Bayne’s win good for NASCAR’s young audience

Trevor Bayne picked an awfully good time to jump into the NASCAR spotlight. After all, it doesn’t get any bigger than the Daytona 500.

When Trevor Bayne lifted the Harley J. Earl trophy on Sunday, he lifted the hopes of young NASCAR fans everywhere. In a sport that has a median viewing age of 51.6, according to Nielsen numbers, the 20-year-old’s victory signified a chance for NASCAR to gain some new, younger fans.

Bryan Nicodemus, an 18-year-old NASCAR fan from Pittsburgh, isn’t a Trevor Bayne fan (he roots for 52-year-old Mark Martin) but sees the potential for NASCAR to gain new fans after Sunday’s race.

“I feel that Trevor’s win was good for NASCAR,” he said. “I think more people will take a look at NASCAR because an ‘unknown’ driver won. It wasn’t a Jimmie Johnson or Dale [Earnhardt] Jr. People might want to find out who Trevor Bayne is.”

Bayne turned 20 the day before he won the Daytona 500, and easily broke Jeff Gordon’s record for youngest Daytona 500 winner (Gordon won the 1997 500 when he was 25). His first career win, in his second career start, couldn’t have come at a better time.

Bayne, driving the No. 21 car for the Wood Brothers, one of NASCAR’s most esteemed teams, was almost speechless after winning. And who could blame the Tennessee native? He’d just won the race that took legend Dale Earnhardt 20 years to win.

“Sorry if I’m bouncing around on questions and answers,” Bayne said in the media center after the race. “Figure I can do whatever I want to since it’s just a dream anyways.”

Carl Edwards, who finished second to Bayne in the 500, said NASCAR fans need to take note of the kid from Tennessee. Edwards should know. He used to be the young, energetic driver that won over fans through his trademark blackflip victory celebration.

Edwards said, “This is as good as it gets. If people aren’t watching, that’s their problem, because we got some great stuff going on here.”

As it turns out, people were watching.

FOX announced that the Daytona 500 averaged 15.6 million viewers nationally, and 30.1 million viewers caught at least a part of the race. The 53rd edition of “The Great American Race” was the most-watched NASCAR race since 2008, executives at FOX said.

The youth banner in NASCAR isn’t something that only Bayne is carrying. Joey Logano, a 20-year-old NASCAR superstar, burst into the sport when he turned 18. Logano, who drives the No. 20 car for Joe Gibbs Racing, has won one NASCAR Sprint Cup race.

Can Bayne and Logano, two kids, attract a younger crowd to NASCAR?

“I think it’s possible that they could attract a younger audience,” said Nicodemus. “Twenty year olds might want to watch because it’s someone their age who is winning. It could be the same philosophy as to why older fans would want to root for Mark Martin, because it’s someone who reminds them of themselves.”

But will they tune in next week and the subsequent weeks to see if Bayne can run with the stars of NASCAR? I certainly hope so, and Edwards is backing me.

“He is really a nice young man, a great guy to represent this sport with this win,” Edwards said. “I think the world’s going to like him a lot.”

If Sunday was any example, I think Trevor Bayne has an opportunity to energize a new, young fan base in the nation’s second-most watched sport.