Lady Luck Was Not With Braun at Las Vegas
September 27, 200911:19 AM
Las Vegas, Nev. (September 26, 2009) – Colin Braun hoped the odds would be in his favor Saturday night at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, but unfortunately the deck was stacked against him. After qualifying fifth and leading five laps early in the race, a vibration and an extremely loose condition took Braun out of contention for the win. He ended up 17th, two laps down by the time the checkered flag fell.
The race got off to an unusual start when it was red flagged after the pace laps because a section of lights went out on the frontstretch. Once the track was fully illuminated the race began and Braun said his Con-way Freight Ford F-150 was a bit tight. He was able to pit for fuel and a wedge adjustment under caution on lap 23, which helped the truck come to life.
Braun restarted third on lap 29 and passed Matt Crafton for second a few laps later. He took the lead from Rick Crawford on lap 47 and led for five laps before a caution for debris on lap 51 brought the lead-lap trucks to pit road. Braun pitted for four tires and fuel, but with different pit strategies unfolding he was 12th when the race resumed on lap 55.
He began working his way back up through the field and was up to seventh on lap 65. A few laps later he radioed to the crew that he felt a vibration and thought he had a tire going down. The truck became extremely loose and Braun did all he could to stay on the lead lap, but he was passed by the leaders before a caution came to pit for new tires.
The field began to cycle through the pits for green-flag stops around lap 105. Braun pitted under green on laps 111 and 112 for four tires, fuel and a wedge adjustment. The team had great pit stops, but a caution only eight laps later put him down another lap. The new tires and adjustment helped, but it was too late in the race for Braun to regain his laps. He finished the race two laps down in 17th. Johnny Sauter won the race.
“That was disappointing,” Braun said. “We had a really good truck early in the race and I thought maybe the truck to win. Around the halfway point of the race I felt a vibration and the truck got really loose. I thought we had a tire going down, or something. I kept going until we could pit under caution, but we had lost two laps by then. We’ll have to get the truck back to the shop to figure out if something was wrong. It was just disappointing after being so good early in the race.”
The No. 6 Con-way Freight True LTL team lost two positions and is now seventh in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series point standings, but only 15 points out of fifth. After a three-week break, the next race will be on Saturday, October 24 at Martinsville Speedway. It will be live on SPEED at 1:00 p.m. (ET).
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