9-5-2007 - Chicago preview

Colin will be driving the Roush Fenway Racing Ford ARCA car this weekend in Chicago.  Here are his thoughts on the event:

With one ARCA start under his belt, Colin Braun is anxious to get back on track this weekend at Chicagoland. The 18-year old sat down to answer a few questions about settling in at Roush Fenway Racing and some of the differences between NASCAR and Grand Am.

Q: How are you getting along with the No. 99 ARCA team?

A: It’s going really well. We’ve had four tests with the same group of guys and every time we go we are working more and more as a team and everybody’s working really well together. Working with Jeff Campey (crew chief) is a great opportunity for me. He’s got so much experience and he’s willing to pass that on and teach me and give me any advice that he can. I’m looking forward to going out there with Jeff and the No. 99 team and driving that Roush Fenway Ford and getting some good results.

Q: What are some of the differences between the ARCA Series and Grand Am?

A: There are a few big differences. In the ARCA car we’ve had a lot of tests and in the Grand Am Series we don’t do that much testing so its been great for me obviously being new and getting to do all that testing. It’s certainly neat how in these cars you do two, three and four lap runs maximum where in the Grand Am car you may do a little more to see how it goes for what we call a long run in sports car racing. It’s neat to go out and do two laps, make a change, another two laps, make a change.

Q: The pit stops are significantly different between NASCAR and Grand Am, can you talk about that?

A: Pit stops are very, very different. In the Grand Am Series we have an air jack and the crew guys are completely different. We have three tire changers instead of two and we have a fuel rig instead of a can and we do a driver change so it’s very, very different. I did pit practice at the Roush Fenway shops to try and help bring me up to speed which I think helped a lot. My primary goal is to get on and off pit road without hitting anyone and in one piece.

Q: What are some of the little differences between NASCAR and Grand Am that people wouldn’t think about?

A: The biggest thing is probably backing in and out of the garages all the time. In our sports car series we make our changes on pit lane. We’ll stop the car in pit lane and leave forward to go out. We never come back to the garage except for lunch usually. It’s quite different in NASCAR since every time I’m coming back to the garage and trying to dodge all the people and not run over anything, it’s certainly been a little different. That’s about it everything else is pretty similar.

Q: How has it been testing with your Roush Fenway teammates?

A: It’s great that it’s such a family atmosphere at Roush Fenway. In Grand Am some of the drivers are almost pitted against one another as teammates and you don’t want to help a guy out because he doesn’t want to help you out. Here it’s neat that it’s a big family atmosphere and everybody wants to help everybody else out, I really enjoy that. For me obviously I don’t have much to give to anybody else right now but I’m learning a lot and taking in as much information as possible.

Q: How are you settling into your role as Roush Fenway’s newest driver?

A: Every time I go to a test I’m more and more comfortable doing the whole stock car thing in general. The whole backing in and out of the garages and doing all that, I’m just much more comfortable with it. I’m really having a good time and am very much enjoying myself and looking forward to going to the races. Everyone’s been really great to me and I’m glad to be a part of Roush Fenway Racing.