Roush Fenway Racing’s newest driver, 19-year old Colin Braun, will race the No. 50 F-150 at Martinsville Speedway on October 20, 2007. This will be Braun’s first Craftsman Truck Series start.
“The goals are the same as they were in all the ARCA races, to finish all the laps and get as much experience as I can, ” said Braun. “I’m looking forward to getting out there and driving the No. 50 F-150. There will be a lot to learn and I will need to give a lot of room to the drivers who will want to push me around a little bit, but I will certainly do that. I want to make all the laps I can and gain as much experience as I can. I’m looking forward to racing against guys like Travis Kvapil and Erik Darnell, I think I’ll learn a lot from them.”
The announcement comes on the heels of Braun’s impressive ARCA RE/MAX Series race at Talladega Superspeedway where he qualified third and finished ninth after leading his first career laps in a stock car. Braun has three ARCA starts on his resume never finishing outside the top-10. In his first career ARCA start, Braun impressed Roush Fenway brass by qualifying 13th and finishing ninth then followed that up with a fifth place qualifying effort and third place finish at Chicagoland.
“Colin has done everything we’ve asked him to do, ” said Roush Fenway general manager, Max Jones. “The goal at the beginning of every race has been to finish every lap and learn as much as possible and that’s exactly what he’s done. He’s one of the hardest working drivers I’ve seen in a while. 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. We feel like he’ll do a good job for us in the truck at Martinsville. ”
In his short tenure with Roush Fenway, Braun has been a keen observer of how the Craftsman Truck Series works and he’s relied on the advice of fellow teammates to help him make the transition from road course to oval racing.
“I think the biggest thing I’ve learned from watching the truck races is that you don’t have to run at the front all the time. ” Braun continued, “I think the key to success will be to use the first few pit stops to get the truck handling really well and work with John Quinn (crew chief, No. 50 F-150) to get any issues sorted out. Then from the last pit stop forward its time to go racing and hopefully, if we’ve all done our jobs, we will have the best truck by the end of the race.”
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