5-14-2008 - Colin Trades his Racing Gloves for a Hammer and Nails

CONCORD, N.C. -- Colin Braun usually works sitting down in his No. 6 Con-way Freight Ford F-150, but today he traded his comfortable racing seat for some manual labor to support a good cause. Through the NASCAR Foundation, Braun was one of several drivers who participated in building a playground in the Charlotte area.
The KaBOOM! Playground build at Elon Homes for Children in Charlotte, N.C., was part of the events leading up to the 2008 NASCAR Day on May 16. The playground’s design was based on drawings by children served by Elon Homes. For more than 100 years, Elon Homes has been serving children in the Charlotte area by providing a safe place to live and educational facilities to meet their special needs. The organization helps more than 750 children and did not have a playground – until today.
“Helping build the playground was a really great experience,” Braun said. “I’ve never done anything like that and it felt good to know it was helping kids who might need some fun in their lives.
“Since I don’t have a lot of building experience, I helped construct some flower boxes. They let me use a hammer and I didn’t even hurt myself, or anyone else, so that turned out well. It was cool to see guys like Greg Biffle and Tony Stewart take time from their busy schedules to help out too. It was a great cause and a fun time.”
Braun will put his hammer away and return to the track on Friday for the North Carolina Education Lottery 200 at Lowe’s Motor Speedway

5-13-2008 - Lowes Truck race preview

EVENT – NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series

WHERE – Lowes Speedway – Charlotte, NC

WHAT – Roush Fenway Racing – Con-way Freight Ford F-150 - #6

WHEN – Friday - May 16th - 2008

TV TIMES (Eastern)– Friday 9:00am to 12:00pm – Speed TV – Practice, live
Friday 3:30pm to 5:00pm – Speed TV – Qualifying, live
Friday 7:30pm to 10:30pm – Speed TV – Race, live


INTERNET NEWS and RESULTS (updated semi live) - http://www.jayski.com/cts/next/2008/6lowes2008.htm

PREVIEW
Colin on racing at Lowe's Motor Speedway:
"This will be my first race at Lowe's Motor Speedway and I'm excited to race there. I am going to get some laps on the track this week at the Nationwide test so that will be great to kind of figure out the track before I get in the truck on Friday. I've talked to some of my Roush Fenway teammates about getting around Lowe's and they've been really helpful too.
"Everyone on this Con-way Freight team always wants to finish well, but considering this is home for everyone on the team it would be great to get another top-five finish. We're leading the rookie points now and I want to keep my lead, and move up in the overall driver points with strong finishes every week."

Crew chief Mike Beam on racing at Lowe's Motor Speedway:
"We're taking the same truck we raced in Fontana, Atlanta and most recently Kansas. After Kansas we put new quarterpanels on both sides and a new nose since it had some damage. It had great numbers in the wind tunnel, even better than before. We just need to run a smart race Friday night and not beat ourselves."

Raybestos Rookies:
The rookie class has experienced a shake-up in points as Colin Braun moves from fourth to first in the Raybestos Rookie of the Year battle. The rookie's third-place finish in Kansas gives him a five-point advantage over Justin Marks (#9 crocs/Construct Corps Toyota). Colin's performance is the best by a Raybestos rookie since Roush Fenway Racing teammate Erik Darnell ran third in the 2005 season finale.

STANDINGS
1. Colin Braun 53
2. Justin Marks 48
3. Brian Scott 44
4. Phillip McGilton 38
5. Donny Lia 37
6. Andy Lally 35
7. Marc Mitchell 28

Fast Facts:

-The Con-way Freight team will be racing chassis RK-45 at Lowe's. It finished third at Kansas and ninth at California this year.

-Colin has no prior starts at Lowe's, but he participated in Nationwide testing earlier this week to gain some track time.

-With his third-place finish in Kansas, Colin took the lead in the Raybestos Rookie standings. He now has a five-point lead.

