Colin Braun – No. 16 CitiFinancial Ford Fusion – DID YOU EXPECT TO BE FASTEST IN THIS AFTERNOON’S PRACTICE? “This car has been fast. Greg Biffle normally drives this No. 16 CitiFinancial Ford Fusion car and he’s always fast in it, so I guess everybody was waiting to see if I could run it fast.” WHAT WERE YOUR IMPRESSIONS? “It was really good. This car drives great. My crew chief Eddie Pardue did a really good job getting this Ford Fusion tuned up. It was fast right off the truck. We rolled off and we right up to the top with five or six laps, then in the second run we were P1 there. We were happy with that. Certainly, it’s pretty fast and hopefully we’ll have a good night.”
QUALIYFING IS IMPORTANT TODAY BECAUSE YOU HAVE TO QUALIFY IN AND PICK A PIT STALL. “Yeah, we were just sitting here talking about that. It’s going to be tough challenge. It’s always a guessing game of who’s got a start-and-park program going or what’s exactly going to happen with all the pit stalls. Everybody else is locked in, so we’ve got to pick through the other pits and pick our best one.”
YOU POSTED THE FASTEST LAP YESTERDAY IN FINAL TRUCK PRACTICE AND TODAY YOU’RE UP THERE AGAIN. IS THE TRACK THAT COMFORTABLE? “Yeah, it is. I really like driving here. My crew chief yesterday in the truck series, Mike Beam and my crew chief of Nationwide Series, Eddie Pardue, they both did a really good job. The both talked about what this race track is going to drive like and what I need to look out for and what I need to do as a driver. It’s certainly paid off today and it paid off yesterday for us. Being fast is always a nice thing, it just shows we’ve got some speed. If we can go out there and qualify towards the front, we’ll hopefully stay up in the top five or top 10 and stay out of the mess all night, we’ll be in real good shape.”
GREG BIFFLE DROVE THE NO. 16 TO A SECOND PLACE FINISH HERE LAST YEAR, HAVE YOU HAD A CHANCE TO TALK TO HIM? “Greg always runs well here. I’m hoping to speak with him before the race. I’m sure he’ll have some good advice for me.”
HOW CONFIDENT ARE YOU HEADING INTO THE RACE TONIGHT? “I’d say the biggest thing will be staying out of trouble tonight. We obviously have a fast car. This No. 16 CitiFinancial Ford Fusion is fast and it’s just going to be staying out of trouble. Qualifying will be important to us, hopefully, we can qualify up near the front and just cruise around there.”
LAST TIME YOU WERE IN THE NO. 16, YOU HAD TO QUALIFY ON TIME, YOU STARTED ON POLE. CAN YOU REPEAT THAT TODAY? “I think there’s always a shot anytime we go out and drive this car. There’s always a chance you can go out there and put it on the pole. I think there’s definitely a possibility. I don’t think we’re going to try for it. I just want to be up in the top five or top 10 and just have a good, comfortable driving spot. Obviously being a go or go home car, we need to get at least one good lap in there to make the race and then maybe hang it out more on the second lap.