Trevor Bayne will sit out one more week

   Daytona 500 winner Trevor Bayne will not compete this weekend in the Nationwide or Sprint Cup races at Charlotte Motor Speedway, but does appear to be closer to a return to NASCAR competition.

   Roush Fenway Racing officials said Wednesday they expect Bayne to compete in next week's standalone Nationwide race at Chicagoland Speedway. Subject to any unforeseen changes, Bayne is expected to resume his full racing schedule next week. His next scheduled Cup start is June 18 at Michigan with the Wood Brothers' No. 21 Ford.

   “By all standards Trevor had a great week,” said Roush Fenway president Steve Newmark. “His symptoms have completely subsided. He tested at Virginia International Raceway on Tuesday, had one of the fastest Nationwide Series cars on the race track and his team was extremely pleased with his progress.

   "As a result, we plan to have him back in competition next week in Chicago, and have consulted with his doctors at the Mayo Clinic and the NASCAR medical staff about that timetable."

   Newmark said Bayne, 20, wanted to return this weekend.

   “However, we feel it is in his best interest for us to exercise an abundance of caution with this matter and withhold him from racing this weekend; especially considering the length of the races and the fact that Trevor is just starting to get back into his daily routine," Newmark said.

   "Although Trevor would have preferred to compete in all 900 miles this weekend, he respects and understands our decision and will shift his considerable focus to his return at Chicagoland next weekend.”

Full text of Kyle Busch statement

   "Today I received a traffic citation in Iredell County. I was test driving a new sports car and I got carried away. I went  beyond the speed I should have been going on a public road. I apologize to the public, my fans, sponsors, and race teams for my lack of judgment. I take responsibility for my actions and I can assure you that something like this will never happen again. I thank the Iredell County Sheriff's Department and all law enforcement for the hard work they do every day to protect the public and to enforce the laws in a fair and equitable manner."

Who should be next in NASCAR Hall?

   With the completion of the induction of the Class of 2011 in to the NASCAR Hall of Fame, I asked some of this year's nominees who they thought should be next.

   David Pearson said he would like to see Cotton Owens inducted and wished Raymond Parks had been inducted before he passed away last year. "I think people who really got (NASCAR) going should be inducted first," he said.

   Kyle Petty, grandson of inductee Lee Petty, said during his speech Monday night that Lee's son, Maurice, should be the next Petty inducted to the Hall of Fame. Maurice Petty said he hoped he would be inducted at some point. "I just hope I'm still alive when it happens," he said.

    Ned Jarrett said he thought Darrell Waltrip and Cale Yarborough would be in the Hall's third class. He also said Owens, Dale Inman, Richie Evans, Jack Ingram and Herb Thomas should also be considered.

   Bud Moore agreed with Jarrett on Owens and also threw his support behind Raymond Parks and Joe Weatherly.


  

Who intros who at the NASCAR Hall

   If you're attending Monday night's NASCAR Hall of Fame inductions or planning to watch on Speed, here is a guide has to who will be introducing and inducting the five members of the Class of 2011 into the NASCAR Hall.

  

   -Bud Moore, Video introduction by Tom Brokaw; MRN's Barney Hall will be the inductor.

 

   -Lee Petty, Video introduction by former President George H.W. Bush; inductors: Kyle, Mark, Ritchie and Tim Petty.

 

   -Ned Jarrett, Video introduction by Ken SquierMakar.

 

   -Bobby Allison, Video introduction by Nick Saban; inductor: Donnie Allison.

 

   -David Pearson, Video introduction by Richard Petty; inductors: Russell Branham and Leonard Wood.

 

 

Q&A with Travis Pastrana

   Extreme sports star Travis Pastrana plans to make his debut in the NASCAR Nationwide Series in July at Lucas Oil Raceway in Clermont, Ind., outside Indianapolis. In the meantime, he has been running a couple races in the K&N Pro Series, including this past weekend at Iowa Speedway.chances if you will. You listen to your co-driver and you just start cutting corners a little bit more. You can carry more momentum into your corners, you’re breaking later and you’re breaking harder. Here, in NASCAR, you know the course so it’s not about taking chances. If you take a chance you’re just simply overshooting the corner. You’re pushing up the

   Pastrana met with the media over the weekend for an update on his NASCAR career.

   What has your biggest transition been coming into NASCAR?

  “Definitely the biggest transition for me is with Rally it’s all about aggression. You can make up time by simply taking corner. It’s a lot more that comes down to it -- communication with your team. Let them know exactly what the car is doing and how they can help you get around the course faster because everyone is very close and it’s just a matter of figuring out that exact line and the line changes every lap so it’s been a lot of fun.”

   Would you like your Rally co-driver to be with you in NASCAR?

   “For sure. I tell you what, I did really well in Rally mostly because I had a great co-driver. That’s kind of what your spotter is like in this I guess.”

   How is NASCAR compared to the stunts you have done?

