While the Nashville area has been on the rebound the past several weeks after the disastrous flooding,
two drivers with Tennessee ties, Trevor Bayne (No. 99 OUT! Pet Care Toyota) and Willie Allen (No. 05
31W Insulation Chevrolet) are looking forward to racing at home.
Bayne is a Knoxville native and this week is extra special because it marks his oneyear
anniversary with Diamond-Waltrip Racing. Last week, Bayne secured a full-time
sponsorship for the remainder of the season, a major accomplishment for a 19-year-old
developmental driver.
Bayne has 24 series starts and already has one pole (O’Reilly Raceway Park at Indianapolis),
two top-10 and 11 top-15 finishes. He’s currently 13th in the standings, and is
only 14 points behind 10th-place Tony Raines (No. 34 Long John Silver’s Chevrolet).
Allen hails from Bon Aqua, Tenn., which is just over 30 miles from Nashville. Unlike
Bayne, Allen will have to qualify on time in order to race this weekend in front of his family
and friends at Nashville Superspeedway.
Allen has made seven starts this season with a best finish of 15th at Bristol Motor
Speedway. He’s best known for his time in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series,
where he was named 2007 Raybestos Rookie of the Year.
Racing is the best remedy for Allen, 29, who has had a rough path to travel this year.
The day before the race at Richmond International Raceway, he lost his father to Lou Gehrig’s
disease. He and his family — that also now includes 16-month-old daughter Sadie,
also were affected by the severe storms and flooding that hit the Nashville area.
“With everything that has happened in the past month, I can’t put into words what a great feeling it would
be to win at Nashville,” said Allen. “My dad put in a lot of hard work over the years to help me with my racing
career. He’s the reason I get to do what I love and it would mean the world to me to win this race for him. It’s
the team’s home track also, so we are all really fired up about the race this weekend
