Welcome to TimersSports
Trevor Bayne had an excellent 2016 seasons, despite being disrespect by almost literally everyone in the Nascar community. He got some love from a few sites, but more often than not he was overlooked. He wasn't anything special, but he was better than he got credited for. There was a time where he was the best RFR driver in 2016. His numbers ended just a little worse than Ricky Stenhouse Jr and a bitter than Greg Biffle's. Overall, RFR struggled once again in 2016 but saw improvements no doubt. Trevor Bayne had his best year ever as a full-time cup driver with career-high in top 5 finishes, top 10 finishes and average finish.
RFR's biggest improvement last season was probably the intermediate tracks. Teammate Ricky Stenhouse Jr said they are closer on the intermediate tracks, but have work to do on the short tracks and other venues. I would agree with that assessment on the program. It was obvious that RFR had a okay handle on the intermediate tracks, especially on the 1.5 milers. On the 1.5 mile tracks (11 of them in total), he finished between 11th-22nd in 7 races. So just over 60% of the time, he finished inside the top 22. That's solid for him, I would say. In 6 of those 7 races, he finished inside the top 20. 5 of those 6 races ended in 18th place or better.
His best three racetracks among intermediate tracks probably are Kentucky, Atlanta and Las Vegas. Hard to say with such limited data to go on though, we will find out more as we see him more on these tracks. I will say that Kentucky is running way as his best tracks. Only two races under his belt, but in those two races, he has an 12.0 average finish with worst finish of 13th place. Also his driver rating in both races are pretty damn good. Usually a good driver rating for an event is a great sign for a driver's performance. He had driver ratings of 71.4 and 81.2. For average of 76.4 driver rating. That's 76.4 average rating is impressive because no other track does he has a rating above 66.8. That's basically an full 10 ratings better. Yeah pretty good! Between Atlanta, Michigan and Las Vegas, I am not sure what's his 2nd-best track is honestly. I am going to say Michigan or Las Vegas though. Also they are similar tracks. He has 12 starts at Michigan and 6 starts at Vegas. I say Las Vegas is a little better of a track as of right now because of the early success he has had. In 6 career starts, he has posted 4 Top 20 finishes. Just in 6 starts, he has posted 4 Top 20 finishes. At Michigan, he has posted 5 Top 20 finishes in double the starts. And over his past three starts at Vegas, he has posted 2 finishes of 20th or better. Including an 17th place finish in last season's race. He has more experience at Michigan though and has 3 Top 22 finishes over his past 4 starts there as well. Over the past 7 races, he has posted 5 Top 22 finishes. With 6 Top 24 finishes in those 7 races overall. If I was going to use him on the intermediate tracks, I would pick Kentucky, Las Vegas and Michigan.
Short tracks will be a good place to use him, especially at Bristol. You could make a strong case for him at Bristol, that it is his 2nd-best racetrack on the schedule behind Kentucky. In 5 career starts at Bristol, he has posted 3 Top 20 finishes with career average finish of 18.8. Even better? All three top 20 finishes has came in the last three races. Even better than that? The finishes has all been 15th or better. Including finishes of 12th and 5th during 2016 season. Very good overall, but his Martinsville record is not very good. Is it completely terrible? No not really. But it could use some improvements though. In 5 races at Martinsville, he has posted 2 Top 23 finishes in that span. Not very good, but he has improved in his last three races. In November 2015, he finished 31st. Not very good, right? Correct. April 2016? 27th. That's better, but still not really great. How about October 2016? 23rd place. Okay that's more in the ballpark in what we are looking for. If he can bring that number up again in 2017, then we are definitely cooking.
