Third-Place Finish at Homestead Gives Braun Fifth in Points

November 21, 2009
2:47 PM

Homestead, Fla. (November 20, 2009) – Colin Braun and the Con-way Freight team had one major goal heading into the season finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway Friday night. After falling to seventh in the points at Phoenix, they were determined to regain those two spots to finish fifth in the points. It came down to the last lap, but in the end Braun’s third-place finish and five bonus points for leading a lap helped the team attain their goal.

Heading into the last race of the season in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series, Braun and the Con-way Freight team were 25 points out of fifth place. They cleared their first hurdle toward fifth-place on Friday afternoon when Braun won his fifth pole of the season. The pole broke the tie between him and Ron Hornaday for most poles of the year. Braun led the first five laps of the race which gave him five bonus points that would come into play by the end of the night.

His truck got loose the longer he ran and he fell back to ninth place before he was able to pit for tires and adjustments during the first caution on lap 33. Quick work in the pits helped him gain three positions and restart the race in sixth place on lap 37.

The truck was still quite loose and he fell back to eighth before the next round of adjustments in the pits on laps 59 and 60. He was 11th for the restart on lap 63 and moved up to eighth within 20 laps. The truck was better, but still too free getting into the corners.

With 20 laps to go Braun was in sixth place and outside the top five in points. The crew was planning a green-flag pit stop for fuel and held off as long as they could, hoping to do it under caution. Crew chief Mike Beam finally called Braun to pit road for fuel and a track bar adjustment on lap 119 and within a few laps Braun was back in sixth place.

With 10 laps to go he was still sixth and tied for fifth in points. He moved into fifth place with seven laps to go, but that was still not enough to move him up in the point standings. A little luck came Braun’s way when the caution came on lap 131. Beam made the call to pit for right-side tires while many of the trucks ahead of Braun took four tires. The call put Braun in third place for the green-white-checker restart.

In the final two laps Kevin Harvick took the lead from Timothy Peters, who did not take any tires under caution. Matt Crafton made a run and got by Braun at the same time as Peters fell back behind Braun. As the checkered flag flew Harvick won the race, followed by Crafton and Braun.

“Getting in the top five in points was definitely the goal for us tonight and qualifying on the pole helped a lot,” Braun said. “Leading the lap came into big play there. I don't think if we would have led a lap we probably would have finished fifth in points. So, certainly that was important for us. We just struggled in the race. I thought we had a really good truck. The way we ran in practice last night I was surprised it wasn't a little better in the race. But my guys did a really good job trying to get it fixed up during the race. My crew chief Mike Beam made a great pit call there at the end to get us back some track position and we were able to hold on at the end.”

The No. 6 Con-way Freight True LTL team gained two positions to finish the 2009 season fifth in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series point standings by only seven points. Braun will accept his fifth-place award Monday night at the year-end banquet in Miami Beach.

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