-Colin is currently 16th in the overall point standings, but only 54 points out of 10th place.

SPEED TV Names Biggest Winners and Losers in 2008

Every rookie aspires to one day be labeled a threat for the championship and claiming rookie-of-the-year honors is a solid stepping stone toward that goal.

"If history plays out, Colin Braun should be a lock for Raybestos Rookie of the Year this season," Dunlap predicted. "The 'Roushkateers' have won five of these awards (Biffle, Busch, Edwards, Kluever and Darnell). Braun hasn't had great finishes yet but continues to run up front and that will pay off eventually."

"Not only do I think Colin Braun will contend for rookie-of-the-year honors, I think he could win a race," Alexander stated. "He has a great deal of talent and crew chief Mike Beam's leadership is big for him."

5-8-2008 - ESPN.com article on Colin

Roush Fenway's Braun Making Progress -- And Enemies
By John Schwarb
Special to ESPN.com

This should have been a more enjoyable moment for 19-year-old Colin Braun, finishing a career-best third in only his sixth Craftsman Truck Series start.
Instead of climbing out of his Roush Fenway Racing Ford to well-wishers along pit road at Kansas Speedway, though, he had a different welcome. ThorSport's Matt Crafton came rushing over, incensed by an incident just past the midpoint of the race when Braun sent him spinning, ending any chance at a top-10 day.
"He just ran into the back of me. I promise you he messed up, he messed up bad," Crafton said later. "I said, 'What goes around comes around.'"
Crafton, about ready to stuff Braun into the bed of his F-150, had to be restrained by officials. Shortly after that, Jack Sprague paid a visit, less heated but still pointed in the wake of a late-race tangle when both were trying to chase down eventual winner Ron Hornaday Jr.
"I got underneath him clean, never touched him at all, and he came down and about took himself out," said Sprague, who finished second in the 1-2 finish for Kevin Harvick Inc. "If I wanted to be a prick about it, I could have stayed there and he'd have spun and hit the fence, but I let him go and I passed him on the outside.
"I just basically told him: 'That was your gift; don't mess with me, I'm not in the mood, I've done this a long time. I ain't gonna take it.'"
Welcome to NASCAR, Colin Braun.
The rookie is an unquestioned talent and is driving one of the series' top trucks, the Roush Fenway No. 6, which was piloted to 10 wins in 2006-07 by Mark Martin and Travis Kvapil. It's a combination destined to run up front, but Braun is finding out that in a series advertising "tough trucks, tough racing," there's actually a very delicate balance between the two.
Right now, he's making progress and making enemies.
Braun rose to the top of the rookie of the year race with the Kansas finish, his second top-10 of the season. It would be a surprise if he didn't win that award at season's end. Whether he'll have earned the respect of fellow drivers along with his racing stripes remains to be seen.
"The kid is a very talented driver," Hornaday said at Kansas after winning his series-best 34th race. "My hat's off to him; he's doing a great job in that thing. I thought he was going to be the guy I had to race to beat. But he's going to have to pick and choose his battles. He's got to remember he is a rookie; he's got to have the respect for the guys who have been doing this a long time."
Hornaday said he didn't see that respect in March at Martinsville, Va., when Braun ran into the side of the defending champion's Chevrolet. Overzealous racing from Braun at the half-mile paper clip also angered Todd Bodine, the 2006 champion.
Braun's not afraid to mix it up on the ovals, even though he has yet to amass even 10 oval starts. The native Texan was a road-racing prodigy, driving go-karts internationally at age 8 and driving in the 24 Hours of Daytona at age 16. He became the youngest driver to stand on the podium at Le Mans, and in 2007 signed a developmental driver contract with Roush. He won the pole position at the Nationwide Series race at Mexico City last month.
In the truck series, Roush Fenway paired Braun with 52-year-old crew chief Mike Beam, a veteran of nearly three decades in the garage with Bill Elliott, Michael Waltrip, Elliott Sadler and many others in all three of NASCAR's top series.
Beam's task is to rein in all that talent and prepare Braun to move up the ladder.
"When he gets to the racetrack, he reminds me of Mark Martin, he's so ready to go from the first lap," Beam said. "You have another Kyle Busch, someone like that, in the making. His talent, his car control is amazing.
"It's tough for Colin; he wants to win so bad. Like I keep telling him, if we're on the hauler after 10 laps, he doesn't gain any experience. It is tough from his standpoint. You have to show the Ron Hornadays, Mike Skinners, Jack Spragues, the Craftons respect; you have to race them clean and try to beat them. It's hard for him because it is totally new to learn that. With the road-racing background, you race the track. The strategy is different here in NASCAR: You've just got to race. He's a quick study, but people have to understand his inexperience is really showing up in places like that.
"I hope that the other guys get to know him and understand he's just a kid. That's all he is. As we get older, we just forget that when we were 19 years old and starting in racing, good gosh, how inexperienced we were."
Beam explained to Braun that punting Crafton at Kansas was his fault and that several of the other run-ins also fell on his shoulders.
"It does bother me a little bit that I made those mistakes," Braun said. "I want to go out there and gain the respect of those veteran drivers. Doing that stuff doesn't help me gain the respect. That stuff bothers me on a personal level, just because I didn't do as good a job as I needed to do."
Still, he's a 19-year-old rookie. Braun's aw-shucks demeanor plays well on television and with the media, but it takes more than that in the garage. A lot of young drivers come and go in the truck series.
"I'd like to be well-liked as a person; I'm sure wrecking Matt Crafton and getting with Jack Sprague doesn't help me being liked in the truck garage, but I'm doing everything I can to be liked in the truck garage."
He can help himself by listening to the likes of Beam -- "As far as getting it? I don't know, I hope so. But I say that about my 14-year-old daughter too," Beam said -- but more importantly, by putting his lessons to work on the track.
The next time he gets out of his truck after a good day, let's hope he'll be congratulated for what went right rather than chastised for what didn't.
"He'll take his lumps, take his bruises," Hornaday said. "I'm sure Jack [Roush] is back there, pushing him hard. In that truck, that's a lot of pressure for a young kid. He's going to win his races. It might take another three races, it might take a year, but he's going to figure it out."
John Schwarb is a freelance journalist covering motorsports and a contributor to ESPN.com. He can be reached at johnschwarb@yahoo.com.

