DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. -- Although Trevor Bayne has won the biggest race -- the Daytona 500 -- at stock car racing’s most famous track -- Daytona International Speedway, he said he still gets nervous when he drives out of the fourth turn and sees the start-finish line looming ahead.

 

“When we came back in July (last year), and we were going around the track for the first lap in practice, and I saw the start-finish line coming up, I got that whole feeling of being tense and nervous,” Bayne said. “Every time I watch it on TV, it’s the same thing. I turn my back on it because I still get nervous that something is going to happen, so it’s the same deal every time.” 

 

Bayne crossed that finish line first last February in the Daytona 500, scoring a major upset victory and returning the venerable Wood Brothers Ford team to Daytona’s victory lane after a long absence.

 

Only 20 years old (by a day), Bayne realized the dream of every kid who ever jumped in a go-cart and aimed for the stars.

 

“Leading the last lap, I was like, ‘I can tell my friends I led the Daytona 500,’ but I never expected -- even on the last lap -- that we were going to win it,” Bayne said. “So coming back here and being called the champion, I still don’t think right now that I understand it. I can honestly say that in five years I’ll look back at it and appreciate it more than I do right now, and I already feel like I appreciate it to the max, but I’m sure later on it’ll mean even more to me.” 

 

Of course, Bayne is still learning about this thing called life. His 21st birthday was Sunday.

 

The next stop on the road to a second Daytona 500 victory -- one that also would be considered improbable -- will be Thursday’s twin Gatorade Duels qualifying races. The 150-mile events help set the grid for the 500.

 

Bayne entered Sunday’s 500 qualifying round without a guaranteed starting spot in the 500, but he took care of that business quickly, spinning the ninth fastest lap of the time-trial session to wrap up a slot on the grid for the richest stock car race in America.

 

Ford drivers Carl Edwards and Greg Biffle had the two fastest speeds in Sunday’s session and thus locked in the first two starting spots for the 500. The remaining 41 positions in the 500 starting lineup will be determined Thursday in the Gatorade Duels, sprints that often produce some of the most exciting racing of SpeedWeeks.

 

The 49 entries on the 500 list are split into two groups for the twin races. Edwards will start from the pole in Thursday’s first race, and Biffle will be out front for the start of the second race. Bayne will start fifth in Race 1.

 

Finishing positions in the duels will help determine the 500 starting grid, but all drivers racing for team owners in last season’s top 35 in points are guaranteed starting positions in Sunday’s race.

 

Drivers still on the outside looking in approaching Thursday’s races are Michael Waltrip, Bill Elliott, Kenny Wallace, Dave Blaney, Joe Nemechek, Michael McDowell, Mike Wallace, Robert Richardson Jr., Robby Gordon and J.J. Yeley.

 

Bayne avoided the nervous feeling of starting the Duels without a guaranteed spot by running a strong lap in qualifying.

 

“It’s a lot of relief,” he said. “Now we’re back to the same position we were in last year. We started the Duel knowing we were locked in, and it was just wherever we finished, and now we’re back right there, so I’m ready for it.”

 

After winning the 500 last year, Bayne was on a plane to New York the next day to begin a media blitz. He said he was still trying to come to grips with what had happened.

 

“I look down, and I see that [Daytona 500] ring, and I almost teared up because I’m like, ‘Man, this is real.’ It’s not something you wake up from and go on the next day, so I’m excited to be back here this year. 

 

“I’m trying to get back to that same mindset of just appreciating being here to begin with, but you do want to back that up and you do want to win and do all those things again, so, hopefully, we have a better insight of what our goal is.”