Braun Gets Best Career Martinsville Finish With Third
October 24, 2009
9:56 PM
Martinsville Va., (October 24, 2009) – Colin Braun has never had much luck at Martinsville Speedway. He has struggled at the paper clip-shaped short track, but today was a different story. In his four previous starts he never earned a top-10 finish, but today he brought the No. 6 Con-way Freight Ford F-150 home in third place.
The start of the race was delayed for nearly two hours due to rain all morning, but when the engines fired under sunny skies Braun was ready to go. He started in 12th place and knew that patience was the way to go early in the run. The truck was a bit tight so he pitted under caution for fuel and a track bar adjustment on lap 34.
He was 12th when the race resumed on lap 39. Braun continued to show patience and not be too aggressive too early in the race. The truck was handling well and when the next caution came on lap 54 he brought the truck to pit road for the final time. The crew gave him four tires and fuel with a quick 13.6-second stop which sent him out 14th since not everyone in front of him took tires.
Crew chief Mike Beam encouraged Braun to save fuel since they did not plan on pitting again. He stayed on track during the next six cautions and avoided a few spins in front of him. By the halfway point at lap 100 he was up to 10th and continued to pick off the trucks ahead of him.
He moved into the top five with 57 laps to go and took over fourth place with 26 laps to go when Mike Skinner had a flat tire. Braun was fourth between KHI teammates Ron Hornaday and Kevin Harvick, but that did not rattle the young driver. Harvick tapped his bumper a few times, but Braun held his ground. He pulled away from Harvick and set his sights on Hornaday. After a little slip by Hornaday, Braun got by him with nine laps to go. There was not time to catch Todd Bodine for second place, so Braun finished third. Timothy Peters won his first career Camping World Truck Series race.
“The way I’ve run at Martinsville in the past finishing third today feels like a win,” Braun said. “We had a great pit strategy and stuck to our plan all day. I have to thank everyone on the team. The guys gave me a fast truck and my spotter did great job getting me through some of the wrecks in front of me. It was a good points day for us and I actually enjoyed racing here for the first time. Hopefully we can escape Talladega with a good finish next weekend so we can get back in the top five in points.”
The No. 6 Con-way Freight True LTL team gained one position and is now sixth in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series point standings, but only 18 points out of fourth. The next race will be on Saturday, October 31 at Talladega SuperSpeedway.
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