4-26-2008 - 3rd place in Kansas for Colin, takes Rookie points lead

KANSAS CITY – Colin Braun had never raced at Kansas Speedway until Saturday, but nobody would know that based on his performance. The 19-year-old rookie ran up front with the veterans all day to earn his best career finish in the Craftsman Truck Series with a third-place finish.
After posting the second-fastest time during both practice sessions on Friday, Braun qualified his No. 6 Con-way Freight Ford F-150 sixth to start the O’Reilly Auto Parts 250. His truck was tight off the corners early in the race, but he worked his way up to fifth by the first caution on lap 27. He pitted for four tires, fuel, air pressure and wedge adjustments to help the handling. The crew had a quick stop which helped him maintain his fifth-place position.
By lap 34 he moved into third place and told the team the truck was still a bit tight, but much better after the adjustments. He remained in third until pitting for fuel during a caution on lap 53. He returned to the track in fifth place and when the race resumed the truck was still tight off the corners.
With several cautions throughout the race Braun was able it pit for tires and more adjustments on lap 67. The crew had a great 15.3-second stop, but returned to the track in 12th place since several teams only took two tires during their stops.
Braun worked his way up through the field and was back into sixth place by lap 78. He was in a fierce battle for position with Matt Crafton and inadvertently made contact with Crafton on lap 87. Crafton spun and Braun immediately told his team that he did not mean for that to happen.
He was in fifth when the race resumed on lap 89. The truck was still a bit tight and Braun fell back to seventh when a caution on lap 108 brought him to the pits for his final stop of the race. The Con-way Freight team had another fast stop and Braun returned to the track in seventh place with 55 laps to go.
He successfully avoided a few accidents that happened right in front of him and was able to gain track position in the process. He moved into third on lap 119. By lap 147 he was gaining on the second-place truck of Todd Bodine. When he pulled along Bodine a lapped truck blocked the inside lane which allowed Bodine to pull away and Jack Sprague to pass him.
A caution with 10 to go put Braun back in third place behind veterans Ron Hornaday and Sprague. Braun did his best to catch them, but in the end crossed the finish line in third place.
 

