{"id":1822,"date":"2011-10-18T08:00:48","date_gmt":"2011-10-18T12:00:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/inspiringathletes\/?p=1822"},"modified":"2011-10-20T14:38:58","modified_gmt":"2011-10-20T18:38:58","slug":"daytona-500-winner-trevor-bayne-talks-about-his-wild-year","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/inspiringathletes\/2011\/10\/daytona-500-winner-trevor-bayne-talks-about-his-wild-year.html","title":{"rendered":"Daytona 500 winner Trevor Bayne talks about his wild year"},"content":{"rendered":"

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\"\"<\/a>
Trevor Bayne, driver of the #21 Sprint Cup car and the #16 Nationwide car (Photo courtesy of NASCAR)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

It was early October 2010 when I first met Trevor Bayne. He was already a rising star within the NASCAR ranks but a surprising move left him jobless leading up to the race in Kansas. But just days after Michael Waltrip Racing let Bayne go, Roush-Fenway Racing added him to the roster and put him in the #16 car, the team for which he continues to race today.<\/p>\n

What a difference 12 months (plus a week) can make in the unpredictable world of stock car racing. Since that first interview, Bayne has become a household name by winning the Daytona 500 for the legendary Woods Brothers in the #21 car. He made history in the process becoming the youngest driver (age 20) to win NASCAR’s biggest race.<\/p>\n

But the journey has been anything but smooth. During the spring, Bayne contracted Lyme disease from a spider bite and was knocked out of competition for five weeks. It was so serious, he was sent to the Mayo Clinic for treatment. During that time, Bayne remained upbeat and even stayed involved in a weekly Nationwide Series Bible study via conference call.<\/p>\n

I had a chance to catch up with Bayne, once again in Kansas, to find out what the last 12 months have been like, how his faith has sustained him through the crazy times and how that Bible study group is making a difference:<\/p>\n

Chad Bonham: How would you describe the last 12 months of your life?<\/p>\n

Trevor Bayne: Well, there\u2019s been a lot of ups and a lot of downs, and they kind of balance each other out to somewhere in the middle. Last year, this race was the first time I was with Roush-Fenway Racing. I had no idea what was going to happen in the future. I had no idea I\u2019d run the 21 car (in the Sprint Cup Series) or anything like that. A lot of things have changed since then, but it\u2019s been really cool to watch it unfold and take parts of it in and block some of it out. It\u2019s hard to put into words. We never expected any of this, from winning (the Daytona 500) to being sick or anything. If you would\u2019ve wrote the story, I probably wouldn\u2019t have believed it.<\/p>\n

Bonham: How does your faith help you keep the right perspective?<\/p>\n

Bayne: If I was doing this not for a purpose but just to race, then this year I would\u2019ve been a disaster. I would\u2019ve been going to the top and getting a big head and then getting completely deflated and being down. But when you have a purpose to work for something\u2014it\u2019s not just for me, it\u2019s for the platform and I know God\u2019s going to do something with it\u2014it changes your whole perspective. When I got sick, I was like, “Man, I don\u2019t like this, but what\u2019s going on here?” You look at it differently. I knew God was going to use. It was tough at times. I\u2019m not going to lie. I\u2019m not going to say I didn\u2019t break down a couple of times, but having that perspective is definitely what helped me get through the year without having a heart attack.<\/p>\n

Bonham: Have you enjoyed watching your good friend Ricky Stenhouse go after the Nationwide Series championship and how has your relationship been helpful as both of you have experienced highs and lows throughout the season?<\/p>\n

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Trevor Bayne (left) and Ricky Stenhouse (right) talk to the media at Kansas Speedway (Photo courtesy of NASCAR)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Bayne: It\u2019s been fun for everybody else, not so much for us at times. We have a whole group that does that. It\u2019s not just Ricky and I that keep each other accountable. That\u2019s what\u2019s cool. If we\u2019re both on a high, we know we have four other guys that are going to help us out. And if we\u2019re in the trenches, they\u2019re going to get down in there with us. But for Ricky and I, it\u2019s been opposite. My (high point) happened at the beginning of the year and his is happening right now. But you always want your last race to be your best race. It\u2019s a little bit tough on me right now because I had early success and now it\u2019s been a little bit of a struggle. We\u2019ve been fast but we haven\u2019t had the results. We know we\u2019re going to turn it around. But for Ricky, it\u2019s been cool to watch because he\u2019s gradually gotten better every week. He was at Victory Lane for me and I\u2019ll be at the banquet for him if he wins. We\u2019re just good friends, but if it wasn\u2019t for our faith, I don\u2019t know that we would\u2019ve been as good of friends. God\u2019s definitely the center of both of our lives and that\u2019s why we\u2019re able to be good friends.<\/p>\n

