NASCAR MEETS HOLLYWOOD IN UPCOMING 'LOGAN LUCKY' FILM

CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- Better slow down on the highway -- Kyle Busch has traded his fire suit for a state trooper's uniform.

(Disclaimer: It's not permanent.)

Busch is one of the drivers who will make cameo appearances in the upcoming filmLogan Lucky, a heist movie set at a NASCAR track. Under the watch of multi-time Academy Award winning-director Steven Soderbergh, the film features a star-studded cast including Daniel Craig, Channing Tatum, two-time Academy Award winner Hilary Swank, Seth MacFarlane and Riley Keough. Academy and Emmy Award winner Mark Johnson -- who also produced "Rain Man," "Breaking Bad," and "The Notebook," among others -- will serve as one of the film's executive producers.

The production team was on the ground during a rainy Bank of America 500weekend shooting for the film. The crew also shot during Coca-Cola 600 weekend at Charlotte Motor Speedway in May, as well as at Atlanta Motor Speedway.

"It’s a movie that's designed to be a lot of fun," Johnson said Sunday at Charlotte, prior to a day of shooting at the track. "It's designed to be very, very commercial, where I joke we're not out to win Oscars -- we're out to win the Bank of America award ... (Viewers) should laugh and they should have fun with the intricacies of the robbery itself.

"It's a robbery that couldn't really take place, but (it can) in our world, and it's very important to us that the world of NASCAR be real."

What's more real than casting an actual NASCAR driver in a racing film? In addition to Busch, Carl Edwards, Brad Keselowski,Joey Logano, Ryan Blaney and Kyle Larson will all be popping into the film for brief roles.

"We wanted to make sure that NASCAR was treated in a positive light, was the big, world-class, glossy event that it is," said Zane Stoddard, NASCAR Vice President of Entertainment, Marking and Content Development. "The thing that we worked closely with Mark and the production on was getting drivers into driver cameo roles. We thought that would fun for the fans, sort of Easter eggs throughout the film with these drivers in these roles for our fans.

"But it's also a bit of a wink and a nod that we’re on the inside of the fun of this film. So, we think the fans are going to love these roles that these guys are in."

Part of Stoddard's role in the production process was to help marry the worlds of NASCAR and Hollywood, a process that he says has been seamless on both ends.

"The general audience wouldn't have too much trouble buying into the authenticity of this," Stoddard said. "For us, the most important sort of a litmus for us is that it passes the smell test with the core fan because they know the sport so much better. These guys -- we haven't had to push at all in terms of getting them to want to be as authentic as possible. They are the best in the business and so it’s been a collaboration on making sure everything is right.

"… It’s amazing the detail that exists in our sport just on the race car, not even taking into consideration the tracks or the teams and everything that happens in our universe. These guys have been meticulous about all of that."

That starts with shooting at the track and getting into the garage. For Johnson, authenticity came from that hands-on research, where he spent about a week and a half simply observing NASCAR’s version of Hollywood Blvd.

"I produced two baseball movies, The Natural and The Rookie and those taught me a lot about baseball and you have to do the research and understand the world and NASCAR was not a world I understood," Johnson said. "I was fascinated by it, but I really didn't know how it worked.

"Look at this big all-access pass," he said with a smile, gesturing to his hot pass. "I can go into the garage and watch how people work and I ask stupid questions about cars and it's great because I will have spent a concentrated amount of time learning about NASCAR."

He echoed Stoddard's sentiment about this movie working for the core fan.

"We would be very upset if this movie doesn’t work for the NASCAR fan," Johnson said. "So we want to make sure the NASCAR fan, no matter who he or she is, that they see the movie and say 'They got it right.'"

But just who is the typical NASCAR fan? Not whom you would think, Johnson says.

"It's interesting -- any preconceptions I had about who the NASCAR fans were, were all wrong," Johnson said. "They come from all walks; surprising number of women. Quick revelation."

"Logan Lucky" will debut in theaters October 2017.

BRUCE: XFINITY CHASE INTENSITY RATCHETS UP AGGRESSION

SPARTA, Ky. -- Was Saturday night's opening Chase race for NASCAR’s XFINITY Series an example of good, hard racing or a case of folks driving over their heads?

