Despite winning last year's Daytona 500, Trevor Bayne “does not have a fulltime job in either the Sprint Cup or Nationwide series” this season due to sponsorship issues, according to Randy Covitz of the K.C. STAR. Bayne’s schedule “calls for only 13 Cup races for the Wood Brothers,” four fewer than '11, and he is “scheduled to run only the first three Nationwide races for Roush-Fenway Racing unless more sponsorship can be found.” Bayne said, “It just shows how tough it is right now. But I’m fortunate to be one of the guys that’s in the sport that didn’t bring money to the table or didn’t have my own sponsorship where my parents own a big business, so to have Roush Fenway fund me last year with no sponsorship … it would kind of be hard to expect them to fund a full Cup team this year and two Nationwide teams” (K.C. STAR, 2/23). USA TODAY’s Nate Ryan notes Bayne will have “virtually the same sponsor lineup,” and because of a “lack of funding, he actually might race fewer times in the Nationwide Series than last year's planned full schedule.” He admittedly is “disappointed the wave of success didn't carry him into a more stable situation.” Bayne: “You would hope you could accumulate some kind of funding or some kind of sponsorship after the year we had last year. It's just tough for us and every team." Roush Fenway President Steve Newmark said, "Trevor is an incredible talent, but look at the number of drivers looking for sponsors. That's really impacted a lot of younger drivers.” Wood Brothers co-Owner Len Wood said the team “drew plenty of interest in the wake of Bayne's win but not the multimillion-dollar deals needed.” Bayne said that he personally “had gotten more involved in the sponsor hunt” (USATODAY.com, 2/22).
HE DESERVES YOUR SUPPORT: In Orlando, George Diaz writes the fact that the defending Daytona 500 champion does not have a full-time Sprint Cup ride “is just plain nonsense.” Diaz: “What's up, corporate America?” Bayne should be a “quick and easy ‘get’ for anybody looking to promote their product to the masses” He is “unpretentious, cordial, accessible … plus talented with a terrific upside.” Those absentee sponsors “might be missing out on the Next Big Thing” (ORLANDO SENTINEL, 2/23).
TODAY IS NOT THE DAY: The AP’s Mark Long noted action sports star Travis Pastrana “would seem to be one of the most marketable drivers in the garage.” ESPN VP/Motorsports Rich Feinberg said, "Anybody who is that interesting and brings such a new audience to the racing community has the potential to grow his brand, grow interest in the sport on an unlimited basis as long as he gets it done on the racetrack.” Long noted Pastrana's NASCAR venture “was supposed to start last summer," but he crashed during a "best trick" event in the X Games on July 28. Pastrana had “hoped to drive more Nationwide races this season, but sponsorship has been challenging -- even for someone who would seem to be an easy sell in corporate America.” Pastrana: "It's been a lot tougher than we anticipated. It's definitely a tough economy. But also a lot of the sponsors are just waiting to see if I'm going to stay healthy" (AP, 2/22).
