Trevor Bayne / No. 1 Dale Earnhardt Inc. Chevrolet Post Race Recap
Series: NASCAR Camping World East
Event: U.S. Cellular 200
Track: Iowa Speedway
Date: May 18, 2008

Trevor Bayne a 17 year old Dale Earnhardt Inc. development driver continues to mature while becoming one of the country’s top power houses in all of short track racing with a combined effort from his DEI team led by Crew Chief Haskell Lavalette. Trevor once again raised eyebrows after some spectacular moves as he charged from the rear of the field three separate times en route to a 3rd place finish during Sunday’s running of the U.S. Cellular 200 at Iowa Speedway. Trevor currently finds himself in the 3rd spot in NASCAR Camping World East Series standings as well as a strong 2nd spot in the USAR Hooters Pro Cup Greased Lightning Southern Division standings as well. That places Trevor inside the top five in two of the Nations toughest short track series at the tender age of 17.

The stage was set Sunday for the combination race that featured drivers from both the East and West Series along with drivers such as Saturday night’s NASCAR Sprint Cup All Star Race winner Kasey Kahne. Kahne made the trip to compete in the U.S. Cellular 200 and follow in the footsteps of Kevin Harvick who competed in this event last year after winning the All Star Race.

Leading up to the highly anticipated U.S. Cellular 200, Trevor qualified his No. 1 DEI Chevrolet inside the top ten in the eighth spot out of 52 cars that participated. “I was a little bit nervous going into qualifying because I didn’t know how much we were going to be able to tighten the car up because we were pretty free in practice and with this being an impound race we didn’t want to make any drastic changes,” said Trevor. “Qualifying went pretty well though and we got a top ten starting spot and I was looking forward to the race because I knew we had a good race condition car that was good on long runs.”

After qualifying in the 8th position in the 44 car starting lineup, Trevor and his No. 1 DEI Chevrolet Team were set to put on a show for the 24,000 plus fans in attendance and that they did. After taking the Green Flag, Trevor found himself settled inside the top ten developing a feel for the car and his competition. On lap 32 Trevor drove inside the top five and began reeling in the leaders until the third caution of the race waived on lap 55. Crew Chief Haskell Lavalette brought Trevor’s No. 1 DEI Chevrolet to pit road for fuel only setting Trevor deep in the field with some hard racing ahead.

Trevor began charging back through the field making some incredible moves for position when teammate Jeffrey Earnhardt and the No.75 of Eddie McDonald made contact and suffered damaged to both their race cars just in front of Trevor bringing out the 4th caution of the race. Trevor came away unscaved and found himself inside the top ten once again with leader Kasey Kahne now in sight. “After we went through that first cycle of pit stops where we took fuel we had a great car and I felt like I could run with anybody out there,” said Trevor.

On lap 80 Trevor found himself just inside the top three after scheduled pit stops brought most of the leaders to pit road for tires. When teams went back racing is was shortly there after when the sixth caution of the night waived and leader Steve Park in the No. 35 car and Trevor came to pit road for tires. Trevor was out of sequence with the rest of the field on pit strategy and was set to restart deep in the field once again. “We took left side tires there and my car got a little bit tight from the pit strategy after I raced through the field so we had to come to pit road again to take right side tires which set us back in the field again towards the end of the race.”

On lap 140 after the final set of scheduled pit stops, both Trevor and Kasey Kahne lined up 14th and 15th during the eighth restart of the night with Kahne leading the way. Trevor stuck his nose to the rear bumper of Kahne’s No. 9 Dodge and followed Kasey through the field racing three wide at times and putting one whale of a show for the fans. “Racing with Kasey was pretty cool, I wanted to race him just like I would have anybody else,” said Trevor after the race. “You can’t get intimidated with a driver like that because he’s already going to be good and if you make it any easier on him then he is really going to kick your butt so I just tried to have fun out there and we found ourselves racing three wide at times. We got to race together for a while there and I just tried to follow him through the traffic during that last long run and everyone really gave him a lot of respect out there so that allowed him to clear the way for us.”

Heavy traffic late in the race put Trevor in position to showcase his raw talent as he threaded the needle and passed Kahne three wide on the bottom through turns one and two. After Trevor make that unbelievable pass on Kahne, Kahne found himself locked to the rear bumper of the No. 1 DEI Chevy as Trevor made some incredible moves through lapped traffic like passing Ricky Carmichael three wide through the middle that helped position both drivers inside the top five.

With the laps winding down and no caution flag near, the leaders had a substantial lead over Trevor and Kasey allowing the two to battle for the third spot. Kahne was able to get back past Trevor in clear traffic to go on and finish third while Trevor had to settle for fourth at the checkers.

Congratulations to No. 15 of Brian Ickler and his team for their win in the U.S. Cellular 200. Trevor Bayne jumps 6 spots to 3rd in NCWE Series Points just 32 points behind Austin Dillon. Trevor is currently inside the top five in both NASCAR and USAR points standings.

A GREAT DAY FOR DEI TEAMATES:

-Jeffrey Earnhardt in the No. 8 DEI Chevrolet had to take a provisional to start the U.S. Cellular 200 after an incident in “Happy Hour” forced him to a back up car. Jeffrey started in the 40th position and charged to finish inside the top five in the fourth spot behind teammate Trevor Bayne.

-Jesus Hernandez in the No. 11 DEI Chevrolet started in the 38th starting spot and rallied along with teammate Jeffrey and charged to the front of the field and finished in the fifth spot behind teammates Trevor Bayne and Jeffrey Earnhardt.

REMEMBERING JAKE JACOBS:

Trevor Bayne’s No. 1 Chevrolet featured a special decal honoring Jake Jacobs along with DEI teammates Jeffrey Earnhardt and Jesus Hernandez. Jake who was the head of the DEI motor development department for the Camping World East Series drivers passed away on Saturday morning due to a massive heart attack and left behind his wife Karen and five children. Jake’s family and friends will remain in our thoughts and prayers for years to come as they deal with their devastating loss.

Career Best:

Trevor’s third place finish was a career best for the 17 year old Knoxville, TN native. Trevor has two starts in 2008 and has placed inside the top ten in both events.

Catch a replay of the U.S. Cellular 200 on HD NET Tuesday May 27th at 1pm (ET)

RACE RESULTS:

U.S. Cellular 200
Started: 8th
Finished: 3rd
Race High: 3rd
Laps Led: 0
Rookie of the Race: Trevor Bayne

Previous Points: 9th

Current Points after Iowa:
1. Austin Dillon -9
2. Brian Ickler -29
3. Trevor Bayne -32
4. Steve Park -47
5. Marc davis -57
8. Jesus Hernandez -73
12. Jeffrey Earnhardt -86

UP NEXT:
Series: NASCAR Camping World East Series
Event: STRUTMASTERS.COM 150
Track: South Boston Speedway
Date: May 31st

www.TrevorBayne.com