Shorter flats and Larger flats will be a weakness for him overall, he will likely not have many good runs in 2017. I would say the best place to use him would be Richmond though. He has performed well at Richmond so far in his career. In 4 races, he has compiled 4 Top 24 finishes. In 2016, he posted finishes of 14th and 17th. That's rock-solid overall. He also had good performances in those races at Richmond as well. He posted driver ratings of 71.6 and 81.3. Hard to ask for much more from Bayne, when he is posting those kind of numbers. Another thing to like about Bayne at Richmond? He has improved his finishing position in every race. His finishes at Richmond: 24th (April 2015), 23rd, 17th and 14th. He has been bad at Phoenix and New Hampshire. How bad? In 10 starts in those races, he has posted just one top 20 finish. In fact, the other 9 races has ended in 23rd or worse. I am not even going to go into the data any deeper, because it is clear as day, he isn't that good at them.
The Larger flats will be an weakness for him in 2017. He has struggled at both Indy and Pocono, I am not very surprise by that honestly. In 10 career races at the larger flats, he has posted just 3 Top 20 finishes. He has been better at Pocono though and it hasn't been much of a competition, either. If we take out his DNF in August 2015, he has posted 3 Top 24 finishes in 4 races. In 2016, he posted finishes of 19th and 13th. So he swept the top 20 at Pocono. That's what I like to hear from Trevor. Maybe he can keep it up in 2017 as well? We will see. How about Indy? Not very good at all. In 6 starts at Indy, he has only posted one top 20 finish. In those 6 starts, he has posted 2 DNFs with average finish of 31.3. His lone good finish at Indy came back in July 2012. In his other 4 races? 28th or worse in every race. That's bad and I don't think I need to explain why. Good news? He has improved in the last three races. In July 2014, he finished 43rd. He finished 40th in 2015 and then 30th place in last season's event. He also had two DNFs in that two race span. Those DNFs came in 2014 and 2015. He finished 30th place in last season race, but finished 3 laps down. He needs to be able to finish on the lead lap, to have any kind of value at Indy!
Plate tracks was a strength for Trevor Bayne in 2016 and I was honestly suprise. I personally I always thought Bayne was overrated at the plate races. But he proved me wrong in 2016 though, as he posted 3 Top 17 finishes in 4 races. His numbers at Talladega are just a little better than Daytona. At Talladega, he posted 3 Top 21 finishes in his last three races. In his previous 9 races at Talladega, he has posted an total of 4 Top 25 finishes. So he is on a bit of a solid run at Talladega, hopefully the good numbers continue for him. At Daytona, he has posted 2 Top 9 finishes over the past three races. So over the past 6 races at Plate races, he has posted 5 Top 21 finishes with 4 Top 17 finishes overall. Prior to those 2 Top 9 finishes, he only posted 2 Top 25 finishes in his previous 9 races. Including a win in his first start back in 2011. Overall, Bayne should offer something in the high-teens to low-twenties.
Road courses will be another weakness for him as well. He has not perform very well on the road courses so far in his career. In 4 career starts on the road courses (2 at each Sonoma and Watkins Glenn), he has posted 4 Top 25 finishes. In 3 of those 4 races, he has posted 3 finishes between 22nd-25th. His lone good finish? 9th place at Watkins in 2016. Even though, he wasn't very good though. Only posted 65.8 driver rating. That's is like a low-twenties type finish's performance. Honestly, I am not very high on him overall at the road courses. You can expect finishes inside the top 25, but probably nothing other than that though.
In 2017, I would expect Bayne to be a good but not overly impressive performer on the intermediate tracks, plate tracks and most likely Bristol. He will also be good at Richmond and couple other tracks. He is trending the right way at certain tracks that he has struggled at, so remember to keep those tracks in mind down the road. Bayne should be avoided on the flat tracks in general, long with the road courses. I would expect Bayne to be run well in 2017 and finish most weekends in the low-twenties with enough upside to sneak into the high-teens. Most weekends, he won't perform strong enough to be anything outside of the 16th-22nd place range. For Bayne to have a successful season in 2017, I would say he needs to just focus on being consistent and trying to improve from 2016. If he can accomplish those two tasks, then I would be okay with his season's outcome. He don't need to be anything special to be successful. As a young driver, it is all about not taking a step back!
