Making his Nationwide Series debut on March 21, 2009 at Bristol driving the Jimmy Means No. 52 Chevrolet to a 23rd place finish, Trevor Bayne has been chosen to drive the No. 99 Michael Waltrip Racing (MWR) Toyota in eight Nationwide races in 2009.

Beginning his run with MWR this weekend at Nashville, the former Dale Earnhardt Inc. development driver is thrilled to have the chance to race with arguably NASCAR’s most improved team.

“This is a tremendous opportunity and I have to thank Gary Bechtel for taking a chance on me,” noted Bayne. “I met him a few months ago and he decided to invest in my talent. He is the main reason I am able to drive these eight races. I am very excited to get behind the wheel of a car that is competitive almost every weekend. I’ve hung out with the guys over at Michael Waltrip Racing the past couple of races and they are an awesome group of people that I am pumped to be racing with. My goals for these eight races are to learn as much as possible and hopefully grab some solid finishes.”

Racing since he was able to enroll in public schooling, Bayne has collected over 20 championship trophies. Bayne most recently ran in the Camping World East Series last year finishing fourth in the point standings with one win, six top-three and eight top-10 finishes to his credit.

As Bayne gears up for his second start in any of NASCAR’s top divisions, the young driver has the full support of the MWR team.

“I’ve talked to people in the garage about Trevor and everybody has had said nothing but good things to say about him,” said crew chief of the No. 99 Toyota Camry, Jerry Baxter. ”People like Bono (Kevin Manion) and Clyde McLeod have all that Trevor gives good feedback and gives 100 percent. He flew up to Dover to spend some time with the team so we could get to know him. He’s impressive and knows what he’s talking about. By the questions he has already asked, we know he’s well versed about these cars. He has a serious side to him, but he also has a side where he likes to mess around. So, we know he will fit right in at Michael Waltrip Racing.”

Bayne’s complete MWR schedule:

June 6 – Nashville Superspeedway
June 13 – Kentucky Speedway
June 20 – The Milwaukee Mile
July 18 – Gateway International Raceway
July 25 – O’Reilly Raceway Park in Indianapolis
August 1 – Iowa Speedway
August 21 – Bristol Motor Speedway
November 14 – Phoenix International Raceway

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