A year ago, when Trevor Bayne made appearances on behalf of his sponsors, he was all-too-accustomed to the indifference that faces up-and-coming drivers, especially ones with almost no Cup experience and no NASCAR wins.
But in July, when he took the stage at a Ford event in the shadow of the Kentucky Speedway grandstands, hundreds of race fans exploded in applause.
Not surprisingly, when the words "Daytona 500 champion" precede your name, that turns a lot of heads. Bayne, who so thrillingly won the 2011 Daytona 500, now draws a crowd.
The young driver knows just how valuable his story is .
"Before, you had to try to build a story, try to find a quirk to talk about," Bayne said. "Now, we have so many things to talk about. This year, there's always been something."
Bayne, known throughout the garage for his exuberance, is not one for understatement. But this time, he's seriously downplaying his year.
Just a few weeks after his victory lap in Daytona, Bayne woke up cross-eyed, and when headaches, numbness in his arms and blurred vision persisted for a few hours, he and a friend drove to the hospital. From his hospital bed on April 10, Bayne tweeted that he was undergoing treatment for a spider bite. But a true diagnosis would never come. After flying to the world-class Mayo Clinic and undergoing weeks of treatment and observation, Bayne still doesn't know exactly what caused his ailment. He was treated for Lyme disease but never officially diagnosed. He missed five weeks of racing, finally returning to the driver's seat in June at Chicagoland Speedway.
But sure enough, the first question from the audience at Kentucky went straight to the moment that won him a new horde of Twitter followers and NASCAR fans: "How did it feel to take the white flag in the Daytona 500?"
If there is a downside to winning the biggest race in NASCAR, it's this: He'll be answering that question for the rest of his life.
During the week-long media blitz that immediately followed the 500, Bayne learned that the true challenge of being the face of the sport wasn't necessarily coming up with answers to questions. It was finding ways to answer the same question over and over.
"I probably answered a question like that 75 times that week," he said. "And I learned quickly that I just needed to treat every question like it was the first time I had heard it. I didn't want to give the robotic answer."
And at Kentucky, five months after his win, Bayne was still doing his best " sounding like he was still turning that frantic last lap over in his head, thinking he might find something new.
"Oh, man, it was crazy," Bayne said. "Having Bobby Labonte, Kurt Busch, Juan Montoya, Carl Edwards and David Gilliland behind me, knowing they could get by me, but the minute I saw the white flag, I thought, 'At least I can tell my friends I was leading at the white flag at Daytona.' I thought for sure Bobby would get by us. I would have been glad to get a top-five. To get the win was incredible."
Four questions later, the other major storyline of Bayne's season crops up: Is he feeling better?
Bayne tells the audience he is. He's 100 percent. Ready to go. And by now, he's used to talking about his illness; it doesn't bother him. But after the event, it's clear that he's hoping he can do something to push that strange episode into an old news cycle.
"I'm ready to start talking about the next win," he said. "It's in my rear-view mirror. I know that people care and worry about me and I appreciate that support. But I'm ready to give them something else to talk about."
After his 20-minute appearance wound down, Bayne bounced off the stage, waded through a forest of outstretched arms, signing everything within his reach and hopped on the back of a waiting golf cart.
But as the cart eased through traffic, squeezing between the Ford trailer and a catering tent, it blew right by a boy in a wheelchair. Bayne called the cart to a stop, jogged back to the boy, posed for a picture and gave him a quick autograph.
As he returned to the cart, fans that witnessed this " maybe 20 in all " broke out into spontaneous applause.
Welcome to Trevor Bayne's new world. With all of NASCAR watching, Bayne has suddenly become the freshest face in the sport. Thanks to his charisma and guileless persona, Bayne stands out among a field of drivers who are frequently criticized as bland corporate automatons.
Indeed, people have a hard time putting it into words but it's clear that Bayne's personality just has an effect on people.
"This kid has it all; he has the skill, which Jack [Roush] will attest to, and he has the maturity that complements the skill for this kid to be a star in this sport for many years to come," Ford Racing Director Jamie Allison said when Bayne returned to the sport in June. "He's got the package."
Even rival drivers seem to marvel at the strength of his personality.
"Trevor is obviously a special person," Kevin Harvick said. "He's a good kid. When you hear him talk and hear the enthusiasm and hear everything that comes along with him, it's hard to believe that he is 20 years old.
"Obviously, he can drive the race car and when you listen to him talk, he just bleeds enthusiasm. It's fun to see that enthusiasm."
In May, Carl Edwards, a Roush Fenway Racing teammate of Bayne's, flew to the Mayo Clinic to visit the driver as he received treatment. And in a scene that must have set dangerously high levels of earnestness in the medical facility, Edwards brought a guitar and jammed with Bayne.
"Trevor is one of those guys that I think we can all look up to for a number of reasons," Edwards said. "I don't know how to describe it, but I guess composure is the word. He just seems to be a very strong person."
Bayne has had to be strong to get where he is. If there is a typical path to NASCAR, Bayne didn't follow it. And even though he hasn't faced ups and downs like he has faced in 2011 "he may never see those extremes again " he was tested enough to get through them.
"I think this year is just helping me figure out what I am made of," Bayne said in May. "I think if you can handle the biggest high you can have and the largest bottom you can have, then the rest of the year should be easy from here.
