Trevor Bayne To Miss NASCAR All-Star Race, Nationwide Event In Iowa

Daytona 500 winner Trevor Bayne’s return to NASCAR is on hold yet again.

Bayne, this year’s surprise Daytona 500 winner, has been out since prior to the Richmond race in late April with lingering symptoms from an undisclosed illness.

He was expected to return for Saturday night’s NASCAR Sprint All-Star Race and Sunday’s Nationwide Series event in Iowa following the completion of an on-track test this week, but Roush Fenway Racing announced Thursday afternoon that those plans have been canceled.

“Although we would like for Trevor to be on the track this weekend, we want to make sure that he is fully back to prime condition before he goes out to compete with the best drivers in the world,” Roush Fenway president Steve Newmark said.

Newmark said the team was determined to wait for Bayne’s return until the 20-year-old was at “100 percent” following his illness.

As of now, Newmark added, “His symptoms have improved tremendously, but we’re still not all the way back to where we want to be.”

Wood Brothers Racing – which fields Bayne’s No. 21 car in the Sprint Cup Series – and Roush Fenway’s No. 16 Nationwide Series team both withdrew from their respective events this weekend. Bayne will not be replaced in either car.

“We knew all along that there was not a timetable for his return,” Wood Brothers Racing co-owner Eddie Wood said. “We knew it would be a process and we continue to work toward his return. Trevor really wants to be back, and we remain hopeful that we’ll have him competing again soon.”

Bayne was bitten by some sort of insect on his left elbow prior to April’s NASCAR weekend at Texas, and his elbow swelled to nearly twice its size.

The swelling went down after Bayne visited a hospital upon his return. But after Talladega, Bayne checked himself into the Mayo Clinic in Minnesota citing nausea, fatigue and blurred vision.

Those symptoms were thought to be related to the bug bite at the time, but as it later turned out, doctors concluded it was a separate issue.

Roush Fenway team owner Jack Roush said last weekend that Bayne would likely return at Charlotte, pending a test – but apparently team officials weren’t satisfied with what they saw.

“He has been undergoing tests and out of his routine for almost a month now,” Newmark said. “With that disruption in his schedule, he has not been able to take part in our daily training activities and he’s going to need a little more time to get acclimated to the strenuous demands of a NASCAR racing schedule.”

The team offered no word on whether Bayne might return next week for the Charlotte Nationwide race.