COLIN BRAUN – No. 16 CitiFinancial Ford Fusion – PLEASE INTRODUCE YOURSELF AND TALK ABOUT WHAT BROUGHT YOU TO THIS POINT IN YOUR RACING CAREER. “Basically, I started racing Quarter Midgets when I was five years old. My Dad had been a race car engineer, so I guess I kind of grew up in the sport. After that I started racing go-karts when I was eight. I raced all over America, I raced all over different countries as well. I raced in Japan, Italy and Monaco. I got a chance to travel internationally a lot, which was a lot of fun. After that I started racing open wheel formula cars on the west coast, out in California and Phoenix and Vegas and places like that. I won both of those championships and had a lot fun doing that. Then I started racing sports cars when I was 16, 17 and 18. I won a couple of races there and won the championship in that and then started racing at the end of last year, I started racing a few stock car races for Roush Racing. I did a couple of races there, then got the chance to come and drive this No. 6 Con-way Freight Ford F-150 truck that I drove last night and the whole season. They’ve added a few Nationwide races for me to go and do. I think this is my third Nationwide race so far this year. I’m having a lot of fun driving this No. 16 CitiFinancial car here. I’m just looking forward to going out there and getting to race.”
THIS IS ONE OF YOUR ONLY DOUBLE-DUTY WEEKENDS SO FAR. WHAT’S THAT LIKE TO GO FROM FULLTIME RACING IN THE TRUCK SERIES TO HAVING A TRUCK SERIES RACE ONE NIGHT AND THEN COMING RIGHT BACK, LESS THAN 24 HOURS LATER AND RUNNING THE NATIONWIDE RACE? “For me, it’s great. A lot of these race tracks that I go to, being a rookie, I haven’t been to before, haven’t tested at before, so it’s brand new when I go out there. For me to get a chance to go and do the truck race last night, I learned, I think a lot, about what the race track does, what it’s going to do from our final practice to when we go qualifying and when we go race. I think that’s just a huge help for. Guys like Mike Skinner and Ron Hornaday, I was talking to those guys yesterday and they’ve had more starts at these race tracks than I have had years alive. At least me having one race is a big help. It helps me out a little bit, I guess it makes me a little bit less of a rookie, so that’s a good thing.”
IS THERE ANYTHING FROM KARTING THAT TRANSLATES TO THIS TYPE OF RACING? “I think the biggest thing for me that I’ve carried over was just the fact of being smooth and using the brake pedal and the gas to slow your vehicle that you’re driving down, but do it in a way you can still maintain momentum and things like that. I think it teaches you a lot about being smooth because you have no horsepower in the go-kart, so it’s a lot about keeping your speed up and things like that. That’s probably the biggest thing that I’ve learned.”
YOU WERE PART OF THE TEAM 16 WITH BRAD COLEMAN THAT WON THE ROAD RACE AT DAYTONA. DO YOU HAVE A FRIENDLY RIVALRY WHEN YOU TWO RACE? “Oh, yeah, Brad’s a good guy and he’s a lot of fun to race. We got to run in Mexico City together and that was fun. I know he’s struggling a little bit here this weekend, but it’s always fun to race against him and racing against any of these guys is a lot of fun.”
WHAT NATIONWIDE RACES ARE YOU GOING TO RUN THIS YEAR AND WHY DID JACK [ROUSH] DECIDE TO RACE YOU IN THIS SERIES? “I’m not really sure why Jack decided to do that. I don’t know if he was in a good mood that day or what. I’m certainly happy to have those races add. I’m doing this race, also Daytona and ORP in Indy. It’s really cool for me to get a chance to go and do these races that are on the same weekend. That’s just a big help. Being a rookie and all, it’s a huge help to back the next night and get a chance to run. I’ll be in that No. 16 CitiFinancial car at Daytona and ORP. I’m really looking forward to that and certainly excited to get out there and race tonight too.”
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