"I told everybody that I didn't buy a ticket to get on the roller coaster; I stepped back and watched it even though I was a part of it. I didn't want to go to the very top and bottom, but luckily I do have my faith and that is what defines me, because if I was defined by this, I would be in trouble right now.
"I just am thankful for the ups and downs and everything that has helped me find out what I am made of and who is there to support me."A native of Knoxville, Tenn., Bayne has been focused on making it in NASCAR since he got his first kart at age 5. From that moment on, Bayne and his father, Rocky, were on the road looking for races.
In addition to cultivating Bayne's obvious talent behind the wheel, Rocky was careful to make sure his son understood the value of marketability.
"I went to the Food City Race Night at Bristol Motor Speedway when I was 9," Bayne said. "I stood out because I was just a kid with a kart. But my dad wanted me to get used to fans, learn how to be personable and get acquainted with that side of the business."
Bayne went on to win hundreds of races and dozens of titles " including three World Karting Association championships before moving to the Allison Legacy Racing Series, where he won the national championship in his second year at the age of 14. With his future in stock cars and a tour in the USAR Hooters Pro Cup Series coming up, Bayne knew that his future lay in NASCAR country. So, at only 15, he moved to Mooresville, N.C., living by himself.
"I didn't even have a driver's license," Bayne said. "My crew chief would come pick me up and drop me off every day. But that wasn't a big deal because I was working 40 hours a week in the shop at the same time."
The move paid off in 2008 when Bayne joined Jeffrey Earnhardt and Jesus Hernandez in the driver development program at Dale Earnhardt Inc.
In his first full season racing in the KN Pro Series East, Bayne won a race and finished the season fourth.
But when the recession hit, driver development deals were the first to go and Bayne was suddenly out of a ride.
"It was pretty tough," Bayne said. "I had raced 42 weekends a year for my whole life until then so I didn't know what to do with myself. I was out for six months, and it was the longest six months because I wasn't sure what or who I would drive for next or even if I would drive again."
Bayne did eventually land on his feet, securing a Nationwide Series ride with Diamond-Waltrip Racing, where he once again showed that he had what it took to compete " scoring three straight poles, six top-fives and ending the 2010 season ranked seventh.
But just as he was getting comfortable, funding for the No. 99 team dried up and Bayne had to move again, this time to Roush Fenway Racing.
Meanwhile, last November, Bayne made his Sprint Cup debut at Texas Motor Speedway, finishing a more-than-respectable 17th in the Wood Brothers No. 21.
So, just how did Bayne continue to climb the ladder even as his deals kept falling apart? Not many drivers get a single shot at the big time, but Bayne has gotten three.
"I have no idea," said Bayne.
Mike Greci, who oversaw driver development at DEI, credits Bayne's spirit for his rise.
"When you meet him and see his personality, how much spunk and joy he has in his life, that's real important," he said. "If you have a 'blah' personality and you can drive a race car, you might not get a second chance.
"TV people can't wait to talk to Trevor. People realize who he is and they love to talk to him because he always has a smile on his face."
Bayne can probably give more credit for his rise to his personality than most drivers, but it would be a mistake to think that his charm outweighs his desire to win.
"People think that you can either be a nice guy or a competitive guy. They don't think you can be both. I probably make that situation worse because I always talk about being a good person," Bayne said, "but I'm as competitive or more competitive than anybody I've ever raced against. It digs at me that we're not winning right now."
Greci can vouch for that.
"At a race in Lime Rock in 2008, he and Jeffrey [Earnhardt] raced each other so hard, they tore the hell out of both their cars. There was no give for a teammate.
"So, I get back and looked at the car and I said, 'Alright, you and you, go get your goggles, get your work clothes on. Because you're going to cut the bodies off all these cars and you're going to fix them.'
"They were really upset because they both got their butts chewed out but they went out there and went to work.
"And Trevor tells me this today, that 'I learned a valuable lesson that day. Don't take everything for granted and when you're asked to do things a certain way, you need to do it.' "
That perspective helped Bayne get through his layoff after DEI and the uncertainty that came with MWR and, of course, his recovery this May.
"All the experiences have come for a reason," Bayne said. "They've all given me some knowledge or some kind of experience to help with the next one. When I was going through the MWR deal, I'd already been there, done that with DEI and sat still for six months again.
"You use every experience to help with the next one. That's what learning's all about."
Now, Bayne is experiencing the pressure of having a reputation. As NASCAR's reigning Mr. Congeniality, he suddenly has a role to play.
"Once you show someone that you can have energy or that you're a nice person, you feel like you have to keep that up," Bayne said. "It's not an act. I just want to be sure I can always be the same. I don't want to be up and down. Everybody has those of course but when eyes are on you, you try to keep that up a little bit more.
"It's hard to do some times. Most of the time, it's pretty natural because I'm always excited and trying to smile. But there are days when you get out of the race car and want to say something and not be on camera."
How does he seem to stay so positive?
"You gotta dig down deep to get that energy," he said."I think people can see through it when it's fake. You can tell when people are putting on a front to seem energetic. I always just try to convince myself that I have a lot to be excited for. And it doesn't take much convincing because I've been really blessed and have had a cool career so far."
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