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Monday, February 27, 2012

No Cinderella part 2 for Trevor Bayne in 2012 Daytona 500; Jimmie Johnson, Jeff Gordon also have rough start to year

Trevor Bayne was not Cinderella two years in a row. No, he got turned into a pumpkin this year, on lap No. 2, when he got caught up in a wreck that was started when Elliott Sadler's #33 car got Jimmie Johnson sideways.

“I have no idea what happened. You spend a couple days waiting in the rain and something happen on lap one, so what do you do? I tried to get as low as I could. I couldn’t see what was going on," Bayne said.

He felt bad for his team especially.
"Man, this is tough. The guys worked so hard for this race. We were looking forward to it. I hate that we’re sitting here in the garage, but they’re trying their best to get back out here. We’re doing everything we can. I thought it would be minor damage and we could get out there faster, but it looks like we’ll be in the garage for awhile.”

He was not sure why everyone decided to get so "antsy".
“I’m not sure what happened or why they got so antsy. It just stinks to sit around to wait for that long. I just told my guys on the radio that we were sitting in a good spot and as soon as I let off the button they started wrecking in front of me. I got out of the way the best that I could, but we still got in it. I hate this for my Ford Racing team, but we’ll be back.”

It was a rough first outing for David Ragan in the #38 car for Front Row Motorsports, as he smashed hard into Johnson.
“It is disappointing. I was just trying to see the monitor to see who I can be mad at. It is ridiculous to sit around this long for the Daytona 500 and on the very first lap for someone to be driving as reckless as whoever caused that, someone had to cause it. It is just a shame for it to be that early in the biggest race, the first race of the year. We just got caught up in it. We were content on riding in the beginning and minding our P’s and Q’s. They started wrecking in front of us and we just couldn’t get out of the way quick enough. It is very disappointing for our Front Row Motorsports team. We will have to pick up and move on. I can’t wait to see who was the bonehead that did that.”

And fresh off losing the 2011 title after five straight Cups, Johnson's 2012 got off to a terrible start with his wreck on lap 2. As you can expect, Jimmie was not happy.

"I'm ok. That side hit was hard. We were all just trying to make our lane work. A lot of energy in the lane. I was kind of pushing the No. 78 (Regan Smith) a little bit. I could feel some help from behind. Just turned me around. Sent me down to the inside lane and back up to the outside lane. When I was l sitting in the middle of the race track, I knew at some point someone was going to come along unfortunately. David Ragan had nowhere to go. I unfortunately got drilled by him pretty hard.
I'm just really, really bummed to start the season this way. For all the hard work that has gone into getting this Lowe's Chevrolet ready for tonight; we didn't get to complete two-and-a-half miles of green flag racing. So, I’m pretty bummed. I’m just really bummed-out for this whole Lowe's team."

It was a tough day for another multiple champ from the Hendrick, as Jeff Gordon had mechanical issues in the 500, completing a rough Speedweeks for him -- as he also ended up upside down in the Duels.

In terms of his 500 finish, he wasn't sure exactly what caused him to be sidelined.

"My temps were looking good. Temps are such an issue here right now at Daytona. But all the temps looked good. All the gauges looked good. Just kind of came out of nowhere. First it popped and then it went up in a big ball of flames. So, you know that is down in the bottom end, and that is never good. So, I knew our night was done
Gosh, I am just so disappointed. It's not the way we wanted to start this season or the Daytona 500, and it is a shame to be out like this."

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