without damage. After a caution for fluid on the race track with 25 laps to go, Bayne restarted in third. Ahead of him, Justin Allgaier and Landon Cassill raced for the lead before Allgaier pulled away and Cassill fell back.
With six laps to go, Bayne worked his way past Cassill and brought his machine home second. Cassill crossed the line third but was disqualified along with Noah Gragson for a ride height violation.
“The track really changed a lot throughout the day today,” Bayne said. “The PJ1 grip compound that they didn’t re-apply really wore off throughout the course of the race. We learned that the first run. I was running the top leading and then it just wore off and I got really loose.
“Restarts were nuts. Three, four, five-wide, missing shifts… they were all over the place. It was really hard to fight back. I think that if it just went green after Stage 2, we could have got back up there sooner. Allgaier was just really good on the short run and that’s where he beat us.”
Bayne recorded his fourth top 10 in five Xfinity starts at New Hampshire. His best finish at the track in six Cup starts was 16th in the fall 2015 race.
Bayne is now out of the car for three months until Las Vegas Motor Speedway on October 15. He’ll also do the October 22 race at Homestead-Miami Speedway.
“I just want to get my kids a trophy,” Bayne said. “I want to be here so bad every week. Now that I’ve tasted what good cars are like — these Toyotas over here at Gibbs are so fast every weekend. It makes you want more.”