That depends on who one asked afterward.

Race winner Elliott Sadler wasn’t pointing fingers, and race winners have rarely been heard to utter a discouraging word. But the JR Motorsports driver said he did notice an uptick in intensity during the VisitMyrtleBeach.com 300 at Kentucky Speedway.

"About halfway through the race, it was 'note to self; you can tell it's the Chase because it was caution after caution after caution," Sadler said afterward. "People were tense, eager, frustrated, nervous. A lot of different things going on with drivers right now ... trying to make it to the second (round).

"I think people are giving each other less room. Restarts are crazy in the back."

They were crazy up front, too. The race, which kicked off a seven-race, two-round elimination playoff for the series, saw the caution flag fly a track record 12 times. More than one-fourth of the race (64 laps) was run under the yellow. Yes, there was even a brief (5 min., 34 sec.) red-flag period.

Erik Jones, the top seed and regular-season leader in race wins, got crossed up while racing with Ty Dillon and both the Joe Gibbs Racing No. 20 Toyota and the No. 3 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet ended up in the wall.

RELATED: See the wreck the caught two title contenders

Each is now outside eighth place in points with two races to try and improve their standing; only the top eight (with the exception of a Chase race winner that might be 9th-12th) advance to the second round.

Not surprisingly, Jones wasn't particularly pleased with the early ending to his night and said later that the aggressive driving does cause one to approach the race differently.

"Yeah, it makes me try to stay out of trouble," he said. "I didn't want to have something like that happen. ... You try to play defense some. I was for sure."

Of course, there was the matter of a reconfigured track that sports new asphalt and distinctly different turns. That, too, played a role in the difficulties for some.

And that was to be expected, said Brendan Gaughan, driver of the No. 62 Chevrolet for Richard Childress Racing.

"It didn't seem like it was any more aggressive than normal," Gaughan said after finishing sixth.

"It's a very narrow race track here right now. That Turn 3 is treacherous, man. There's no grip on the entry, there's no width on the entry. It's a treacherous, treacherous place at the moment. ...

"It's still Kentucky. I love it."

The fight to advance into the next round began early, but it's not the only battle going on and Saturday night's race brought some of that to light.

In addition to the driver's championship, there's an owners title at stake and a couple of teams didn’t forget about that.

At the end of the regular season, the No. 2 team of RCR was atop the owners' standings, followed by the No. 18 of Joe Gibbs Racing, the No. 1 of JRM with Sadler behind the wheel, and the No. 22 of Team Penske.

Chevy, Toyota, Chevy and Ford. You think those folks aren't paying close attention?

RCR brought in Sam Hornish Jr. to keep the No. 2 team in the hunt; Penske handed the reins to Sprint Cup driver Ryan Blaney.

Sadler got the win, but a solid fifth-place run by Matt Tifft put the JGR No. 18 atop the owners' standings. JRM (No. 1) now sits second thanks to the victory while Hornish, who finished fourth, kept the RCR entry in the mix -- it's now third.

Blaney did not fare badly but the way it all shook out left him third on the track and the team now fifth in the owners' battle.

Dover, a fast, unforgiving mile of concrete, is up next. Some folks will be looking to rebound, some looking to continue to ride a hot start.

If Kentucky was any indication, they better hope they can just hang on.

Watch: behind the scenes of the ‘NASCAR Heat Evolution’ commercial

On Tuesday, the newest NASCAR video game, “NASCAR Heat Evolution” will be released on the Play Station 4, Xbox One and PC.

If you’ve watched any NASCAR broadcast in recent months you’ve likely seen the commercial for the game. It features Brad Keselowski, Kyle Larson, Joey Logano, Ryan Blaney and the game’s cover boy, Carl Edwards.

Now you can see the antics the drivers were up to during the filming of the commercial, including bloopers and outtakes.

The drivers also share their history with NASCAR video games and how they’ve helped them in their careers.

Five Sprint Cup teams receive written warnings; Keselowski, Stewart lose pit selection

NASCAR issued written warnings to five Sprint Cup teams last weekend at Darlington Raceway, including the fourth warnings to the teams of Brad Keselowski and Tony Stewart.