Bonham: How sobering was it to see what happened to Reed Sorenson who lost his ride even though he was in contention for the Nationwide title?<\/p>\n

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Trevor Bayne celebrates his Daytona 500 victory on February 20, 2011 (Photo courtesy of NASCAR)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Bayne: That\u2019s why it\u2019s important not to get caught up in those highs. When I won the (Daytona) 500, it was important not to think that\u2019s how it was always going to be, because the reality is it\u2019s not. With the way we live our lives and where our hope is, we would look at that a little differently. It is sobering to see Reed out of a ride, but I know that if I\u2019m out of a ride for some reason, it\u2019s for something else. It\u2019s still tough. You want to be racing and that\u2019s really hard for Reed, but everybody in this sport has a two-week memory span. If you don\u2019t win in the next two weeks, they think you\u2019re running terrible. You can run good early in the year and have a bad rest of the season and they\u2019ll forget about that early win. So you want to be good every weekend. You want to be consistent. You want to be on the top of your game. But when you\u2019re struggling, that\u2019s when your true faith comes in. That\u2019s where perseverance and James 1<\/a> comes in. You\u2019ve got to push through it even when you don\u2019t understand what\u2019s going on.<\/p>\n

Bonham: Tell me about the Bible study that you attend every Saturday morning with some of the other young Christian drivers on the Nationwide circuit and how it\u2019s impacted some other guys like Josh Wise.<\/p>\n

Bayne: It\u2019s awesome. Josh Wise, he\u2019s an awesome guy. Through the group all of our relationships have gotten stronger. Most of the guys in the study are married like (Justin) Allgaier, (Michael) McDowell, Blake (Koch) and Josh. We all hang out at the track and their wives are becoming good friends. It\u2019s cool to see what God does with His people and when He surrounds you with more of His people. For Josh, I remember the first Bible study that he came to. His prayer was so real. It wasn\u2019t some crazy prayer with big words where he was trying to prove that he should be at that Bible study. He\u2019s really seeking and you can see his life changing.<\/p>\n

Bonham: How important is it for people to see a story like yours where, like Job in the Bible, life is full of both blessings and hard times?<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Trevor Bayne in the #21 Sprint Cup car (Photo courtesy of NASCAR)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Bayne: (The story of) Job was on my heart right around the time of the (Daytona) 500 and I didn\u2019t know what has about to happen. Just reading how he was willing to surrender to God right after He lost everything was like, wow, that\u2019s true faith right there. Of course later on he struggled with it like we all will at some point, but we\u2019re all going to have struggles. If life was rosy all the time, we wouldn\u2019t need God. We wouldn\u2019t need Jesus. We wouldn\u2019t need anything. Our lives would be perfect, so what would we need Him for? But He\u2019s created these voids for Him to fill. That\u2019s where we have to let Him come in and fill that void and not try to do it with other things. That\u2019s what so tempting in the world. It\u2019s easy to get wrapped up in things or money or girlfriends or whatever and let them fill that void. But until you let Him do it, it\u2019s not going to be as fulfilling. That\u2019s something I\u2019ve been working on for myself. What are the things that I\u2019ve replaced God with? What have I tried to get joy out of? But at the end of the day, you have to realize that God is the only place your joy can come from, and when He gives you things to enjoy, you can.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bonham: What kind of feedback do you get from people when you have the opportunity to live our your faith on a very public stage?<\/p>\n

Bayne: You get opposite ends. I\u2019ve never wanted to be that guy that stands on the middle ground. In a sense, you get the Kyle Busch reaction. You get the people that love you and you get the people that don\u2019t like you at all. But when people see Christ\u2014and I\u2019m not saying I reflect Him all the time, and I\u2019m probably not as clear of a window as I should be for Him to shine through sometimes\u2014they can\u2019t help but like it, and that\u2019s not me. That\u2019s Him. When I see people around me that are true believers and followers and they live it out, I\u2019m attracted to those people. It\u2019s like Jonathan and David. They became close friends because of their relationship with God. It bonded them. But I don\u2019t want to be legalistic and just surround myself with Christian people. That\u2019s not what we\u2019re called to do. For me, I\u2019m called to be in the racing community where the majority of the people aren\u2019t believers and we\u2019re supposed to share with them. You can go too far one way or go too far the other way. I try to keep a good mixture of being sharpened by followers and going out and trying to reach out to other people.<\/p>\n

