Trevor Bayne’s win in the Daytona 500 “guaranteed him eligibility" for a chance to win the $1M top prize in this season’s NASCAR Sprint All-Star Race, but his Wood Brothers team “currently doesn’t have funding to field the No. 21 in the race,” according to Jim Utter of the CHARLOTTE OBSERVER. Bayne will run every Cup race through the April 17 race at Talladega, but the team “will not stretch to fund a non-points race.” Team co-Owner Eddie Wood, “We’re looking for more money and we are already planning to run the 600 at Charlotte. So far we haven’t come across anything that really works.” He added, “If you had money to go to the all-star race or the money to go to a points race, you’d probably pick the points race right now” (CHARLOTTE OBSERVER, 3/19). SCENEDAILY.com’s Bob Pockrass noted the Wood Brothers have “sponsorship for half the season for Ford through Motorcraft, FordParts.com and Quick Lane Tire & Auto.” Wood: “You want to sell the one you’re going to the soonest, that’s the one that you focus on first. That would be the All-Star (after) Richmond and Dover. Those would be the three that you would like to get in place. Hopefully something will come along” (SCENEDAILY.com, 3/20). Still, Wood said, “Honestly, I think we are on road upwards. We’re lined up with Roush Fenway Racing with our cars and engineering.” Wood said the team is “not going to run all the races; we’re still running a limited schedule,” but if the “money came along, we could run more races, whether it was one more or 18” (CHARLOTTE OBSERVER, 3/20).
