Q&A with Trevor Bayne

Trevor Bayne makes his long-anticipated return to the race track this weekend when he gets back behind the wheel of the No. 16 Roush Fenway Ford Mustang for the Nationwide Series race at Chicagoland Speedway Saturday night. Bayne, who has not raced since the Cup race April 17th at Talladega, caught up with Ford Racing to talk about getting back behind the wheel in the Windy City this weekend.

DO YOU FEEL A LITTLE BIT LIKE YOU’RE IN THE ARMY NOW, WITH THE HURRY-UP-AND-WAIT, HURRY-UP-AND-WAIT YOU’RE GOING THROUGH? “I have. This has probably been the toughest five weeks that I’ve experienced. At the same time, it’s been a good five weeks because I got to realize how lucky I am to get to drive a race car every weekend. Just going to test and sitting in the car now seems like the best thing in the world. When I finally get to go race again, I can’t imagine how good it’s going to feel. It’s like every week I say ‘I’m ready. I’m ready!’ And they say ‘You need to wait.’ When they finally tell me I can go again, I’m going to be on it. I just can’t wait for that day."

IS THIS THE LONGEST TIME YOU’VE BEEN OUT OF A CAR? “It’s not the longest time, because off-seasons are three months for NASCAR, and there was one point in my career when I wasn’t driving for six months, when DEI closed down and I was trying to get another ride. I’ve been there before, but I’ve never had a car sitting there waiting on me and then not be able to go drive it. This is the first time that’s ever happened."

DO YOU THINK THIS MAKES YOUR STORY EVEN BETTER? “Oh yeah. I went and filmed for ‘iamsecond.com’, I did my testimony and I was sitting thinking the other day, thinking ‘Wow, I’m going to have to do this whole thing now, because it just keeps growing.’ This year has been a really crazy year, going from winning the Daytona 500 (to being in the hospital); the highs and lows. Now I’m sitting there out of a race car, waiting to come back. Hopefully, when we come back we’ll have some more highs. It’s definitely been a wild year. It’s been a really good story to watch unfold."

WHAT’S GOTTEN YOU THROUGH THE LAST FEW WEEKS? “My faith. That’s the biggest thing to me. I know it’s part of the plan for me. I just have to keep peace in that. A couple of times I’ve gotten down about it, when they told me I couldn’t go to the track and when they said ‘You’re not going to go even though you think you’re ready.’ That crushed me. Eddie and Len (Wood), Jack Roush, Steve Newmark and everybody at both organizations (that I drive for) have been super supportive. And everybody in the NASCAR community. I can’t thank people like Carl Edwards and Tony Stewart enough. They were flying planes back and forth when I was in the hospital. Carl came and saw me there and just hung out. Doug Yates let me fly in his plane to go to the hospital. The support in the NASCAR community has been incredible."