"Trevor Bayne: NASCAR's heart throb!"
AVONDALE, Ariz. -- Trevor Bayne, NASCAR's version of Justin Bieber with a better haircut, walked into the media center Friday at 10:15 a.m. MT.
Fortunately, no teenage girls were allowed to join the interview session at Phoenix International Raceway. It would have been hard to work with all that screaming and fainting.
The new heartthrob of the sport has enjoyed a whirlwind week, including numerous marriage proposals, after his surprising victory in the Daytona 500.
"It's been pretty wild," Bayne said. "I was getting a police escort in San Francisco [Tuesday] and girls are out there holding 'Marry Me' signs. I didn't have a Valentine this year. I don't think that will happen next year."
You know you're something special when your world collides with Danica Patrick's, as Trevor Bayne discovered Thursday at a Phoenix charity event.
It doesn't get better than this for a 20-year-old kid still trying to soak it all in and understand his sudden fame.
His week included talking on the phone with Vice President Joe Biden.
"He said he was proud of the way I represent things," Bayne said. "He told me to come check out the White House and told me I could bring anyone I wanted. He said President Obama would really enjoy meeting me."
Bayne did talk shows with Ellen DeGeneres and George Lopez. He talked on the phone with Denver Broncos quarterback Tim Tebow and met Pam Anderson.
"That was really cool," Bayne said. "Pam said, 'You remind me of my son.' She's getting a little older now, but it was really cool to meet her. The whole time I was like, 'What's going on?'"
It's pretty simple, really. He's good-looking, well-spoken, clean-cut and the winner of the biggest event in NASCAR.
PIR announced Friday that all the grandstands were sold for Sunday's Sprint Cup race, probably due to an unexpected surge of 13- to 15-year-old girls flooding the website for tickets.
We kid, but Bayne's victory and instant-celebrity status is exactly what NASCAR needed. He can help NASCAR regain some younger fans, a demographic that has drifted away from the sport in recent years.
"It's cool to get young people to see our sport is cool," Bayne said. "I got calls from people saying, 'I'm a fan of NASCAR now because of what you've done.' We've got to show them this is an awesome sport. Maybe this story will get them involved in it again."
Even an old guy like Mark Martin sees it. Martin said he was thrilled for the legendary Wood Brothers race team to get back to Victory Lane, but Bayne's sudden stardom doesn't surprise him.
Source: ESPN
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