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Unfortunate Ending for Braun and Con-way freight Team

BRISTOL, Tenn. (March 20, 2010) – Colin Braun qualified the No. 16 Con-way Freight Ford Fusion 20th for Saturday’s Scott’s Turf Builder 300 at Bristol Motor Speedway.  The only driver in the Roush Fenway Racing stable to out-qualify Braun was teammate Carl Edwards, who started fourth.  After showing some promise early on, Braun fell victim to a scary accident on lap 89 involving four cars and saw the No. 16 come to rest on top of the No. 66 of Steven Wallace in turns one and two.  Braun finished 37th. 

Almost immediately after the drop of the green flag, Braun radioed to crew chief Eddie Pardue that the Con-way Freight machine was a little free in the center of the corners.  When the caution flag was shown for debris on lap 53, Braun had moved into 18th.  Pardue instructed the rookie to stay out during the caution period which Braun did, and he restarted in 13th on lap 59.  Braun continued to complain of the loose handling condition and Pardue planned to make some adjustments under the next caution, but the team would never get the opportunity.  Braun caught the tail end of the No. 11, driven by Brian Scott, while trying to slow down and miss the spinning car.  During that contact, the No. 66 ran into the back of the Con-way Freight car, spinning it and lifting the wheels up off of the ground as the two cars slid down the banking to the apron where they came to rest on top of one another.  

“We were just kind of minding our own business there,” Braun said after the incident.  “I saw the No. 11 spinning and tried to slow down and judge which way he would roll to miss it and then we just got hit from behind.  I feel bad for these guys who worked so hard on this Con-way Freight Ford.  Eddie (Pardue, crew chief) was going to make some adjustments and I think we were going to have a pretty good day.  All we can do is head to Nashville in a few weeks and hope for better luck.”

Penske Racing’s Justin Allgaier went on to grab his first career Nationwide Series win, followed by teammate Brad Keselowski, Kyle Busch, Carl Edwards and Kevin Harvick to round out the top-five.  The Nationwide Series is off next weekend and will head to Nashville Superspeedway in two weeks.