Trevor Bayne will not drive the No. 6 Roush Fenway Racing Ford beyond the 2018 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series season, car owner Jack Roush said on Wednesday’s Dialed In show on SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.
“We’re making a search,” Roush explained. “We’re in negotiations with drivers right now that would drive the No. 6 car next year. I think the decision’s been made. I don’t want to be breaking the story here, but I think the decision’s been made. Trevor is not going to be in the car next year. Who we’re talking to and how close we are in those negotiations, I’m not inclined to say.”
Bayne began driving the No. 6 car at RFR full-time in 2015. He expected to also drive the car full-time this year, but in May, Roush added veteran driver Matt Kenseth to the team to share driving duties with Bayne through the remainder of the season. Kenseth, who began his NASCAR premier-series career with RFR and won the 2003 series championship, had been sidelined after losing his position as a driver with Joe Gibbs Racing at the end of the 2017 season.
“It feels like this is the right deal at the right time,” Kenseth said during a press conference earlier this year, announcing his latest hiring by Roush. “It’s an interesting challenge for me not just as a driver. I hope I can be much more to the organization.”
Roush is neither confirming nor denying whether Kenseth will drive the car next year.
“I want a driver that can be fast,” Roush mentioned.
Bayne has one career Cup Series win, coming in the 2011 Daytona 500 as a driver for Wood Brothers Racing, the second Cup Series race of his career. He raced part-time for WBR until he became the driver of the No. 6 at Roush Fenway. In 124 races with the team, Bayne has four top-fives and 13 top-10 finishes. His 2018 season has been a struggle with a best finish, so far, of 11th place finish at Bristol Motor Speedway in his home state of Tennessee on Aug. 18.