Unusual Double For Braun
08-26-2009 10:37 am

Say this much for fresh-faced Colin Braun, the latest young lion to emerge from Jack Roush's farm system: He's not afraid of a challenge.

Braun, 20, will have a busy weekend, competing in Friday night's EnjoyIllinois.com 225 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series race at Chicagoland Speedway, before heading north of the border for Sunday's NAPA Auto Parts 200 Presented By Dodge on the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve road course. He'll compete in both events in Fords fielded by Roush Fenway Racing.

The youngster is enjoying a successful second season in the Truck Series, after a rocky start to his campaign. Five times in the first seven races of 2009, Braun and the No. 6 Con-Way Freight Ford F-150 finished 20th or worse. Since then, though, Braun has been on a tear. He finished third at Texas Motor Speedway, then won his first race at Michigan International Speedway in June. In the subsequent six races, he's earned two top-five and four top-10 finishes, with no finish worse than 20th. That's allowed him to climb from 20th in points before Texas to seventh now.

"Well, I feel like our truck program is really coming along here," said Braun. "We've been getting a lot better on a lot of these short tracks where I haven't had a lot of experience. I've certainly been learning a lot on how to race these short tracks, racing against the veteran guys in the Truck Series. I feel like I'm still learning a lot and still have a lot to learn as a driver. As far as our trucks, we show up at the race track and we're fast and we always have competitive trucks. I think that just goes to show all the hard work that my guys have been putting in back at the shop."

On the NASCAR Nationwide Series side, Braun has just six starts, but he's been impressive in limited duty, capturing two poles and posting a best finish of second last year at O'Reilly Raceway Park. Montreal will be his first Nationwide race of 2009, though the team is attempting to put together a full-time ride in that series for next year.

Braun said that while nothing has been firmed up with Roush Fenway in terms of his 2010 schedule, he's grateful for the opportunity Roush has given him and is confident that Roush will be put together a sponsorship package.

"Jack Roush is someone who definitely believes in promoting from within," said Braun. "He's strongly believes in the fact that you need to have younger drivers to develop and move up through the ranks. For me that's obviously a great thing. I certainly appreciate all the effort and things he's put into trying to develop young drivers, people from a pit crew standpoint, mechanical standpoint, things like that. It's great to have Jack Roush on your side. He's certainly a really good team boss to drive for. I look forward to working with him for many years."

As for this coming weekend, Braun acknowledged it will be a challenge racing on an oval and a road course in the same weekend.

"Yeah, it's definitely going to be different to try to adapt from all that," he said. "You know, I feel like obviously it's two different sets of standards. … As soon as the checkered flag falls for the truck race, I'm thinking about what I want my car to drive like in Montreal, where I'm going to brake for this corner, things like that. I feel like there's definitely enough time in between to kind of transition in between those two different types of vehicles and types of race tracks."