Catchfence

CLERMONT, Ind. (July 24, 2009) – Although Colin Braun does not have much experience racing on short tracks, nobody could tell that Friday night at O’Reilly Raceway Park. Braun captured the pole, his second of the season and his second at ORP after winning the Nationwide pole in 2008, and ran with the veterans all night to finish fifth.

After winning the pole Braun elected to start on the outside of the front row. When the green flag flew for the 200-lap event Mike Skinner made a charge to the front and took the lead. Braun fell back to third as he told crew chief Mike Beam his Con-way Freight True LTL Ford was tight and needed to roll through the center better. The longer he ran the truck came to him and he was back up to second by lap 62.

With surprisingly few cautions, Braun did not pit for adjustments until just before halfway on lap 95. The crew gave him four tires with an air pressure adjustment in just 13.65 seconds, and then he returned to the pits for fuel and a wedge adjustment. He was fourth for the restart on lap 102.

Braun ran in fourth following veterans Todd Bodine, Ron Hornaday and Sprint Cup driver Kyle Busch until lap 149 when he passed Busch for third. A caution on lap 161 brought a few lead-lap trucks to pit road, but the top eight trucks stayed out. Braun was still third for the restart on lap 166 and tried to make his move on Bodine for second place. Braun could get outside of him through the turns, but Bodine pulled away on the straightaways. With 30 laps to go coming off turn four when Bodine cut down on him, Braun made contact with Bodine’s bumper which sent Bodine into the wall. Braun’s truck was fine and he moved into second place.

The final restart of the race came with 10 laps to go. Braun was second behind Hornaday, but Mike Skinner was coming through the field quickly with fresher tires since he pitted on lap 161. When Skinner passed Braun two other trucks with newer tires were also able to get by which left Braun in fifth place. Hornaday held off Skinner for the win, his fourth consecutive win and fifth of the season.

“We had a pretty good truck tonight and I sure learned a lot following those veterans around the track,” Braun said. “The experience they have over me probably weighed in at the end, but it was fun racing with them. The guys with fresh tires had an advantage at the end, but it was a big gamble to lose our track position to come in for tires when they did. Hornaday won on old tires so it was a tough call. It was a good night for us in the point standings and we should have a good run next week in Nashville.”

The No. 6 Con-way Freight True LTL team gained two positions and is now 10th in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series point standings. The next race will be on Saturday, August 1 at Nashville Superspeedway. It will be live on SPEED at 8:00 p.m. (ET).

- Roush Fenway Racing Press Release