Dale Earnhardt Inc. development driver Trevor Bayne had high hopes heading into not only his first trip to Watkins Glen Speedway but his first ever road course event. Trevor is fresh off a two day test session in Phoenix, AZ where he attended the Bob Bondurant Road Racing School in preparation for the Camping World East “125” at the Glen. First round of practice got underway Friday afternoon and Trevor quickly jumped inside the top ten on the speed charts just before an on track incident with the No. 37 of Nick de Bruijn sent Trevor and his No. 1 Chevrolet to the garage for left side body repairs.

The No. 1 DEI team didn’t have much time Friday evening to finish up the repairs so when the gates opened Saturday morning, the No. 1 DEI team, led by crew chief Haskell Lavalette; were hard at work as they began repairing the left side body damage that their Chevrolet had suffered.

After a long day of repairs, the stage was then set for qualifying as Trevor and his No. 1 DEI Chevy appeared ready to go. Qualifying for the “125” at the Glen had a new approach. Drivers were sent out on the speedway in a group of about eight drivers and given six minutes to complete their fastest of four laps. Trevor, scheduled to go out in the second group of drivers jumped to second on the speed charts before a light rain coated the speedway prior to the end of qualifying. “I wanted to take it easy out there at first because I wanted to make sure everything on the car was ok. We haven’t been on the track since yesterday when got tangled up there,” said Trevor. “We got a pretty decent lap in but I knew that when it rained the track would cool off and pick up speed. We ended up 11th and I think that nine out of the top ten cars all went out after the rain shower so we are pretty happy with our starting spot.”

With rain in the forecast for Sunday, the green flag waived shortly after 12:30 for the running of the Camping World East “125” at the Glen. Trevor wasted no time and drove inside the top ten before leaders came to pit road for fuel during the second caution of the race on lap 19. Trevor restarted in the 7th spot and found himself settled into position after some great battles on the track. The caution flag waived again as thunderstorms moved into the area and brought out the red flag on lap 29 just past half way.

After more than an hour delay, drivers strapped back into their machines and business picked back up. Trevor was still being shown in the seventh position and with many of the series points leaders all having their share of problems, Trevor knew that a strong finish would help his team gain ground in the championship standings. Championship contenders such as Brian Ickler and Eddie MacDonald were behind the wall with mechanical failure, while race leader Marc Davis was developing transmission failure on the track. Davis was able to hang on to the lead until a green-white-checker finish set the stage after the caution flag waived for the No. 16 car of Max Dumarey after he lost a motor on lap 49 of 51.

Trevor was set to restart in sixth place with the No. 03 of Rogelio Lopez and the No. 12 of Antonio Perez directly in front of him. “I told my team that on the restart I was going to back off early because I knew everyone was going to sail it in there and try and pass each other going into the corner and if I could get a run coming off the corner I could pass them on the bottom going into the eases,” said Trevor after the race. “That’s exactly what happened, everything worked out just like I thought. Marc Davis washed up the race track and so did a few others and I passed two cars coming off of turn one and sat behind Jeffrey who was behind the No. 12 car and the No. 40 car in fourth. Before we took the white flag the No. 12 car got loose and Jeffrey and I passed him before we took the white flag.”

The white flag was shown to the leaders as Matt Kobyluck led the way. Trevor and teammate Jeffrey Earnhardt found themselves in position to pounce on any opportunity given to make a pass for the lead. As the battle upfront began to evolve, the final caution flag of the race waived for an on track incident that involved the No. 18 car of Marc Davis. The race was ended and Trevor’s hopes of making one last charge for the win ended as he finished a respectable third place. “My car was awesome there at the end and I thought I was going to have a shot at possibly winning this thing,” said Trevor. “I have to thank all of my guys for working their butts off to get this car back together after the incident on Thursday. I think we all will take a third place after that.”

A GREAT WEEKEND FOR DEI TEAMATES:

-Jeffrey Earnhardt in the No. 8 DEI Chevrolet started from the 7th spot in the “125” at the Glen and marched his way to a very respectable second place finish Sunday afternoon just in front of teammates Trevor Bayne and Jesus Hernandez.

-Jesus Hernandez in the No. 11 DEI Chevrolet started from the 14th starting spot and rallied along with teammate Trevor Bayne to finish in the fourth spot behind teammates Jeffrey Earnhardt and Trevor Bayne.