February 20, 2011: when a 20-year-old rookie won the Daytona 500

The bookmakers are still mad at him! Ten before Michael McDowell's incredible feat, a certain Trevor Bayne made the history of the Daytona 500. Itinerary of an overheated kid, a real American scenario.

For his first season in the premier category, Bayne was placed by his mentor Jack Roush in the legendary “Wood Brothers” team. Established since 1950 in NASCAR, the team became known thanks to David Pearson who won 43 victories for the Wood brothers. If the structure is a regular in competition, it has not won a race in the entire 2000s.

So facing the likes of Earnhardt Jr, Carl Edwards, Kurt Bush and even Juan Pablo Montoya, no one is betting a single coin on this rookie. And yet. Trevor took advantage of an accident between the leading drivers to sneak into first place, without flinching for a second despite the attacks of his competitors for 8 laps, until the checkered flag. After a phenomenal race, the day after his 20th birthday, Trevor Bayne became the youngest driver in history to win the opening of the NASCAR championship.

The beginning of the end, already.

After winning the Daytona 500, he was unable to continue this momentum, and good performances were extremely rare: over the following weeks of competition, his best performance was a finish in 17th position...

Bad results keep coming for Bayne and Wood Brothers. After ultimately lackluster 2011 and 2012 seasons, sponsors are becoming increasingly rare.

And that's not all ! Trevor Bayne becomes seriously ill: because of a hypothetical spider bite (or an intoxicated meal, mystery), doctors predict Lyme disease, it was ultimately multiple sclerosis... When he was declared fit to come back, his sponsors all dropped him, hell of a descent into hell.

For a few seasons Bayne will do some freelance work at Roush Fenway Racing, although the team seems more competitive on paper, he will never achieve good results there. With just one victory in 187 races and only 13 Top 10s, the 500 Daytona 2011 sensation never lived up to expectations.

The driver races from time to time, we notably saw him in the Truck series in 2020 (without much success). Since then Trevor Bayne has turned to the restaurant business by opening a few cafes in his hometown. Ephemeral glory.