BRAUN: Set For 4th Start at Martinsville
03-23-2009 4:53 pm

Braun on racing at Martinsville Speedway: "Speed has never been an issue for us at Martinsville. I feel like we've always had pretty fast trucks, and trucks that handle well. The biggest challenge is staying out of trouble there. So much can happen in such a short amount of time, and a lot of times there is nowhere to go to avoid it. The short tracks are a bit more challenging for me coming from a road course background. So many of the guys I compete against in the truck series grew up racing on short tracks so it's an advantage for them. We had a decent run at Martinsville last spring so I'm hoping we can improve on that and get a top 10 to move us back up in the points."

Crew chief Mike Beam on racing at Martinsville Speedway: "This has been a good truck for us over the years and Colin raced it several times last year. We took it to the little track at Rockingham last week for a day of testing. We were able to try several different things that should help us this weekend in Martinsville. It's just a tough track and Colin will have to be patient, but also stand his ground. It can be frustrating so you have to pick your battles, and balance aggression with patience."

FAST FACTS:

-Braun will be racing chassis RK-39 at Martinsville. He raced this truck at the spring Martinsville, Dover, Memphis and Bristol in 2008. His best finish was eighth at Dover. Travis Kvapil won at Memphis with it in '07, and Mark Martin won in it at Bristol in '06.

-Braun is one of only two drivers to have led laps in all three truck races this season. Kyle Busch is the other. Braun has led 20 laps in the first three races.

-This will be Braun's fourth start at Martinsville. His best finish there was a 14th-place finish in March '08. It was also the site of his first career truck start in October '07.

-Braun earned his first career NASCAR Camping World Truck Series pole at Daytona last month.