SONOMA, Calif. -- Trevor Bayne returns to NASCAR Cup series competition this weekend at Sonoma Raceway (3 p.m. ET, FS1) after Roush Fenway Racing booted him from the car for five events in favor of Matt Kenseth.
As much as he wanted to race, Bayne likely has achieved a little bit of validation -- it certainly could be argued that Bayne has had a good five weeks, as everyone watched Kenseth achieve little success amid periods of frustration.
Roush Fenway had to try something, as Bayne's struggles go beyond this year. He has posted just four top-5s and 18 top-10s since returning to the series full time in 2015.
With Bayne averaging just a tick better than a top-20 finish the past two years and finishing 22nd in the standings each season, Roush Fenway opted to make the change, as Bayne was not sponsored for all the races and appeared on a downward spiral.
Through the first 11 races this year, Bayne averaged a starting spot of 21.1 and finish of 24.7.
Kenseth, the 2003 Cup champion, then stepped in and had similar results competing in four points races and the All-Star Race. In the four points races, Kenseth averaged a starting spot of 24.2 and finish of 24.7. He sat on the pole for the All-Star Race, but that was about the only highlight of the past month.
It appears, for those wondering whether it was the car or the driver, that the past four weeks' results show the car plays a role. It also elevates the stock of teammate Ricky Stenhouse Jr. -- average start 13.1, average finish 18.2 -- as he performs much better in similar equipment.
When announcing Kenseth's hiring in April, Roush Fenway president Steve Newmark indicated it wasn't just a Bayne performance or sponsorship issue.
"It's an overall company performance issue," Newmark said. "We're looking at opportunities to get ourselves better; this seemed like the right opportunity.
"We do hope that it jump-starts Trevor and that he benefits from this because our hope is that he would have a long career ahead of him."
Bayne, 27, probably feels he has several years of racing ahead of him. The past five weeks might have given him some new life.
The odds, frankly, are stacked against him. But they're better than they were when this decision was announced in April.
Bayne doesn't have much of a chance for redemption. He will drive the next two weeks, and possibly three (the team hasn't announced a driver for Daytona yet), before sharing the ride with Kenseth the remainder of the season.
Bayne is expected to do the remaining AdvoCare-sponsored races. After Chicagoland next week, AdvoCare doesn't return until Michigan in August, followed by Bristol the next week. Its sponsorship schedule includes four playoff races -- Las Vegas, Charlotte, Kansas and Texas.
Kenseth gets back in the car for four consecutive races after Daytona -- Kentucky, New Hampshire, Pocono and Watkins Glen -- plus the final two races of the regular season (Darlington, Indianapolis) and four playoff races (Dover, Martinsville, Phoenix and Homestead).
That leaves Richmond and Talladega (along with Daytona) as not having been announced. Kenseth had told Dale Earnhardt Jr. on Earnhardt's weekly podcast that he opted out of the restrictor-plate races. It wouldn't be surprising if Kenseth still doesn't want to risk another lost ambulance ride at Richmond.
No one expected Kenseth to step into the car and run in the top 10 consistently. But the conventional wisdom would have been that, after adjusting back to competition for a week or two, he would match or come close to the performance of Stenhouse.
Although Matt Puccia easily could shoulder the blame as crew chief, Roush Fenway has been behind for several years. It hasn't matched its Ford brethren in performance, and the issues have to go beyond any one person.
The organization feels it has seen positives from overhauling its competition structure the past couple of years and feels its trajectory is brighter than in 2016. But while it continues to make gains in certain areas, it also appears to go on a stretch of setbacks that stymies the progress, makes everyone take a pause and likely causes self-doubt to suck away any optimism.
The latest has been the struggle of Kenseth, who now takes a break while Bayne will see whether he can help take Kenseth's feedback (at least some of which likely was similar to Bayne's) and improve on it.
The only real indication in the next few weeks, though, of whether anything has truly changed would come next week at Chicagoland. The race at Sonoma this weekend is the first road course race of the year. And obviously Daytona is its own animal (and a place where Bayne captured the 2011 Daytona 500).
If Bayne can show even minimal improvement, car owners who might have dismissed his ability in the past might take another look at him now, considering Kenseth's struggles.
Bayne has one year left on his deal with Roush Fenway, and it is unclear whether AdvoCare would leave if Bayne wants to go rather than potentially having another partial season in 2020.
Although he has declined interview requests, it appears Bayne is not distraught over the situation. He has to know that, in a results-oriented business, an average finish near 25th just isn't going to cut it at Roush Fenway.
"Our goal is to have Trevor continue to grow and mature on the track, which as you know he's one of the highest character guys in the garage and we're proud of having him as part of our family," Newmark said in April.
"He will continue to be in the car, and we hope that Matt's assistance with all of this will elevate not only Trevor's performance [but also] Ricky's performance."