Keselowski and Stewart will lose pit stall selection for this weekend’s race at Richmond International Raceway. Receiving a fourth written warning results in losing pit selection.

Stewart’s car failed pre-race template inspection twice. Keselowski’s car failed pre-race laser inspection three times.

Carl Edwards‘ team also received a third warning for failing pre-race laser inspection three times. Edwards and Keselowski will both lose 15 minutes of practice time Friday at Richmond.

The teams of Joey Logano and Jeffrey Earnhardt each received their third written warnings for failing pre-race laser inspection twice.

NASCAR also fined Ryan Blaney $1,000 for not wearing gloves during practice for the Southern 500, which is a P1 penalty.

Results and stats for the Xfinity Series race at Mid-Ohio

The NASCAR Xfinity Series race at the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course saw the second first-time winner of the season in Just Marks, who led 43 laps on the rain soaked road course.

After eight cautions, the race finished with a top five of Marks, Sam Hornish Jr., Ryan Blaney, Ty Dillon and Justin Allgaier.

Here are the results and stats for the race.

Today’s Xfinity race at Indianapolis: start time, weather, TV/radio info and lineup

Today’s Lilly Diabetes 250 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway features the final Xfinity Dash 4 Cash event of the season. That means heat races. Each heat race will be 20 laps, followed by the main event, which will be 60 laps.

Here’s all the info you need for today’s race.

(All times are Eastern)

START: Rudy Juarez, a Lilly Diabetes guest, will give the command 15 minutes after the second heat race ends. The green flag will wave eight minutes after the command.

DISTANCE: The race is scheduled for 60 laps (150 miles) around the 2.5-mile speedway.

HEAT RACES: The first heat race is scheduled to take the green flag at 3:45 p.m. The second heat race is scheduled to take the green flag 23 minutes after the completion of the first heat race. Both heat races are 20 laps (50 miles) around the 2.5-mile speedway.

PRERACE SCHEDULE: The Xfinity garage opens at 7 a.m. The driver/crew chief meeting is at 1:20 p.m. Driver introductions are at 3 p.m.

NATIONAL ANTHEM: Country music artist Amanda Jo will perform the anthem at 3:31 p.m.

TV/RADIO: NBCSN will broadcast the race with its coverage beginning at 3 p.m. with Countdown to Green. Performance Racing Network’s radio broadcast begins at 8 p.m. and also can be heard at goprn.com. SiriusXM NASCAR Radio will have PRN’s broadcast.

FORECAST: The wunderground.com site predicts a temperature of 90 degrees at race time with a 6 percent chance of thunderstorms.

LAST TIME: Kyle Busch passed Ryan Blaney on the last lap when Blaney was slowed by a lapped car. Blaney finished second with Daniel Suarez third, Paul Menard fourth and Elliott Sadler fifth.

STARTING LINEUP: Qualifying at 11:40 a.m.

Erik Jones fastest in third Xfinity practice at Kentucky

Erik Jones continues to flex his muscle at Kentucky Speedway as he paced the third practice session on Thursday afternoon with a lap of 187.800 mph. Daniel Suarez (187.396) and Kyle Busch (187.084) were the only other drivers to break the 187 mph mark as they clocked in second and third fastest. Ty Dillon (184.395) was fourth quick and Ryan Blaney (183.561), in a second Team Penske car, rounded out the top five.

Jones, Suarez, and Busch were also the fastest three in the previous session.

The Xfinity Series will have one final practice session at 7 p.m. with teams anticipating the weather conditions will mirror those expected at race time on Friday night.

Here are the speeds from the third session.

Kentucky test shows not all things change even with repave and reconfiguration

While it needed to be done, Kentucky Speedway’s repave and reconfiguration is not coming at a good time for reigning NASCAR Sprint Cup champion Kyle Busch.

Mired in a four-race slump where he’s not finished better than 30th, Busch faces races at Sonoma and Daytona — where it is easy to get into trouble — before returning to Kentucky Speedway for the first race on its new surface.

