Heartbroken Joe Gibbs Star Sheds Light on NASCAR’s Harsh Reality Amidst Faltering Career: “I Wanted to Be Here”

As a sport, NASCAR will have many things to look back on in 2023. From a remarkable return to the 24 Hours of Le Mans to watching three-time Supercars champion Shane van Gisbergen shake up the community with his win at the inaugural Chicago Street Race, it has been a memorable season. However, do you know that amidst all the pompous milestones, there is an underlying reality that might sound harsh?

Sponsors, no doubt, are an integral part of NASCAR. Standing behind drivers as they continue to strive for success, sponsors are undeniably a game-changing factor. But in recent times, there has been an ominous peril among drivers about their availability. Some drivers across various segments of stock car racing have felt the aftershocks of this situation. Joe Gibbs Racing’s Xfinity Series driver Trevor Bayne has found himself in a similar trough.

Joe Gibbs set to lose out on Trevor Bayne’s services in 2024

For Joe Gibbs Racing, a team that has historically been one of the best teams in NASCAR, sponsors and funding have been a significant headache. Last season, the team lost one of their best drivers, Kyle Busch, to Richard Childress Racing due to the inability to find a suitable sponsor. For a team to lose someone of that stature due to a bothersome situation with sponsorship is alarming. Kyle Busch has won 56 races with JGR in a span of 15 years. However, Busch spent more than a decade in the team, but for Trevor Bayne, appears that the sponsorship issues have come a little early.

Speaking to NASCAR.com, the #19 Toyota Supra driver for Joe Gibbs Racing revealed that he passed on opportunities from Truck Series teams and even a chance with an Xfinity team to drive for Joe Gibbs Racing full-time, just because of his affinity for Toyotas.

The 32-year-old said, “I turned down a couple of truck rides full time and an Xfinity ride full time because this was the priority. The Gibbs cars are so incredible, and I love the organization and the opportunities that were here.” 

Bayne’s situation with the Joe Gibbs-owned team was a precarious one. Going by their status in the sport, sponsors have always been more than eager to collaborate with the team. Watching them have three drivers in the Cup Series’ next elimination round and the way their prodigy John Hunter Nemechek has performed this season might be obvious. However, for the 32-year-old Bayne, it is a different case.

“I was taking a chance because my deal here wasn’t done, the sponsorship wasn’t done,” Bayne added. “It was close with the sponsor they had on the line. I don’t know if they were just talking the talk or their business strategy changed, but at the last minute, we found out that this wasn’t going to happen.”

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Speaking about how it affected him psychologically, he stated, “It set me back a little bit. I love being in the race car.”

Well, seeing his passion for driving for the team that has done so much for his career, it is quite sad to see him struggling to find a ride for next season.

Bayne’s pessimistic about his chances of being a full-time driver at JGR

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In the 2022 season, Trevor Bayne and Joe Gibbs Racing had a stellar run together. In merely 9 races, he had seven top-10 finishes, five top-5s, and two poles under his belt. Those are impressive numbers for a driver who has yet to race as a full-time driver. However, Bayne’s talent in the car has never been in doubt, with him being the youngest driver to win at Daytona in 2011 is a history in itself. Instead, the toil has been to keep up with the hype that the win created.

Expressing his helplessness, he said, “I had a really strong season of nine races. It did produce opportunities, and I had those calls. Turning those down was difficult, but this felt like home to me, and if there was an opportunity here, I wanted to be here. I felt like it was worth waiting on.”

Next weekend in Texas is set to be his final start for Joe Gibbs. He could have had a memorable finish to his stay, but yet to find a sponsor, and his future with the team is hanging by a thread. Speaking about a strong finish setting him up for a full-time role in the team, he claimed, “I don’t think that opens up the door tremendously. I think it can close in on some things that we’re already working on. We’re already chasing things for next season to try to be in a car or truck.”

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It is certainly sad to see a driver who can offer so much and add great value to the team go into 2024 without a sponsor. But these are the challenges of being a driver in NASCAR nowadays, and he’ll have to overcome them one way or another, and find out his way back again.