TELL US ABOUT YOUR RUN TODAY “First off, I want to apologize to Matt Crafton, I did not mean to get in the back of him there,” Braun said in his post-race press conference. “We were just having a tough, tight race there and me being a rookie, unfortunately, I got in the back of him and I feel real bad that we wrecked his day. He had a fast truck and I didn’t mean to do that, that’s for sure. Other than that, the whole No. 6 Con-way Freight Ford F-150 team was awesome. Those guys did a heck of a job. We had great pit stops all day and we just kept going and steadily progressing our way back up through the field there. We had a really fast truck. Mike Beam and all my guys did a great job. They just keep working hard at it. We finally got the finish that I felt like we kind of deserved. We’ve been fast everywhere we’ve gone and we really haven’t had the result that we thought this team deserved, so it’s nice to finally get a top five for everybody on the team, and everybody at Con-way Freight and Ford.”

DID YOU SEE WHAT HAPPENED TO TODD BODINE? “I don’t know what happened. It looked like Bobby East was involved and Todd was involved. I don’t really know. It looked like Todd went up the track and I don’t know if Bobby came down or what. I was trying to do everything that I could just to avoid not running into them guys.”

HOW TOUGH WAS IT TO CATCH RON [HORNADAY] TONIGHT? “It was tough. Ron had a great truck and congratulations to him and that whole group. They did a really good job. I just felt like today with the way this race track is, it’s real hard to race on. You get behind other trucks, you get real tight behind them. I just felt like it was real tough to try and pass and if you got up to another truck, it was real hard to stay within three or four feet of them. You just got so aero tight behind them. I guess that’s the way the race track is, I think places like Atlanta and Chicago and Texas, those places where you have a little more banking it helps, I guess, aid a little bit of racing there. It was tough to get anywhere near those guys and you just start to get aero tight especially with this restrictor plate. It was hard to get a run on anybody or drive off faster into the corners because if you lift for just a few seconds right in the center of the corner, so it’s hard to drive off into one or three and pass anybody getting in.”

ARE YOU A LITTLE DISAPPOINTED THAT YOU WE’RE ABLE TO CHALLENGE RON HORNADAY? “Certainly any time you go to a race, you go there wanting to win the race. Being a rookie and everything, we were happy with what we had. We we’re so far down in points here, those guys hustled so hard to get our truck through tech and get everything set on it to get out there for first practice. They did a great job on that. We just really wanted to have a good solid day and not take any huge chances. I felt like, I’m sure Mark Martin could have won in that truck right there. We had a fast truck and I just wanted to take care of it and bring it home in the top five and have a good solid day for everybody here. I just kind of wanted to get the momentum rolling. We needed to have a good day. We needed to save that for our next race at Charlotte. We certainly didn’t take any huge risks or huge chances out there towards the last couple of laps trying to catch Ron. They did a great job.”

