Colin Braun Named the NASCAR Driver of the No. 16 Con-way Ford for Roush Fenway Racing in the Nationwide Series

Topics:  Colin Braun

Rob Gillignham
July 19, 2010

The NASCAR driver of the No. 16 Con-way Ford for the Roush Racing in the Nationwide Series is younger than most would think. The 21-year-old Colin Braun has already broken a fair share of records in his career as well as won two championships, three Rookie-of-the-Year awards and a variety of other wins and poles. The impressive career he's built at such a young age is what many drivers hope to build over the course of a lifetime.

Braun began racing when he was 6-years-old in Quarter Midgets then made the leap to kart racing when he was 8-years-old. He won many national karting championships before he reached the age of 10, and he drove for international factory go-kart teams, competing in Italy, Monaco and Japan all before he was 14. He began racing cars when he was 14-years-old. In 2003, Braun raced Formula Renault TR1600 and won the championship and Rookie-of-the-Year after winning 8 of 11 races. In 2004 he won the championship again in Formula TR2000 Pro Series.

When Braun was just 16-years-old he competed for Team 16 in the Rolex 24 Hours of Daytona. He drive a Porsche 996 GT3. In the very same season he drove an Essex Racing Ford Crawford and made history by becoming the youngest driver of a Daytona Prototype. He was only 17.

In 2006, Braun joined Krohn Racing and won his first Grand Am race at the Brumos Porsche 250 at Daytona. This made him the youngest driver in North America to win a major auto race. He was named Rookie-of-the-Year again, this time by SPEED and Racer Magazine. The next year, he became the youngest driver to stand on the podium at the 24 Hours of Le Mans just after he finished in second in his class driving a Ferrari F430.

After making history at the 24 Hours of Le Mans, he made his ARCA/MAX Series, NASCAR Camping World Truck Series and NASCAR Nationwide Series debut with Roush Fenway Racing. As a result, Braun went on to earn Raybestos Rookie-of-the-Year honors in 2008 as well as scoring his first win and five pole positions in 2009. Throughout 2008 and 2009 he competed full-time for Roush Fenway Racing in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series in the No. 6 Con-Way Freight Ford F-150. He made six NASCAR Nationwide Series starts for Roush and earned two pole positions and a top-5 finish over the course of two seasons in 2008 and 2009.

Today Braun has been driving the Roush Fenway Racing No. 16 Con-Way Freight Ford full-time for the 2010 NASCAR Nationwide Series. Roush Fenway Racing is currently NASCAR's largest team that operates eight motorsports teams. It contains four drivers in the Sprint Cup Series and four in the Nationwide Series. Braun races in the Nationwide Series along with Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Brian Ickler and Paul Menard. Braun recently returned from a 2-week hiatus and achieved his highest finish of the series. He secured his first top-10 finish of the season and was the highest finishing Roush Fenway Racing Ford in the Heluva Good 200 at Dover International Speedway. The No. 16 team is now locked into the top-30 rankings. Last week, Braun appeared at the Roush Fenway Racing Spring fan day at their headquarters in Concord, North Carolina. He signed autographs alongside drivers Carl Edwards, Greg Biffle and Ricky Stenhouse Jr. for fans during the first autograph session. Tickets for the event went passed out at 8:00am that morning and fans were required to bring two non-perishable items or a monetary donation in order to receive a ticket to help support the local Cabarrus County food pantries.

Upcoming in June, Braun will be racing on the Kentucky Speedway, the Road America and New Hampshire Motor Speedway tracks. He's currently 29th in the 2010 Nationwide Series. On his Web site Braun keeps a blog to update his fans on his activities and progress and he's up to 8,862 followers on Twitter. At such a young age, the Texas native has made quite the career for himself, only time will tell what the future holds. AUTHOR BIO: Rob Gillingham is the President and owner of Bob Gillingham Ford, located in Parma, Ohio, which sells a variety of new Ford cars and trucks, preowned and Ford classic vehicles.

Source:  Amazines.com