By Joey Barnes, Editor-in-Chief
Fresh off his season-best finish of 14th at Texas Motor Speedway Saturday night, Trevor Bayne sees a huge improvement in the Roush Fenway Racing organization only seven races into their 2016 campaign.
Bayne, the 2011 Daytona 500 champion, nearly pulled off an off-sequence pit strategy that would brought home his first win in over five years. Still, the Tennessee native was running solidly in the top 10 prior to surprise strategy call, mixing it up with teammate Ricky Stenhouse Jr. on a couple of occasions for team supremacy.
Slowly Roush Fenway Racing has found its footing.
With more established qualifying runs by Bayne and Stenhouse in particular, many of the stellar starting spots have failed to live up to expectations on race day.
But it’s a step in the right direction, and the team’s speed at Texas showed just that.
Following the race, Bayne discussed on some of the changes that have led to Roush Fenway Racing’s rebound to NASCAR relevancy.
“It’s just maximizing every department,” said Bayne. “Every category, everything we can be better at. We just got to make the most of it.
“You know, you’re racing against teams that are near perfect. They don’t make mistakes and they get the most out of every ounce, every detail and that’s what we’re doing better this year. We’re working good as a team. I really like my group of guys – my spotter, my crew chief, my car chief. I mean all the way through, I really feel like we are really meshing and helps a lot.
Even though Ford led only 12 laps during Saturday night’s race, all by Bayne, the 25-year-old believes it isn’t for a lack of effort on Ford’s part and thinks that a win is just around the corner.
“No,” said Bayne on the possible Ford struggles.
“I feel like we’re making gains and we’ll be there where we can win a race this season.”
Image: Chris Trotman/Getty Images