 HOW HARD WAS IT TO RACE AGAINST TWO OF THE WINNINGEST DRIVERS IN THE SERIES HISTORY BEING IN FRONT OF YOU? “Those guys are obviously really good at what they do. They can definitely move the air around when they’re in front to really hamper your performance. It’s just fun watching those guys, following those guys, getting to race a little bit with those guys and see how they race. As a rookie, I learned a lot today and certainly learned a lot of what not to do at the same time. All in all, it was a great day.”
The No. 6 Con-way Freight team moved up four positions to 16th in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series point standings. The next race will be on Friday, May 16 at Lowe’s Motor Speedway. It will be televised live on SPEED at 8:00 p.m. (EDT).

CURRENT ROOKIE POINTS - unofficial
Post Kansas
DRIVER/TOTAL
Braun 53
Marks 48
Scott 44
McGilton 38
Lia 36
Lally 35
Mitchell 28

Ford Racing and Roush Fenway Racing

4-25-2008 - Fox Sports article on Colin

Colin Braun found himself in an unusual position last weekend: He was viewed as a veteran.

Rea White (NASCAR Scene)
Braun, 19, is one of NASCAR's up-and-coming drivers. A member of the Roush Fenway Racing arsenal, he's competing for Raybestos rookie honors in the Craftsman Truck Series, but is also running a handful of Nationwide Series races in the organization's No. 16 Ford. Sunday, he made his second start in that series — but his latest in a lengthy string of road-course events.

Braun, a relative newcomer to the stock car ranks, has five years of road-course racing experience and a resume filled with successes in the racing world.

Now, he's turned his attention to NASCAR and to patiently making his way through the ranks.

Braun began racing in quarter midgets at the age of 6, and two years later was kart racing. By the time he was 14, he had competed in Italy, Monaco, France and Japan for factory kart teams.


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He was part of the Team 16 squad and drove in the Rolex 24 hours of Daytona in a Porsche 996 GT3 Cup car. At 17 years, nine months and seven days, he won the Brumos 250 at Daytona International Speedway driving for Krohn Racing in the Grand Am Rolex Daytona Prototype series to become the youngest winner in the series.

He then moved over into the NASCAR realm, where he landed his current ride with Roush Fenway Racing. Braun is driving the No. 6 Roush Fenway truck entry and currently sits 20th in the standings after some early setbacks. He has also run a pair of Nationwide Series races for the organization, finishing 15th at Nashville and qualifying on the pole in Mexico City. He ran in the top five for much of the event before a penalty for a stray tire on a pit stop eventually a cut tire left him 33rd.

Right now, he's focusing on learning as much as he can each week. The more chances he gets to work with veteran drivers, the better prepared he will be and the more he can learn as he tries to gain ground in NASCAR.

He says it's "cool" to get the chance to compete in a few Nationwide Series races, but his main focus remains his truck ride.

Still, he finds it exciting to race in the Nationwide Series against the teammates that he's leaning on as he adapts to NASCAR.

"It's cool having Carl (Edwards) and David (Ragan) actually be in the same race so I can learn a lot more from those guys," he says. "They've been real helpful with my truck series stuff, but it's neat to be driving the same weekend in the same series and the same car as those guys."

Braun's education actually began before he took over the No. 6. He started traveling with driver Travis Kvapil and crew chief Mike Beam, preparing for this season.

He says he doesn't hesitate to ask questions and pick Beam's mind in an effort to learn more about the sport and about his truck.

Star of the future
Colin Braun may look young, but he has already competed in several different forms of racing through the years, including:
Quarter midgets (age 5-7)
Karts (age 8-13)
Fran Am 1600 (age 14)
Formula Renault 2000 (age 15)
Pro Mazda (age 15-16)
Rolex Grand-Am — GT (age 16)
Rolex Grand-Am Series — Daytona Prototypes (age 16-19)
American Le Mans — GT2 (age 18)
ARCA RE/MAX (age 18)
Grand-Am Koni Challenge — GS (age 18)
NASCAR — Craftsman Trucks (age 18-19)
NASCAR — Nationwide Series (age 18-19)

"He's been teaching me a lot," Braun says. "I'm really learning a lot from him, asking him a lot of questions, and I think when we go to the race track I feel like we work together really well. I spend a lot of time with him in the shop and get to know him, the way he works.

