Colin Braun

Colin Braun
Born	(1988-09-22) September 22, 1988 Ovalo, Texas
Awards	2008 Craftsman Truck Series Rookie of the Year
NASCAR Nationwide Series career
31 race(s) run over 4 year(s)
2010 position	23rd
Best finish	23rd – 2010
First race	2007 Sam's Town 250 (Memphis)
Last race	2010 Ford 300 (Homestead)
Wins Top tens Poles 6 2
NASCAR Camping World Truck Series career
53 race(s) run over 4 year(s)
2011 position	50th
Best finish	5th – 2009
First race	2007 Kroger 200 (Martinsville)
Last race	2011 Good Sam Club 200 (Atlanta)
First win	2009 Michigan 200 (Michigan)
Last win	2009 Michigan 200 (Michigan)
Wins Top tens Poles 1 23 5
Statistics current as of November 20, 2011.

Colin Braun (English pronunciation: /ˈkɒlɨn bɹaʊ̯n/, born September 22, 1988) is an American racing driver. He will compete in the American Le Mans Series with the Core Autosport team during the 2012 season. He formally competed in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series and the Nationwide Series.

Racing career

Beginnings

Braun started out his racing career at 6, racing quarter midgets. At 8 he went international, competing for factory kart racing teams in countries such as Monaco, Spain, France, and Japan. At 14 he moved to cars, winning championships in Formula Renault TR 1600 and Formula TR 2000 Pro Series.

2006–2007

At 16, Braun was part of the Team 16 squad and made his road racing debut in the Rolex 24 at Daytona with a Porsche 996 GT3, teammate to future NASCAR driver Brad Coleman. Braun made history as the youngest Daytona Prototype driver at 17, driving an Essex Racing Ford Crawford. In 2006 he joined Krohn Racing's No. 75 team, teamming with Jörg Bergmeister. Braun became the youngest winner of a major auto race on North American soil with his win at the Brumos Porsche 250 in Daytona. Due to the Master Settlement Agreement, Colin was barred from participating in three races but still finished fourth in points while Bergmeister won the overall championship. He also became the youngest driver to stand on the podium at the 24 Hours of Le Mans with a second place finish in his class in a Ferrari F430. He stayed on with Krohn for 2007, but was teamed with Max Papis. The team ended up in the top five in points, despite Braun being suspended for one race due to aggressive driving.

In 2007, Braun signed a driver development contract with Roush Fenway Racing. Braun made his stock car debut in the ARCA RE/MAX Series race at Gateway International Raceway, where he finished 13th. Braun later made his NASCAR debut in the Camping World Truck Series (was Craftsman Truck Series), driving the No. 50 RSC Equipment Rental Ford for Roush Fenway. He was running in the top top 20 before a flat tire sent him into the wall and a 34th place finish. He would also drive the No. 16 3M Ford at the Sam's Town 250 where he had a 30th place finish. In November 2007, he was announced as the full-time driver of the No. 6 Ford, succeeding Travis Kvapil. Braun ran the full schedule with Con-way Freight sponsoring. He had three top-fives and clinched the Rookie of the Year honors for the Truck Series.

2008–2012

Braun assumed full-time duties in 2008 in the Camping World Truck Series, driving the No. 6 Con-way Ford F-150 with veteran crew chief Mike Beam. He earned three top-five and eight top-10 finishes, and won the Raybestos Rookie of the Year award. Braun became the sixth Roush Fenway Racing driver to claim the rookie title in the truck series. He also made five Nationwide Series starts including one top-five finish and two poles. Braun will continue racing full-time in the Camping World Truck Series in 2009.

Braun's 2010 Nationwide car

After turning a lap of 177.441 mph on Thursday evening in qualifying to earn his first career Camping World Truck Series Pole award, Braun led the field to the green flag Friday night at Daytona International Speedway for the 100-lap season opener. He led the first 10 laps of the race, fell as far back as 15th and with luck, in the end, Braun crossed the finish line in ninth place to score his ninth career top 10. On June 13, he scored his first career Truck Series win at Michigan.

In 2010, Colin was promoted to the Nationwide Series, and Con-way would be his sponsor for 18 races. However in Mid Season, Colin was removed from the No. 16 car in certain races in which they did not have a sponsor, but returned to the No. 16 car in races when Con-way is the sponsor. Colin had a tough rookie year in the Nationwide Series, making 24 starts with 5 top 10s but also had 7 DNFs. Colin was released by Roush on December 1 after Roush's Nationwide program turned its focus to gettings sponsorship for Carl Edwards, Trevor Bayne, and Ricky Stenhouse, Jr..

Braun joined Robertson Racing in the American Le Mans Series for part of the 2011 season. Braun returned to NASCAR with Billy Ballew Motorsports, driving their No. 51 Ford at Michigan.

On January 21, 2012, he announced that he wouldn't compete in NASCAR during the 2012 season, but would drive for Core Autosport in the American Le Mans Series. Partnered with team owner Jon Bennett, Braun helped CORE win the ALMS Prototype Class Teams Championship.

24 Hours of Le Mans results

Year	Class	No	Tyres	Car	Team	Co-Drivers	Laps	Pos.	Class Pos.
2007	GT2	99	M	Ferrari F430 GT2 Ferrari 4.0L V8	Risi Competizione Krohn Racing	Tracy Krohn Niclas Jönsson	314	19th	2nd

External links

• Official website