Trevor Bayne loses point lead as a result of flat tire mid-race

Coming into the O’Reilly Auto Parts 300, Trevor Bayne had the points lead in the Nationwide Series and looked to be where many have expected him to run over the past couple of years.

However, Bayne would suffer a flat tire during the course of the race at Texas Motor Speedway and finished 23rd, falling to fifth in points.

“It started getting really loose about lap 25 into the run. I don’t know if the tire was leaking the whole time or if it just wore really bad, but going through one and two about two or three laps before that happened I said, ‘The right rear feels really bad,’ and then the next two laps I said it again and again and then all of a sudden I lost it into three,” Bayne commented post-race. “The tire didn’t explode, so I thought it just had a flat. I went to drive around because I didn’t want to lose my lap to the 5 car (Kevin Harvick) and as soon as I got on the gas right past pit road it blew apart, so I couldn’t get to pit road.”

Bayne says looking back he should’ve brought the car to pit road so they could’ve salvaged their day,but yet spent many laps trying to repair the damage.

Split second decisions like that are what make champions – those who can do the right thing in the moment normally gain the most points in a terrible situation. With the competition as steep as it is in the Nationwide Series, this is something to watch moving forward as to whether his competitors makes these mistakes.

As a result, Bayne had his first finish of the season outside the top 10 after quietly putting himself into points contention with solid mid-top-10 finishes.

“We’ll keep working hard,” Bayne noted. “Everybody is gonna have these days. Hopefully, this is our only one for a long time.”