"I got a chance to go to quite a few of the truck races the year before, in 2007, at the end and kind of learned the way him and Travis Kvapil worked together. I really kind of knew what to expect when I started with him, and it's been great so far."

His crew chiefs — Eddie Pardue has worked with him for the pair of Nationwide races — could be his biggest assets this season. He understands their level of experience and how he can benefit from it.

"Both of my crew chiefs are really experienced, so I think they're really good at stepping away from that and looking at more teaching me how to drive the race car and what I need in the race car," he says. "That's what really helps me. I feel like I can tell him what the race car or truck does pretty well, but I don't know what it needs to do. So that's where they help big time for me."

Braun's dreams may be big, but his goals entering this season were modest. Joining an experienced truck team, he knew he would have the tools to succeed and perform well.

If he could take the time to understand and learn as he went. To do that, he tried not to set his goals too high.

"We want to go out early on, learn as much as we can and make all the laps," he said earlier this season. "Our goal is to win 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."

While his team has been successful in the past, he feels he has room to develop and grow. Kvapil drove the truck in 2007, finishing sixth in the standings with four wins, and Mark Martin won with it six times in a part-time role the previous season.

Still, Braun didn't feel that he carried the weight of heightened expectations when he joined the team.

"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," he said. "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."

He's handling it well. The trucks have only raced four times this season, but Braun has a top finish of ninth and two of 14th or better. He was caught up in a crash when running well in the season-opening race as well, hampering him in the standings.

He's gaining knowledge and experience, keys to helping him continue to improve as the season progresses.

But when it comes to road-course races, he's the guy that his teammates eye because of his experience.

"Colin Braun is very, very good. As much as I want to stand here and say I'm the guy to beat and I'm going to win this race, I'm telling you, I'm going to have to beat Colin," teammate Carl Edwards said prior to racing at Mexico City. "Because we went and tested, and he's spectacular."

Braun was asked over the weekend if he'd be interested in driving a Sprint Cup car at the road-course races in California and Watkins Glen if he had the chance.

Of course, he admitted. But that's not where his mind is right now. It would just be an added bonus.

"If the opportunity presented itself, I'd love to go do that," he said. "I'm a race-car driver. I love driving race cars. It's something I really enjoy and if I can do it every single weekend of my life, I'd be doing it. If I could do it every day, I'd be doing it. The more racing, the more driving I can do, the better. We'll see what happens. Nothing has ever been brought up about that.

"I'm just focused on driving my truck in the Craftsman Truck Series, and we're trying to as good of a job there as we can and win as many races as we can, and gain as much experience as we can. I'm just focused 100 percent on that. Then going to Nashville a couple of weeks ago in the Nationwide car and coming here this weekend in the Nationwide car, those have been my big focuses, and whatever else happens, happens."

4-21-2008 - Kansas City Star does article on Colin

By JIM PEDLEY
The Kansas City Star

Colin Braun, who won the pole for Sunday’s Nationwide Series race, will be in a truck at Kansas Speedway.
It’s a long way from Ovalo, Texas, to Le Mans, France. Heck, it’s a long way from Ovalo to anywhere.
But there was Ovalo native Colin Braun last summer, standing on the podium at Le Mans, the most important sports car race in the world. The same podium that has held A.J. Foyt, Dan Gurney, Jackie Ickx, Phil Hill and Hurley Haywood.

At age 18, no less.

Braun last week grinned like the kid he still is as he talked about Le Mans, its history, its past winners, its status as perhaps the most romantic auto race.

But he wore the exact same grin a couple of minutes later as he talked about his current racing gig — driving in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck series for Roush Fenway Racing.

