Trevor Bayne Still Stunned By Daytona 500 Victory

The morning after his historic Daytona 500 victory, Trevor Bayne still can’t believe it even happened.

The race’s youngest winner ever, Bayne told reporters on Monday morning that he’s “not a big enough sponge to soak all this up.” So what exactly does a 20-year-old do after winning NASCAR’s biggest race?

First of all, he eats.

After his media obligations at the track were finished on Sunday night, Bayne and his family went out to dinner at the BJ’s Restaurant across from Daytona International Speedway (his team owners, Len and Eddie Wood, celebrated at a nearby Steak ‘n Shake).

Bayne then returned to the track, where he played basketball in the Daytona infield with his hometown buddies from Knoxville, Tenn. The game was H-O-R-S-E, and Bayne lost.

That was OK. After all, he still had a trophy from some big race that took place earlier in the day.

Bayne and his friends then broke out their skateboards and rode around “for a minute,” he said, but everyone was still dazed by what had happened a few hours earlier.

“We were standing around the motorhome lot last night, and one of the motorhome drivers comes up – and we were all just staring at each other,” Bayne said. “He was like, ‘What is this? Y’all look numb! Why aren’t you all going crazy?’

“We didn’t know what to say. And that’s the first time I’ve ever seen my friends without something to say, that’s for sure.”

He also fielded congratulatory phone calls, of course. Like one from Carl Edwards, who asked, “What could I have done to win this thing?”

Bayne didn’t have an answer.

The Wood Brothers Racing driver figured he had a long few days ahead with his upcoming media tour, so he went to sleep around 1 a.m. – well before his team owners, who stayed up until 4:30 returning congratulatory text messages from people they hadn’t heard from in years.

When Bayne woke up this morning, he stepped outside his motorhome and looked up at the scoring pylon, which was still illuminated with the running order from the Daytona 500.

And the No. 21 was still on top. He realized it wasn’t a dream.

“It keeps hitting you over and over again,” he said, “so it’s like you win a bunch of times.”

Bayne’s life has been changed forever, but he hopes the Daytona 500 victory won’t change him as a person. He prides himself on staying grounded, claiming he’s just a normal kid who likes wakeboarding on the lake with friends and enjoys teaching himself how to play guitar.

“I don’t want to change because of any of this,” he said. “I hope if (my ego) starts rising up, these guys will pop the bubble.”

Though Bayne didn’t earn any points for Sunday’s race because he “declared” to run for the championship in the Nationwide Series, NASCAR said he can still switch if he wants. But if he does, he still won’t get points for his Daytona 500 win.

So even if the Wood Brothers find sponsorship to run a full season (he’s only scheduled for 18 races as of now), Bayne said he and the team will “probably just stick with what we planned” and run for the Nationwide title.

With that, it was off to begin his media tour: First, Bayne greeted fans as his car was inducted into the Daytona track tour exhibit. Then, he was scheduled to travel to ESPN’s studios in Connecticut, followed by stops in Chicago, San Francisco and Los Angeles in the coming days before arriving in Phoenix.

He’ll do countless interviews along the way.

“I like to talk,” he said. “But after this week, I might be drained.”