Monday, Busch was among 14 drivers testing at Kentucky. NASCAR allowed each organization to have one team at the test to gather data on the new surface and the changes made to Turns 1 and 2 with the reconfiguration.

Busch admits new surfaces are not his forte.

“I don’t like repaves at all,’’ Busch said during a break in testing Monday. “I struggle on repaves. I did win the last race here at Kentucky Speedway before they repaved it. I won the last race at Michigan (International) Speedway before they repaved it. I won the last race at Bristol before (track surface changes). I have a history of being really good before they tear it all up and screw it all up for me.’’

Some drivers didn’t want to see Kentucky Speedway repaved, but with water coming up through the track after rain, further delaying track activity, and the bumps worsening, it became apparent the surface needed work.

“Essentially, the weepers were just so bad that we could never get it dry enough,’’ Busch said. “The racetrack was dry, but it was still weeping water hours later, days later. That’s frustrating for us drivers trying to put on a good show for the race fans. Hopefully those situations have been … rectified and we won’t have that situation going forward.’’

Busch, Kevin Harvick and Ryan Blaney talked to the media Monday after some time on the track.

Harvick said Monday was for prepping the track and that the relevant information with the lower downforce package, which also was used at Michigan, will come.

“It’s going to be until (Tuesday) before you really know where you need to be,’’ Harvick said. “(Monday), you’re just really trying to get track maps and know where the bumps are and try to get some sort of rhythm when the track gets conditioned. (Tuesday) with rubber on the racetrack you’ll be able to get a much better read for where the speed is going to be and how you’re car is going to actually drive.’’

All three agreed, though, that Turn 3 will remain a challenge. The banking was increased in Turns 1 and 2 from 14 to 17 degrees. Turns 3 and 4 remain 14 degrees.

“Turns 1 and 2, being more banked, we are definitely carrying a lot more speed through there,’’ Blaney said. “It does make your entrance into Turn 3 a lot more difficult. It was already difficult the way it was. It’s so flat getting into Turn 3 and then that transition is tough. Now … it seems you’re going to be a bit more faster.

“You can definitely feel the speed difference. We always worked on the entrance to (Turn) 3 here. That’s always the biggest problem in the race, trying to make sure your car is tight enough into (Turn) 3. Now it seems to be more of a factor.’’

Chase Grid: Ryan Blaney on bubble with 11 races left before playoffs begin

Joey Logano‘s win last weekend at Michigan International Speedway made him the 10th different winner this season, leaving six playoffs spots based on points. Ryan Blaney fell one spot to 16th — the final transfer spot — after finishing 17th in Sunday’s race. Blaney leads Kasey Kahne by 11 points for 16th.

Tony Stewart, who finished seventh on Sunday, is 45 points out of 30th place with 11 races to go before the playoffs start. He must be in the top 30 in points and win a race to make the Chase.

Here’s a look at the Chase Grid after 15 races:

Upon Further Review: Sprint All-Star Race

The last couple of weeks have showcased some fascinating duels between young drivers in the Sprint Cup Series.

Kyle Larson has been involved in each.

Larson dueled with Chase Elliott for second place at Dover earlier this month. Larson eventually pulled away and challenged Matt Kenseth for the win before settling for second.

In Saturday’s Sprint Showdown, Larson battled Elliott for the win in the final segment to advance to the Sprint All-Star Race. Although their Dover battle was without contact, Larson squeezed Elliott into the wall off Turn 4 of the final lap of the Showdown, and they hit before Larson won.

“Kyle did what he had to do to beat us back to the end of the line, which is part of it,’’ said Elliott, who advanced to the All-Star Race via the fan vote.

Larson was aggressive on that final lap because he feared that if he finished second he wouldn’t advance to the All-Star Race via the fan vote.

“I had to use him up pretty good there,’’ Larson said of Elliott. “Feel bad about that. I feel like me and Chase race really well together. He’s always raced me clean, and I know I raced him dirty there, but I had to.’’

Saturday night saw Larson facing another nemesis in the Sprint All-Star Race.

Joey Logano.

Larson charged to the lead at the start of the final segment, but Logano stalked him. Logano passed Larson with two laps to go. Logano won $1 million. Larson bounced off the wall and finished 16th.