“Intense racing,” Braun said when asked about the appeal of NASCAR for somebody who has driven a factory Ferrari F430 GT2 at Le Mans and a prototype to victory at the Rolex 24 at Daytona. “Driving the cars is fun, but the racing, that’s what’s fun for me.”

Braun is quite obviously a racer. He’s the type of racer who comes along all too infrequently these days: One who shares a gene with Foyt and Mario Andretti and Tony Stewart.

It is the apparent presence of that gene that helped Braun land at Roush Fenway.

“He’s one of the hardest-working drivers I’ve seen in a while,” former Roush Fenway general manager Max Jones said. “He’s in the shop, watching practices, participating in pit practice, talking to our other drivers, just trying to learn as much as possible, and that shows.”

Braun started one Craftsman Trucks race last year. This year, he is scheduled to start them all, including Saturday’s at Kansas Speedway. Through the first four races of the season, his best finish is ninth, which came at California Speedway.

He finished 14th at Darlington in the last race and moved to 20th in the point standings.

Best of all?

“I get to pass people,” Braun said. “I’m having a blast.”

Ovalo is in the middle of Texas oil country, which, interestingly, gave Braun his start in racing. Braun’s father was an engineer. He worked on data systems for an oil company. He took those engineering skills to open-wheel racing, where he worked, among other things, for Indy Racing League teams.

Colin fell in love with his dad’s new job. He fell in love with road racing.

“My earliest memories are being in a stroller at Daytona” for the Rolex 24, he said.

A memory from a little later puts him in front of a television in June, watching Le Mans. He would watch all 24 hours of it if he could talk his parents into it.

“I remember trying to stay up all night,” he said.

Last June, he stayed up a good portion of the night on Le Mans weekend. He was behind the wheel for a stint or two around the 8.4-mile Circuit de la Sarthe, which utilizes the scenic back roads of the French countryside about 100 miles southwest of Paris.

“So cool,” he said. “I had to pinch myself a few times.”

He and teammates Niclas Jonsson and Tracy Krohn brought the Ferrari home second, and Braun became the youngest-ever driver to climb that famous podium.

Braun said he remembers participating in the traditional spraying of champagne from the podium. “I remember that so vividly from watching as a kid,” he said.

Last November, at a press conference in Homestead, Fla., site of the season-ending NASCAR event, Braun was introduced as the driver of the No. 6 Roush Fenway Ford truck.

Team owner Jack Roush said some very nice things about the young driver, whom many expect to be in a Roush Fenway Sprint Cup car someday soon. He qualified for the pole for Sunday’s Nationwide race in Mexico City.

“Colin Braun is a very talented race car driver,” Roush said. “He’s put in a lot of time and effort to make the transition from sports car racing to stock cars, and I think that’s showed in the five races he’s run for us this year. I think we’ll see good things from Colin … next year.”

4-20-2008 - Trouble in Mexcio for Colin and the #16 3M guys

Mexico City, Mexico – Rookie driver Colin Braun handily took the pole for this season’s annual NASCAR Nationwide Series trip to Mexico in the No. 16 Ford Fusion. With two second-place finishes and a pole in the Rolex Sports Car Series at Autodromo Hermanos Rodriquez, Braun had nearly as much experience and more success than some of the veteran NASCAR professionals he was up against in Sunday’s race. After leading the field to the green flag Braun remained a top-five contender until a penalty for a stray tire during a pit stop on lap 48 sent him to the rear of the field.
 

Braun began an immediate charge to the front and was running 19th 13 laps later when a cut tire sent him to the pits for fresh tires and repair to the arm that holds the sway bar in place. When Braun returned to the track, he was in the 33rd position and three laps down. He remained in front of the leaders for the rest of the race often with the best lap times on the track. The damage had been done however and the deficit could not be overcome. Braun and the 3M team were credited with a 33rd-place finish.
 

