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More Bad Luck For Braun And The No. 16 Con-Way Freight Team

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (April 3, 2010) – Despite a rain-delayed qualifying session, Colin Braun put up a fast lap of 30.22 in the No. 16 Con-way Freight Ford Fusion and started a season high seventh for Saturday’s Nashville 300 at Nashville Superspeedway. The only driver in the Roush Fenway Racing stable to out-qualify Braun was teammate Carl Edwards, who started fourth. After continuing to work on the race car and showing signs of improvement, Braun was caught up in an accident on lap 115, having nowhere to go as cars stacked up in front of him. He finished 30th.

Braun survived a scare on lap three as the No. 21 of John Wes Townley spun directly in front of him. Fortunately, Braun slowed enough to be able to avoid any contact. After the field took the green again, Braun radioed to crew chief Eddie Pardue that his car was loose through the center of the corners. Because of the rain earlier in the day, NASCAR mandated a competition caution on lap 30 and Pardue called for some significant changes to help get the No. 16 Con-way Freight Ford to handle better. Braun restarted 17th.

By lap 76, the handling had improved, but was now a bit tight through the center of the corners. The field began green-flag pit stops on lap 100 and Braun was not far behind, bringing the car to pit road on lap 104. The caution waved while the Con-way Freight team was performing its stop, but the team did not lose a lap as Braun took advantage of the wave-around rule. He restarted in15th on lap 113.

As the field entered turn four on the following lap, the Nos. 66, 35, 62 and 10 attempted to go four-wide through the corner and collected one another directly in front of the No. 16. Unfortunately, Braun had nowhere to go and could not avoid being a casualty of the accident. He brought the Con-way Freight Ford to pit road with heavy right front damage, where Pardue and team assessed the damage. They changed tires quickly to try and keep Braun on the lead lap. As Braun caught up to the rest of the field, NASCAR threw the red flag for clean-up. Having been able to see the damage, the team devised a plan to fix the car and was able to do so, very quickly, in only 24 laps. Braun rejoined the field on lap 144 in 33rd position and gained three spots by the end of the race to finish 30th.
“I just honestly don’t even know what to say at this point,” Braun said after the race. “I was standing on the brakes coming into (turn) four there and all I saw was cars blocking the entire track. I had nowhere to go. We had a great qualifying effort and we were all so excited to see what the day would bring. I just hate it so much for my guys. They work so hard on these cars every week and trouble just seems to find us. It is so frustrating. All I can do is try to put it behind me and head to Phoenix next week.”

Kevin Harvick took the checkers followed by Reed Sorensen, Kyle Busch, Justin Allgaier and Brad Keselowski. The Nationwide Series will be at Phoenix International Raceway next week for the first Friday night race of the season.