“I hate that I keep letting my team down,’’ Larson said. “I tried to hang on his quarter panel like I did with Chase earlier (in the Showdown). I got really loose as soon as I got in the corner. We were going so fast that I couldn’t correct it and ended up drilling the wall.

It’s not the first time that Logano has kept Larson from winning. In 2014, Larson finished runner-up three times. He finished second to Logano at New Hampshire and Kansas that year.

“He’s a heck of a racer,’’ Logano said about Larson. “He’s going to win a lot of races, that’s for sure, and it’s fun to race against him, and it’s fun to see the youth in this sport. For me, starting eight years ago now, to see guys that are close to my age now, and I get to race them for wins is a lot of fun.”

YOUTH MOVEMENT

The All-Star Race marked the eighth time in the last nine Sprint Cup races that at least one driver age 25 and younger has scored a top-five finish.

All-Star Race: Joey Logano (he turns 26 Tuesday) won.

Dover: Kyle Larson (age 23) finished second. Chase Elliott (20) placed third.

Kansas: Ryan Blaney (22) finished fifth.

Talladega: Elliott was fifth.

Richmond: No driver 25 and younger placed in the top five.

Bristol: Elliott was fourth. Trevor Bayne (25) placed fifth.

Texas: Logano placed third. Elliott was fifth.

Martinsville: Larson was third. Austin Dillon (was 25 at the time) placed fourth.

Auto Club: Logano was fourth.

STEP IN THE RIGHT DIRECTION

Days after a frank assessment of his team and season, Dale Earnhardt Jr. felt better after his third-place finish in the All-Star race.

Earnhardt is 11th in the points — the lowest he’s been in the points at this time of the season since 2010 — and said on his weekly podcast that “we’ve got to look ourselves in the mirror and really get to it here, figure out what’s going on and what we need to be doing, start really trying to find some speed and some answers.’’

Earnhardt noted on his podcast that the All-Star weekend wouldn’t solve all their issues but would be a start. After Saturday night’s race, Earnhardt was encouraged.

“For our team it’s a good step in the right direction to get more competitive,’’ he said. “A lot was made about the comments I made in the podcast on Monday. I just want the team to succeed and really like the crew and Greg (Ives, crew chief), and I think we can do it. We did it last year.

“We started this year off really awesome and hit a little rough patch, but this week was a great opportunity for us to learn, and I think we did. We had about 80 percent of the setup on the car was new stuff. So I hope Greg learned a lot. We didn’t get a lot of practice, so we had to learn as much as we could in the race, and I think we learned some stuff.’’

COVER BOY

By placing fourth and as the highest-finishing Toyota driver in the All-Star Race, Carl Edwards will be on the cover of the NASCAR Heat Evolution game for Xbox One, PlayStation 4 and PC. The game will debut Sept. 13.

Danica Patrick looks for this weekend to be a sign of things to come

CHARLOTTE, N.C. – Danica Patrick grabbed a hold on the climbing wall and launched. She moved one leg up to another hold and the next, moving at a steady pace until she reached the top.

She did it as part of a promotional event for sponsor Nature’s Bakery at the U.S. National Whitewater Center with contest winners who had chosen to scale the rock climbing wall with Patrick.

Her climb toward the front in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series has not been as swift, but she feels that tonight’s Sprint Showdown could be a sign of things to come. At least she hopes.

Patrick is in the Sprint Showdown at Charlotte Motor Speedway. Three drivers will race their way into Saturday’s Sprint All-Star Race by winning any of the three segments. The final two drivers in the 20-car Sprint All-Star Race will be selected by a fan vote.

Patrick has competed in the Sprint All-Star Race twice, earning entry via the fan vote. She finished 20th in both races. She enters this weekend coming off a season-best 13th-place finish at Dover.

“I hope we can race our way in,’’ Patrick said. “That’s for sure what every driver wants to do if they’re not in the (all-star race). It’s the most honorable way to get in, but it’s not as though there is not honor in getting through the fan vote because it just means you’re resonating with the fans and they’re showing that they like you and appreciate you and want to see you race.