Early in the race Braun had reported that the 3M Ford Fusion was a little tight so the team made a minor air pressure adjustment during the first pit stop on lap 18. This seemed to loosen the car up beyond Braun’s liking so the team opted for a track bar adjustment in addition to another air pressure adjustment during the next stop. Braun was running third when he came in for the green flag stop but as the left front tire left the pit box during the stop, he and the team were penalized by being sent to the rear of the field. A caution had come out just after the pit stop so NASCAR instructed Braun to restart in the rear of the field on lap 51.

This penalty put Braun in the 31st position but by lap 61 he had driven the 3M Ford Fusion up to the 19th position. Some of the bumping and banging he endured on his way to 19th, however, resulted in a cut tire and an impromptu trip to pit road for four fresh tires. While on pit road, the team discovered that the arm that holds the sway bar had been worn down during Braun’s trip to the pits with a flat tire. The necessary repairs were made and Braun returned to the racetrack on lap 67 in front of then-leader Scott Pruett. He remained ahead of the leaders for the closing 13 laps. Despite running some of the fastest laps on the track, it would not be possible for Braun to make up the laps lost and he was credited with a 33rd place finish.
 

“I think at the end there the 3M Ford Fusion was the fastest car on the race track,” said Braun. “I think we had a car that definitely could have won the race. Right there in the middle of the race, we were just sitting there, biding our time taking care of our stuff. I’m trying to figure out where our car needed to be right at the end. I came in for that pit stop and that wheel got away from us for a little bit, but we made some adjustments on the car though. We were real fast right at the back and got caught up and spun out there by the 33 [Hornaday Jr.]. I guess that’s racing. After that, we kind of came back in and changed that tire and fixed the front bar because we drug it off having the flat tire. When we came back out, we were ahead of the leaders and I just basically pulled away from there. I had a real fast car. It’s unfortunate the way the events turned out. We certainly had a fast car.”

2008 news stories

4-19-2008 - Colin on Pole in Mexico Nationwide Race

4-18-2008 - Colin 2nd fastest in Final practice in Mexico

4-17-2008 - Scene Daily.com article on Team 16

3-29-2008 - Colin fast at Martinsville ends up 14th

3-28-2008 - Colin in NASCAR Truck "Youthfull Invasion"

3-27-2008 - Scene Daily article on Colin

3-26-2008 - Yahoo Sports article on Colin

3-25-2008 - NASCAR.com article on Colin - front page

3-22-2008 - Colin 15th at Nashville in 2nd ever Nationwide race.

3-13-2008 - Great Martinsville test for Colin

3-8-2008 - Fast truck but flat tire costs Colin at Atlanta

2-25-2008 - Feeling the burn in Phoenix

2-23-2008 - Colin top 10 in 3rd NASCAR Truck race

2-21-2008 - Good practice day at Fontana for Colin

2-19-2008 - Con-way Introduction Video

2-15-2008 - Good run spoiled by others wreck at Daytona

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

2-8-2008 - Colin -  Daytona preview

2-4-2008 - Sports Illustrated says Colin "next breakout driver"

2-3-2008 - Con-way Racing site up and running

1-31-2008 - Nationwide test in Vegas goes well for Colin

1-29-2008 - Colin leads Rolex and fastest in practice

1-23-2007 - Colin fastest Ford at Atlanta truck test

1-22-2008 - Up and Coming Drivers of 2008 - Speed Report

1-21-2008 - Rolex 24 hour preview

1-20-2008 - Colin in Nationwide series thanks to CitiFinancial

1-13-2008 - Road racers among Truck rookie contenders

1-13-2008 - Colin Braun's new animal is a truck

1-12-2008 -  Roush Phenom Fast, Heads Home After Crash

1-11-2008 - Colin 2nd in morning but test ends early at Daytona

1-10-2008 - Daytona NASCAR Truck test preview

1-6-2008 - Colin is 3rd fastest in 3 day Daytona 24 test

1-4-2008 - Colin to drive AIM, Ford/Riley in Daytona 24

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