   “I was always a really competitive person so I don’t really get nervous as much about getting injured or crashing. My nerves come from trying to succeed and do the best you can in the

competition. For me, I’m just as nervous if not more nervous in this sport because there are a lot of eyes on this sport. Going to Rally, I had probably two years before anyone really started paying attention, which was kind of nice. Here, it’s not the Cup but there are a lot of eyes. A lot of sponsors and a lot of money involved trying to help me to reach up where my goal will eventually be. The learning process has been tough and we have a lot to learn.”

   How much of a learning curve is there when you get to a new track?

   “That’s been really difficult for me. With the motorcycle I can get on and I won’t even have to look at the course and in the second lap I’ve done all of the jumps and probably by the third or fourth lap I’m up to speed. Where that is what all of the guys here have been doing -- even the guys that haven’t driven this course particularly, they are familiar with their equipment. They are familiar with everything and they really come right up to speed. Where, me, every time we change tires or have cold rubber or whatever is going on -- or it rained a little -- I’m very, very cautious. I’m just definitely trying to get a lot more used to; I’ve always been able to read dirt very well. That’s just what I’ve grown up doing and training on.

   "Pavement is definitely something that is different, and trying to read where you’re going to have the traction and how to get the balance of the car right. So, yeah, we had an hour and a half of practice and I could’ve used another four hours probably. In fact, I probably could’ve used another four days. It is what it is and I do better under race conditions than practice conditions so qualifying has always been a very difficult part, and definitely it’s going to be difficult here today for sure.”

   What is the biggest thing you’ve learned in the NASCAR K&N Pro Series in your two starts?

   “The biggest thing that I’ve learned and something that was really funny is Jimmie Johnson said the biggest help that he had that anyone ever told him, and probably the biggest thing that made the most sense, is he said, ‘When you think you leave something in the corner, you didn’t.’ Which, basically means the harder you try to drive these cars -- if you feel like you’re

doing everything really smooth you’re like, ‘Oh, I have more. I can do more.’ And then you start pushing harder and your lap times -- it feels faster -- you’re like, ‘Oh, I’m sliding and I’m pushing and working the car and sweating.’ And then your times are slowing down and by the end -- it was interesting because at my first race at Irwindale I just drove. I was like, ‘I don’t want to get in a crash.’ At the end of the race we had a car that was untouched, a car that the tires were still good, a car that was ready to race and we were able to race the last couple of laps real hard and it was my best finish. After that I was -- racing from the beginning I’m like, ‘Alright, I’m working the car and taking the aero off of the front and the back bumpers and banging it up, and by the end we got nothing. So, I think you have to take an in-between approach.”

   What made you decide to get into NASCAR?

   “It’s the most competitive form of racing in the world and it’s definitely about competition for me. It’s going to be the biggest challenge for sure because it’s so much different than why I’ve been able to succeed in other things just based on aggression. NASCAR is not so much the aggression so much as it is the technique and communication. That, for me, is a huge challenge and something that I want to take on.”

  

Raikkonen adds another Charlotte race

   Apparently Kimi Raikkonen enjoyed his first race at Charlotte Motor Speedway so much he's coming back for a second.

   Fresh off a 15th-place finish in Friday night's NASCAR Trucks Series race at Charlotte, the former Formula One champion will also run in next Saturday's Nationwide race at the track, driving the No. 87 fielded by Nemco Motorsports, several sources familiar with the decision confirmed on Saturday.

 

   Raikkonen drove a Truck fielded by Kyle Busch Motorsports on Friday night. KBM will work with Raikkonen in the Nationwide race but the car will come from Nemco.

 

   Busch, himself, actually made his Nationwide debut with the same team in the same race eight years ago, while he was under contract with Hendrick Motorsports.

 

   Raikkonen has never tested a Nationwide car. He did two, one-day tests in the Truck prior to his debut.

 

   "(It) was a good learning experience and hopefully he learned enough (Friday) that will help him for next week and we’ll try to make the transition a lot easier for him as best we can,” Busch said Friday night following his Truck win.

Harvick gets a probation reminder

   During his media availability on Friday at Charlotte Motor Speedway, Kevin Harvick said he was still confused as to whether he was on probation in Saturday night’s all-star race.

   NASCAR quickly cleared it up.

   Before he was allowed on the track for practice Friday, Harvick was called to the NASCAR hauler where spokeswoman Kristi King said he received a reminder his probation covered the all-star race and what it entailed.

   Asked Friday how he would approach a situation in which he ended up racing Kyle Busch for the all-star win, Harvick said, “I’m still confused on whether I am on probation or not on probation. So, I can’t answer that, I don’t really know.

   “I’m just going to race and see what happens.”

   Busch and Harvick were both placed on probation through June 15 and fined $25,000 for actions on pit road following the Cup race at Darlington, S.C., two weeks ago.

   At the time there was some confusion by the drivers whether probation covered non-points race, but NASCAR has said repeatedly that it does.