NASCAR Cup Series

RFR taps Buescher to drive in Richmond

Published Apr. 29, 2011 1:00 a.m. ET

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Daytona 500 winner Trevor Bayne is sidelined this weekend from NASCAR competition following complications "that are thought to be related to the insect bite he sustained earlier this month" according to a Roush Fenway Racing press release. He is currently undergoing tests for the symptoms.

Roush Fenway Racing development driver Chris Buescher is substituting for Bayne in the No. 16 Ford this weekend at Richmond International Raceway.

"My hope is that in a week we look back and feel that we overreacted," said Roush Fenway Racing president Steve Newmark, "The most important thing is that we identify what happened to Trevor. He's going through a whole battery of tests with some of the top specialists in the country, but right now we have no concrete information.

"He raced at Nashville last weekend and he was fine. When the symptoms reappeared this week, we took the necessary steps to find out what is wrong. My soul goal is to do everything to help and support the Bayne family, and that's what we're going to do. After we have the results, we'll look to the Bayne family for guidance as to what the next steps are."

On Tuesday, following the races at Texas Motor Speedway, Bayne said he noticed his arm swelling up after the Martinsville race on April 3rd.

"It just looked like a little mosquito bite or something," Bayne said on April 12. "I went home and, being a stubborn 20 year old, it swells up Monday and I'm like, 'It's all right.' Tuesday, it's even bigger and I have like two elbows, and I'm still like, 'OK. It's all right. It'll go away.' Wednesday, it started going away a little bit, so I'm like, 'All right, I'm good now. My body is kind of taking care of it.'

"I get to the track (at Texas) on Thursday and it starts getting a rash. There's a little blue mark here still where you can see where the rash went, but that's where they marked it with a Sharpie. I'm not turning blue or turning into Spiderman. It was just kind of getting worse and my arm went kind of numb in the race car, so when we landed I just went to the hospital to get it checked out and they gave me antibiotics and fluids and it all went away. So, it looks like I'm not gonna turn into Spiderman, unfortunately."

Team owner Jack Roush is understandably concerned. Bayne finished sixth in his last two Nationwide Series races — at Talladega Superspeedway and Nashville last weekend — and is fourth in the NNS points. His best finish in Cup since winning at Daytona was 17th in Texas in what Roush characterized Bayne's performance as driving "with one arm."

"Trevor apparently got bit by a spider or some kind of an insect," Roush said to Motor Racing Network's Joe Moore. "In Texas, he drove the race with the Wood Brothers car and with my Nationwide car as well, with one arm. His left arm was useless to him because it was so swollen and so sore and so weak. When he went home, he thought it would be all right. He thought the heat had affected him — it was warmer than it had been all year — and the bug bite had really taken its toll, but it didn't get better. The swelling had subsided some, but the strength didn't come back. He woke up on Monday morning and he had double vision, and we said, 'wait a minute.' His father and I had a meeting, we met on the phone. We need to take him to the Mayo Clinic (MN) and figure out what's going on so we make sure we don't overlook something that could be bad for him.

"He's been in the clinic all week. They've done some tests on him. They haven't found anything sinister. There's nothing wrong with him that they can find that would preclude him from having a normal life, a normal career and doing all the things he's destined to do. They stopped treating the vision problem, because they didn't want to treat that and have it cover up something else that they thought could be a symptom of something more sinister. They figured out there's nothing serious wrong with him that they can find — at the best clinic in the country — and they're going to deal with his inflammation of something around his eye. I sit here not knowing for sure, but I think we have a Nationwide race at Darlington. If that's true, then I expect him to be back in the car at Darlington."

Buescher qualfiied the No. 16 Ford 21st for Friday night's Bubba Burger 250.

Bayne, 20 wasn't scheduled to race for the Wood Brothers in the No. 21 Ford at Richmond International Raceway. Buescher, 18, received the call from his ARCA crew chief Gary Roulo on Thursday morning.

"Gary called and told me to pack my stuff and get to the airport," said Buescher, who headed to Salem, Ind., for this weekend's ARCA events. "I got a physical, took my drug test and was ready to go Thursday afternoon in Richmond.

"It's a huge opportunity — not the way you want it, but I'm going to take it for what it is and make a good show out of it. I wish Trevor the best. A lot depends on his health and how quickly he gets back to the track, but we're going to make the most of what we got and we've got a good car and good team. We'll just have to wait and see."

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