“I hope that we’re good because, to be honest, if we race our way in, that means really good things moving forward in the season, too. It’s not going to be easy to qualify our way in because there are lots of great drivers that aren’t necessarily already in the race. So, I think that probably overall more than anything racing my way in will mean that I think we’re going to be a lot better moving forward in the season.’’

Among those entered in the Sprint Showdown looking to advance to the Sprint All-Star Race are Kyle Larson, Austin Dillon, Greg Biffle, Ricky Stenhouse Jr. and rookies Chase Elliott and Ryan Blaney.

Sprint Fan Vote leaders for All-Star Race are Blaney, DiBenedetto, Elliott, Larson and Patrick

If you haven’t cast your ballot in the Sprint Fan Vote for next week’s Sprint All-Star Race, time is running out.

Fans have until 5 p.m. ET on May 20 to make their choice on either the NASCAR Mobile App or at www.nascar.com/SprintFanVote.

Results will be announced shortly after that in victory lane at Charlotte Motor Speedway.

In addition, votes shared on Facebook or Twitter get double the value.

Sprint officials announced the top five vote-getters to date – out of a field of 30 drivers – but have not revealed who’s leading.

Rather, the top five have been revealed solely in alphabetical order, not by the numbers of votes that they’ve received thus far.

The top five vote-getters thus far: Ryan Blaney, Matt DiBenedetto, Chase Elliott, Kyle Larson and Danica Patrick.

Patrick won the Sprint Fan Vote in both 2013 and 2015, becoming the first two-time winner in the event’s history. She would make further history if she wins the Vote again this year.

Blaney and Elliott are currently leading in Sunoco Rookie of the Year competition.

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Ryan Blaney misses late wreck, leaves Kansas with first top-five finish of season

KANSAS CITY, Kansas — Ryan Blaney got help from friends in earning his first top-five finish of the year.

Unfortunately, that help wasn’t voluntary.

On Lap 241 of the 267-lap Go Bowling 400, Blaney was running seventh when a three-car accident unfolded in front of him involving Denny Hamlin and Team Penske drivers Brad Keselowski and Joey Logano.

Blaney, who calls Keselowski and Logano teammates through a technical alliance with Penske and Wood Brothers Racing, slipped past the wreck.

“I didn’t see who got loose, who got into who, I just saw smoke and had to bail out of there,” Blaney said. “Actually think it hurt my car a little bit.  I had to bail to the apron and it hurt the nose a little bit, which was unfortunate, but luckily we were able to get by that and move on.”

Blaney would finish fifth, his second top-five finish of his career after placing fourth at Talladega Superspeedway in 2015.

“We got some spots with that little accident, but we were up there all day,” said Blaney, who had an average running spot of 7.3 during the race at Kansas Speedway.

Blaney ran as high as second, but couldn’t close the gap on the leaders during the final 18 laps.

“The top two (Kyle Busch and Matt Kenseth) were on old tires and I’m like, ‘We might be able to be all right,’” Blaney said. “But we just couldn’t get by those guys and held on.”

The top five is just the fourth for Wood Brothers Racing since 2008. Before this year, it’s last full-time season was in 2008. With support from Penske, Blaney has four top-10 finishes through the first 11 races of the season.
“That’s the most competitive we’ve been all race long in quite a while,” team co-owner Len Wood said in a press release. “Ryan did a great job, and the pit crew was spot-on.”

Blaney’s performance came about 24 hours after he learned his father, former Sprint Cup driver Dave Blaney, had been in a violent sprint car crash at Eldora Speedway.

The elder Blaney didn’t receive any major injuries and was released from the hospital Saturday.

“I knew last night he was gonna be all right,” said the rookie driver, who believed his father had arrived back home in time to watch his race. “It scared me for one second because we got done qualifying yesterday and I get back to the motorhome and I left my phone in the bus and I got all these text messages like, ‘Heard the news.  Is everything alright?’”

Ryan Blaney said he wasn’t distracted by thoughts of his father’s incident, but that he hadn’t seen video of the wreck and probably wouldn’t.