**All stats are from DriverAverages.com
Twitter - @JeffNathans18
Trevor Bayne had an excellent 2016 seasons, despite being disrespect by almost literally everyone in the Nascar community. He got some love from a few sites, but more often than not he was overlooked. He wasn't anything special, but he was better than he got credited for. There was a time where he was the best RFR driver in 2016. His numbers ended just a little worse than Ricky Stenhouse Jr and a bitter than Greg Biffle's. Overall, RFR struggled once again in 2016 but saw improvements no doubt. Trevor Bayne had his best year ever as a full-time cup driver with career-high in top 5 finishes, top 10 finishes and average finish.
RFR's biggest improvement last season was probably the intermediate tracks. Teammate Ricky Stenhouse Jr said they are closer on the intermediate tracks, but have work to do on the short tracks and other venues. I would agree with that assessment on the program. It was obvious that RFR had a okay handle on the intermediate tracks, especially on the 1.5 milers. On the 1.5 mile tracks (11 of them in total), he finished between 11th-22nd in 7 races. So just over 60% of the time, he finished inside the top 22. That's solid for him, I would say. In 6 of those 7 races, he finished inside the top 20. 5 of those 6 races ended in 18th place or better.
His best three racetracks among intermediate tracks probably are Kentucky, Atlanta and Las Vegas. Hard to say with such limited data to go on though, we will find out more as we see him more on these tracks. I will say that Kentucky is running way as his best tracks. Only two races under his belt, but in those two races, he has an 12.0 average finish with worst finish of 13th place. Also his driver rating in both races are pretty damn good. Usually a good driver rating for an event is a great sign for a driver's performance. He had driver ratings of 71.4 and 81.2. For average of 76.4 driver rating. That's 76.4 average rating is impressive because no other track does he has a rating above 66.8. That's basically an full 10 ratings better. Yeah pretty good! Between Atlanta, Michigan and Las Vegas, I am not sure what's his 2nd-best track is honestly. I am going to say Michigan or Las Vegas though. Also they are similar tracks. He has 12 starts at Michigan and 6 starts at Vegas. I say Las Vegas is a little better of a track as of right now because of the early success he has had. In 6 career starts, he has posted 4 Top 20 finishes. Just in 6 starts, he has posted 4 Top 20 finishes. At Michigan, he has posted 5 Top 20 finishes in double the starts. And over his past three starts at Vegas, he has posted 2 finishes of 20th or better. Including an 17th place finish in last season's race. He has more experience at Michigan though and has 3 Top 22 finishes over his past 4 starts there as well. Over the past 7 races, he has posted 5 Top 22 finishes. With 6 Top 24 finishes in those 7 races overall. If I was going to use him on the intermediate tracks, I would pick Kentucky, Las Vegas and Michigan.
Short tracks will be a good place to use him, especially at Bristol. You could make a strong case for him at Bristol, that it is his 2nd-best racetrack on the schedule behind Kentucky. In 5 career starts at Bristol, he has posted 3 Top 20 finishes with career average finish of 18.8. Even better? All three top 20 finishes has came in the last three races. Even better than that? The finishes has all been 15th or better. Including finishes of 12th and 5th during 2016 season. Very good overall, but his Martinsville record is not very good. Is it completely terrible? No not really. But it could use some improvements though. In 5 races at Martinsville, he has posted 2 Top 23 finishes in that span. Not very good, but he has improved in his last three races. In November 2015, he finished 31st. Not very good, right? Correct. April 2016? 27th. That's better, but still not really great. How about October 2016? 23rd place. Okay that's more in the ballpark in what we are looking for. If he can bring that number up again in 2017, then we are definitely cooking.
