Colin Braun (born September 22, 1988, in Ovalo, Texas)<ref>Colin Braun Career Statistics</ref> is an American racing driver. He currently drives the #16 Con-way Ford for Roush Fenway Racing in the NASCAR Nationwide Series.
Early career
Braun (pronounced Brown) started out his racing career at 6, racing quarter midgets. At 8 he went international, competing for factory go-kart teams in countries such as Monaco, Spain, France, and Japan. At 14 he moved to cars, winning championships in Formula Renault TR 1600 and Formula TR 2000 Pro Series.
Road Racing
At 16, Braun was part of the Team 16 squad and made his road racing debut in the Rolex 24 Hours of Daytona with a Porsche 996 GT3, teammate to future NASCAR driver Brad Coleman. Braun made history as the youngest Daytona Prototype driver at 17, driving an Essex Racing Ford Crawford. In 2006 he joined Krohn Racing's #75 team, teamming with Jorg Bergmeister. Braun became the youngest winner of a major auto race on North American soil with his win at the Brumos Porsche 250 in Daytona. Due to the Master Settlement Agreement, Colin was barred from participating in three races but still finished fourth in points while Bergmeister won the overall championship. He also became the youngest driver to stand on the podium at the 24 Hours of Le Mans with a second place finish in his class in a Ferrari F430. He stayed on with Krohn for 2007, but was teamed with Max Papis. The team ended up in the top five in points, despite Braun being suspended for one race due to aggressive driving.
Stock Cars
In 2007, Braun signed a driver development contract with Roush Fenway Racing. Braun made his stock car debut in the ARCA RE/MAX Series race at Gateway International Raceway, where he finished 13th. Braun later made his NASCAR debut in the Camping World Truck Series (was Craftsman Truck Series), driving the #50 RSC Equipment Rental Ford for Roush Fenway. He was running in the top top 20 before a flat tire sent him into the wall and a 34th place finish. He would also drive the #16 3M Ford at the Sam's Town 250 where he had a 30th place finish. In November 2007, he was announced as the full-time driver of the #6 Ford, succeeding Travis Kvapil. Braun ran the full schedule with Con-way Freight sponsoring. He had three top-fives and clinched the Rookie of the Year honors for the Truck Series.
Braun assumed full-time duties in 2008 in the Camping World Truck Series, driving the No. 6 Con-way Ford F-150 with veteran crew chief Mike Beam. He earned three top-five and eight top-10 finishes, and won the Raybestos Rookie-of-the-Year award. Braun became the sixth Roush Fenway Racing driver to claim the rookie title in the truck series. He also made five Nationwide Series starts including one top-five finish and two poles. Braun will continue racing full-time in the Camping World Truck Series in 2009.
2009
After turning a lap of 177.441 mph on Thursday evening in qualifying to earn his first career Camping World Truck Series Pole award, Braun led the field to the green flag Friday night at Daytona International Speedway for the 100-lap season opener. He led the first 10 laps of the race, fell as far back as 15th and with luck, in the end, Braun crossed the finish line in ninth place to score his ninth career top 10. On June 13, he scored his first career Truck Series win at Michigan.
Future
It was revealed in a mid-June interview with Jack Roush that he will run in the Nationwide Series in 2010. When Ford unvailed the new Stock-car Ford Mustang, it was found out that Con-way will be his sponsor for 18 races.
References
<references />
External links
|
