2-14-2008 - Colin to start 9th for Daytona NASCAR Truck race

From Ford Racing

Colin Braun, driver of the No. 6 Con-way Freight Ford F-150 talks about this week's practice sessions at Daytona International Speedway. Braun returns to Daytona in the same truck that was involved in an accident during the test in January.


ON QUALIFYING – “We are pleased with the run. I think we have a better race truck than qualifying truck and that’s something we opted to go towards, me being a rookie and all. That’s what great about Roush Fenway and having a crew chief like Mike Beam and a spotter like Bobby Hudson, those guys bring so much knowledge to our program. They can tell me that I need a truck with more down force. We start a little worse than we wanted, but our Con-way Freight Ford will be up front for the race. I think all of the Fords will be in the top 10 or so. Hopefully, we’ll all get together and out run the trucks.”   Picture - Travis Kvapil gives Colin some tips before qualifying.

YOU TALK ABOUT GETTING ALL THE LAPS AND LEARNING AS MUCH AS YOU CAN. WHAT DID YOU LEARN ABOUT QUALIFYING TONIGHT? “It’s pretty easier for the driver. You’re going pedal to the metal and try to do as good a job as you can. I guess you get a chance kind of feel what you’re truck is like out of the draft. I wish my truck drove like that when it’s in the draft, but that’s not going to happen.”

ON PRACTICE. "Practice went really good this week. I think we have a really good truck. We worked on it obviously after the accident in testing. We had a chance to go back and work on it a quite bit. I think we made it a lot better than it was. It's more driveable. I'm really excited about the race, I think we have a really good shot and we'll go out there and get all the laps we can and have a good consistent truck. That's part of our game plan - to have a consistent truck. I don't think we have a truck that is super fast on a single car run, but I think we have a really good race truck and that's what we're working towards. We want to be conserve, run the whole race and learn as much as we can."

THIS TRUCK IS BETTER THAN THE TEST TRUCK? "Yeah, it definitely drives better than it did in the test. We'll see how qualifying goes. We haven't made any single truck runs but I don't think that matters for us. We can start last and still win this race. We just want to go out there and have a good truck that makes a lot of grip and is comfortable to drive to drive in traffic. That's something we've been working on, getting me out a lot of laps and experience in the draft. We want a truck that stays under me the whole time in the draft."

CAN YOU EXPLAIN HOW THE TRUCK DRIVES BETTER? "For us, it just sticks better here when were in traffic. We haven't done a single car run, so I really can't compare that to what we did at the test. Just working with a couple of draft packs yesterday compared to what we had going at the test. It just feels like it drives better here. There's more grip, it feels more stable, and it doesn't feel as free. It just sticks to the race track really well. That's the biggest thing we're looking for is a truck that's just stable and doesn't move around a lot, it does everything pretty predictably and that's what this truck does."

DOES IT FEEL STRANGE TO RACE THE ENTIRE OVAL AFTER YOUR PREVIOUS EXPERIENCE HERE HAS BEEN ON HALF THE OVAL AND THE ROAD COURSE? "It's not that big of a deal. It's totally different. When I drive this truck, I don't get the urge to dive into the infield or anything like that. It's great. It's certainly something fun and the whole drafting thing. I'm enjoying driving with the other trucks and learning how much they suck up and what they do when somebody gets beside you. There's a lot of things like that for me to learn. I'm certainly enjoying trying to figure stuff out like that and hopefully by the race, we'll have the majority of that figured out. We can go out there, settle down and have a good race."

YOU'RE STEPPING INTO AN EXPERIENCED TEAM; DOES THAT ADD PRESSURE TO PERFORM WELL LIKE PREVIOUS DRIVERS OF THE NO. 6 FORD F-150? "No, not really for me. I look at it for me as an opportunity to learn a whole lot from guys like Mike [Beam, crew chief] and engineer Hal Ralston. These guys have worked together for the last couple of years. There's so much experience and knowledge on the No. 6 team here, it's just a good chance for me to learn a lot. Obviously, the guys that have driven this truck before have done a lot of good things, so I don't think there's a lot of pressure on me. I think there would be the same amount pressure if I drove in the 99 truck or the 09 truck. It's still a truck and you're driving for Roush Fenway Racing and you want to do as well can. I think there is more pressure from that side than just driving the No. 6 truck."

IS A TOP STARTING POSITION IMPORTANT TO YOUR TEAM? "No, not for us. In the race, I think you can pretty much start anywhere and win the race. I don't think this is a race where you need to qualify up front and run up front to be a contender. It doesn't really matter for us. I don't think we'll run a qualifying run in Thursday's practice or make a mock run. We're going to go out there and make our qualifying run tonight and where it puts us, it puts us and then we'll focus on the race." WHAT ARE YOUR GOALS FOR THE YEAR? "We want to go out early on, learn as much as we can and make all the laps. Our goal is to with the Raybestos Rookie of the Year title, that's the biggest goal we have and if we can win a race or two along the way, that's icing on the cake. The main thing this year is to win the rookie of the year." YOU'VE BEEN TO DAYTONA BEFORE FOR SPORTS CAR RACING, TALK ABOUT BEING HERE AS A NASCAR DRIVER. "It's certainly a neat deal. I remember the first time I came here, I was 16 and it was for the sports car race - that was really cool. Now it was the third or fourth time that I had come for the sports car race in Daytona, it was kind of another race, but it is still special. Now coming back here on the oval, it's something that I'm really enjoying and it has a new spark to be here racing on the oval."