“He’s gonna be all right,” Ryan Blaney said. “He’s probably mad he’s gonna be out of sprint cars for a little bit, but that’s the only thing he’ll be upset about.”

If Dave Blaney was watching Saturday night, he definitely didn’t have anything more to be upset about.

Trevor Bayne basks in the glory of being ‘in the game’ again at Talladega

TALLADEGA, Ala. – As NASCAR officials scurried between cars checking every wheel for five lug nuts, dozens of team members, reporters and driver’s family members waited on the pit wall at Talladega Superspeedway.

The delay took several moments after Sunday’s Geico 500, and it allowed for an unusual scene as the top finishers moved unencumbered between their cars to swap post-race tales of their good fortune over the course of a wild 500 miles on the 2.66-mile oval.

No one seemed to be having a better time than Trevor Bayne.

He debriefed at length about the closing laps with Ryan Blaney. He shared a laugh with Jamie McMurray and Austin Dillon. He entered a long conversation with past NASCAR champions Kurt Busch and Bobby Labonte, who offered an encouraging pat on the shoulder.

After finishing 10th and leading a career-best 22 laps – seven fewer than he led over 93 starts from 2011-15 – Bayne looked like he belonged Sunday.

More importantly, the 2011 Daytona 500 winner felt as if he did, too.

“We’re in the game,” Bayne said. “We’re not just out here taking up a spot. I feel like we’re in the race. We pushed Kurt to the lead there. It’s just fun to be in the game here.”

PODCAST: Hear Trevor Bayne candidly discussing his career and the 2016 season on the NASCAR on NBC podcast.

His No. 6 Ford was in the game at Talladega until the final restart with three laps to go. Bayne was third and on the inside line, delivering a massive push that briefly shot Kurt Busch into the lead past winner Brad Keselowski.

But as the action moved up the banking, Bayne was left on the bottom without any help. Blaney, his reliable drafting partner all day, had a badly damaged rear bumper that precluded him from riding shotgun.

“I NEED HELP!” Bayne screamed with two to go on the team radio as he nearly slipped from the lead draft. He recovered to salvage 10th with nary a drafting partner – a testament to the strength of his car.

“We probably had the fastest car here,” crew chief Matt Puccia said. “We knew we did on Friday in practice. We just played it safe and were just riding there. Got shuffled out at the end but great effort by this team, they’ve done a great job all year long.
“We came up short, but that’s Talladega. You have to be in the right lane at the right time. Really proud of these guys. They’re working hard week in and week out. We got one coming.”

It’s easy to shoulder the disappointment when everything seems to be trending in the correct direction.

Bayne’s second top 10 in 10 races of 2016 – tying his season-best total in Cup – moved him up two spots to 16th in points. The Roush Fenway Racing driver won’t need a miracle win to make the NASCAR playoffs for the first time at this rate.

But he will head to the July 2 race at Daytona International Speedway with the knowledge that he will bring a proven Ford that was among the only cars to emerge unscathed in a Talladega wreckfest.

“These races are gut wrenching from Lap 1 on, so I felt like that was the most calm race I’ve ever had,” he said. “I don’t have any damage on the Adovcare Ford. We’ll take it.”

Bayne took the lead for the last time on Lap 156 – six laps before the 21-car crash that wiped out much of his competition. He wisely had heeded the advice on his team radio to restrain himself – as difficult as it was for a 25-year-old who is 102 races removed from his last win (which came in only his second start).

“The car was really strong, but this place is all about patience,” Puccia said. “Even though you have a fast car, you can’t do it by yourself. You step out of line and get yourself in trouble real fast. He did a really good job staying patient, staying in line. It just didn’t work out for us

“But people have been talking about us all year long. We’ve had speed everywhere we’ve gone. That’s what we’ve got to carry on. We’ve got to keep progressing and moving the needle. That’s what we’re doing every week, and it’s starting to show. It’s a morale booster seeing how we ran today.”

And no one’s confidence seemed higher than Bayne, who seemed one of the guys inside and outside the car.

“It is so refreshing to come to the race track and have a chance,” he said. “I feel really good about the pieces they are giving me. It is all about the race cars. I’m surely proud of this team.”