Shorter flats and Larger flats will be a weakness for him overall, he will likely not have many good runs in 2017. I would say the best place to use him would be Richmond though. He has performed well at Richmond so far in his career. In 4 races, he has compiled 4 Top 24 finishes. In 2016, he posted finishes of 14th and 17th. That's rock-solid overall. He also had good performances in those races at Richmond as well. He posted driver ratings of 71.6 and 81.3. Hard to ask for much more from Bayne, when he is posting those kind of numbers. Another thing to like about Bayne at Richmond? He has improved his finishing position in every race. His finishes at Richmond: 24th (April 2015), 23rd, 17th and 14th. He has been bad at Phoenix and New Hampshire. How bad? In 10 starts in those races, he has posted just one top 20 finish. In fact, the other 9 races has ended in 23rd or worse. I am not even going to go into the data any deeper, because it is clear as day, he isn't that good at them.
The Larger flats will be an weakness for him in 2017. He has struggled at both Indy and Pocono, I am not very surprise by that honestly. In 10 career races at the larger flats, he has posted just 3 Top 20 finishes. He has been better at Pocono though and it hasn't been much of a competition, either. If we take out his DNF in August 2015, he has posted 3 Top 24 finishes in 4 races. In 2016, he posted finishes of 19th and 13th. So he swept the top 20 at Pocono. That's what I like to hear from Trevor. Maybe he can keep it up in 2017 as well? We will see. How about Indy? Not very good at all. In 6 starts at Indy, he has only posted one top 20 finish. In those 6 starts, he has posted 2 DNFs with average finish of 31.3. His lone good finish at Indy came back in July 2012. In his other 4 races? 28th or worse in every race. That's bad and I don't think I need to explain why. Good news? He has improved in the last three races. In July 2014, he finished 43rd. He finished 40th in 2015 and then 30th place in last season's event. He also had two DNFs in that two race span. Those DNFs came in 2014 and 2015. He finished 30th place in last season race, but finished 3 laps down. He needs to be able to finish on the lead lap, to have any kind of value at Indy!
Plate tracks was a strength for Trevor Bayne in 2016 and I was honestly suprise. I personally I always thought Bayne was overrated at the plate races. But he proved me wrong in 2016 though, as he posted 3 Top 17 finishes in 4 races. His numbers at Talladega are just a little better than Daytona. At Talladega, he posted 3 Top 21 finishes in his last three races. In his previous 9 races at Talladega, he has posted an total of 4 Top 25 finishes. So he is on a bit of a solid run at Talladega, hopefully the good numbers continue for him. At Daytona, he has posted 2 Top 9 finishes over the past three races. So over the past 6 races at Plate races, he has posted 5 Top 21 finishes with 4 Top 17 finishes overall. Prior to those 2 Top 9 finishes, he only posted 2 Top 25 finishes in his previous 9 races. Including a win in his first start back in 2011. Overall, Bayne should offer something in the high-teens to low-twenties.
Road courses will be another weakness for him as well. He has not perform very well on the road courses so far in his career. In 4 career starts on the road courses (2 at each Sonoma and Watkins Glenn), he has posted 4 Top 25 finishes. In 3 of those 4 races, he has posted 3 finishes between 22nd-25th. His lone good finish? 9th place at Watkins in 2016. Even though, he wasn't very good though. Only posted 65.8 driver rating. That's is like a low-twenties type finish's performance. Honestly, I am not very high on him overall at the road courses. You can expect finishes inside the top 25, but probably nothing other than that though.
In 2017, I would expect Bayne to be a good but not overly impressive performer on the intermediate tracks, plate tracks and most likely Bristol. He will also be good at Richmond and couple other tracks. He is trending the right way at certain tracks that he has struggled at, so remember to keep those tracks in mind down the road. Bayne should be avoided on the flat tracks in general, long with the road courses. I would expect Bayne to be run well in 2017 and finish most weekends in the low-twenties with enough upside to sneak into the high-teens. Most weekends, he won't perform strong enough to be anything outside of the 16th-22nd place range. For Bayne to have a successful season in 2017, I would say he needs to just focus on being consistent and trying to improve from 2016. If he can accomplish those two tasks, then I would be okay with his season's outcome. He don't need to be anything special to be successful. As a young driver, it is all about not taking a step back!
**All stats are from DriverAverages.com
Twitter - @JeffNathans18