Bonham: How do you deal with the negative feedback you get from people who don\u2019t think athletes should be vocal about their faith?<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Trevor Bayne gets ready to race at Road America on June 24, 2011 in Elkhart, Wisconsin (Photo by Jason Smith\/Getty Images; Courtesy of NASCAR)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Bayne: I like it. It\u2019s almost like Paul being thrown in prison. It\u2019s not as intense, but he says it\u2019s going to happen. Jesus was crucified for it. So a message board isn\u2019t going to hurt me that bad. I care about what people think, which is probably one of my biggest downfalls. It\u2019s a little bit of pride\u2014building myself up on other people\u2019s opinion. I\u2019ve tried to get rid of that, but it\u2019s still there. I care a lot about what other people think. I don\u2019t just ignore it. But I remember this story. I was on Twitter right after I won the Daytona 500. Obviously I thanked God after the race and this one guy tweeted, “Yeah, it\u2019s easy to thank God when things are good. What about when things are bad?” As soon as I got sick, I remembered that. And I thought, “This might be a chance to reach that one guy,” because He\u2019s still God. He\u2019s still the same. Even at Phoenix, the week after Daytona, I wrecked during practice and I tweeted, “Well, He\u2019s still the same.” I don\u2019t know if that guy saw it or not, but you\u2019ve just got to be consistent.<\/p>\n

Bonham: You\u2019ve got to believe that there are probably lots of people out there like that who are cynical about Christian athletes thanking God.<\/p>\n

Bayne: Exactly. That\u2019s probably why I\u2019ve experienced such highs and lows. What are we made of? Are we just saying we trust Him because we\u2019re winning? I think that\u2019s how He\u2019s used me.<\/p>\n

Bonham: Are you going to be sharing your testimony at MRO chapel services and other venues more often?<\/p>\n

Bayne: We do a lot of speaking at different churches. Michael (McDowell) does it more than most of it because he\u2019s not at busy with his teams. He really sets a lot of things up and goes and does it. We\u2019re actually doing the K-Love Cruise in February<\/a>. I\u2019ll be speaking at that. It\u2019s pretty neat to get the opportunity to share your platform like that. I\u2019m just thankful He\u2019s using me because it could be somebody else.<\/p>\n

Keep up with the latest from Trevor Bayne by visiting his official website HERE<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Click “Like” to share this with your friends! It was early October 2010 when I first met Trevor Bayne. He was already a rising star within the NASCAR ranks but a surprising move left him jobless leading up to the race in Kansas. But just days after Michael Waltrip Racing let Bayne go, Roush-Fenway Racing…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":418,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,382,388],"tags":[730,151,743,190,189,203,198,428,241,339],"class_list":["post-1822","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-christian-athletes","category-qa","category-racing","tag-blake-koch","tag-daytona-500","tag-josh-wise","tag-justin-allgaier","tag-michael-mcdowell","tag-morgan-shepherd","tag-motor-racing-outreach","tag-ricky-stenhouse","tag-roush-fenway-racing","tag-woods-brothers"],"yoast_head":"\nDaytona 500 winner Trevor Bayne talks about his wild year - Inspiring Athletes<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/inspiringathletes\/2011\/10\/daytona-500-winner-trevor-bayne-talks-about-his-wild-year.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Daytona 500 winner Trevor Bayne talks about his wild year - Inspiring Athletes\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Click “Like” to share this with your friends! It was early October 2010 when I first met Trevor Bayne. He was already a rising star within the NASCAR ranks but a surprising move left him jobless leading up to the race in Kansas. 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Chad is currently working on five new books including Sooner Legacy, Husker Legacy and Lessons From Sooner Football (Cross Training) as well as The Faith of Stock Car Racing (Judson Press). When he's not writing, Chad lends his efforts to various independent television and film projects. He was the coordinating producer for Choosing Life (2010) and Life Happens (2011). Chad is currently serving as producer on a forthcoming documentary about Super Bowl champion Brian Kinchen. 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