Times wires
Monday, February 21, 2011
DAYTONA BEACH — Trevor Bayne celebrated his Daytona 500 victory by playing basketball with friends, then skateboarding on the infield of NASCAR's most storied track.
And why not? This is the youngest winner of the Great American Race.
Monday, Bayne seemed still in disbelief over his Daytona 500 victory, which came a day after his 20th birthday and in just his second Sprint Cup start.
His beaming parents didn't even mind staying up half the night to wash his laundry so he'd have clean clothes for a whirlwind media tour.
"It's insane because we were kidding around, 'Did you bring enough clothes to go if you win the race?' " Bayne said. "I was like, 'Oh, yeah, I've got this. I've got two T-shirts.' I thought it was a big joke, but here we are. This is so crazy."
In a 150-mile qualifying race Thursday, Bayne pushed four-time champion Jeff Gordon around the track. Consider that his parents still have a Gordon poster hanging in Bayne's childhood bedroom in Knoxville, Tenn.
"I'm watching thinking I can't believe he's drafting with Jeff Gordon, at 200 mph, down the backstretch," his mother, Stephanie, said Monday.
Bayne had declared his intention to run only for the second-tier Nationwide series title with Roush Fenway Racing, where he has a full-time ride as opposed to the part-time Cup deal he has with Wood Brothers Racing. He can change his mind, but Sunday's points (which would have been 47) would not count retroactively.
But Bayne didn't seem in a hurry to get it all figured out. He was eager to hop on a private plane and go to ESPN for the first of three full days of appearances around the country. And after spending a year trying to build a following on Twitter, his account on the social media site exploded. He had about 6,000 followers going into Sunday but more than 27,000 by Monday night.
"I told everybody, 'Man, all I had to do was win the 500? I could have done that a long time ago if I would have known that's how I had to get followers,' " he said.
INDYCAR: Series officials are expected to announce Las Vegas as the season finale today. The final race is scheduled for Oct. 16. The season opens March 27 in St. Petersburg. The Indianapolis 500, on May 29, will start at noon this year after starting at 1 p.m. since 2006.