Colin James Braun ( "brown"; born September 22, 1988)Colin Braun Career Statistics is an American racing driver. He is the 2014 and 2015 WeatherTech SportsCar Championship Prototype Challenge Champion and currently drives the No. 60 Meyer Shank Racing Acura ARX-06 for Meyer Shank Racing in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship, and the No. 25 Ram 1500 for Kaulig Racing part-time in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series. Driving the ARX-06, he was part of the winning team of the 2023 24 Hours of Daytona. He formerly competed in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series and the Xfinity Series. He lives in Charlotte, North Carolina.Colin Braun | About - Colin Braun Retrieved 2018-07-10.
Early life Braun was born in Ovalo, Texas. He grew up in a family involved in professional auto racing. His father Jeff Braun is a race engineer and his brother Travis Braun is a screenwriter.
Racing career
Braun started out his racing career at the age of six, racing quarter midgets. At the age of eight, he went international, competing for factory kart racing teams in countries such as Monaco, Spain, France, and Japan. At the age of fourteen, he moved to cars, winning championships in Formula Renault TR 1600 and Formula TR 2000 Pro Series.
2006–2007 At the age of sixteen, 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 th age of seventeen, driving an Essex Racing Ford Crawford. In 2006, he joined Krohn Racing's No. 75 team, teaming 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, he 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 an incident at the Crown Royal 200 at Watkins Glen International.
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-twenty 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 thirtieth-place finish. In November 2007, he was announced as the full-time driver of the No. 6 Ford, succeeding Travis Kvapil.
2008–2011 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-ten 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.
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 2009 season opener. He led the first 10 laps of the race, fell as far back as fifteenth and with luck, in the end, Braun crossed the finish line in ninth place to score his ninth career top-ten. On June 13, he scored his one and only career Truck Series win at Michigan.
In 2010, Braun was promoted to the Nationwide Series, and Con-way would be his sponsor for eighteen races. However, by midseason, Braun 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. Braun had a tough rookie year in the Nationwide Series, making 24 starts with five top-tens but also had seven DNFs. Braun was released by Roush on December 1 after Roush's Nationwide program turned its focus to getting 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.
2012–2013
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 2012 American Le Mans Series season. Partnered with team owner Jon Bennett, Braun helped CORE win the ALMS Prototype Challenge Class Teams Championship. Braun also joined the Kia Racing team as part of Kinetic Motorsports Pirelli World Challenge GTS Class No. 38 Kia Optima entry. After four races, where he was able to achieve two podium finishes, Braun was replaced by Mark Wilkins following an incident with his teammate, Michael Galati, at Miller Motorsports Park.
Braun partnered with Bennett for the first two races of the 2013 Rolex Sports Car Series season running with Doran Racing in a Ford Dallara to gain insight into the Daytona Prototype category. Braun returned to CORE autosport for the full 2013 American Le Mans Series season, competing in the Prototype Challenge class. After driving the No. 05 with Bennett for the first eight races, Braun switched to the team's GT entry, driving the No. 06 Porsche 911 GT3 RSR with Porsche factory driver Patrick Long. As a result of the late-season switch, Braun finished fifth in the PC Drivers' Championship, but made significant contributions to CORE's 2013 PC Team Championship by scoring five podium finishes (including two wins) with Bennett.
On October 9, 2013, Braun joined Michael Shank Racing at Daytona International Speedway to set a new speed record on the track's oval course using a Rolex Sports Car Series Daytona Prototype car, powered by a twin-turbocharged Ford V-6 engine; the existing record was , set in 1987. Braun broke the record, setting a fastest single lap at a speed of .
In 2013, Braun began coaching Team CrowdStrike in the NARRA Radical Cup Series to many wins and an overall championship.
2014–present
2014
Braun returned to CORE autosport in 2014, in the new United SportsCar Championship, driving the No. 54 PC car with Bennett. He and co-drivers Bennett, James Gué and Mark Wilkins won the season-opening Rolex 24 at Daytona in the PC class followed by the 12 Hours of Sebring. Braun and Bennett went on to win races at Kansas Speedway and Watkins Glen International, propelling them to the 2014 PC Drivers' Championship and PC Team Championship as well as the newly created Tequila Patrón North American Endurance Cup. Braun received the TOTAL Pole Award for winning more PC pole positions than any other driver.
2015
Braun and Bennett's success continued into 2015, where once again they claimed the PC Driver Championship in conjunction with CORE's PC Team Championship.
2016
Braun returned to CORE autosport in 2016, racing with Bennett in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship PC class. The team's first win came at Sebring with Braun, Bennett and Mark Wilkins behind the wheel. Braun passed Tom Kimber-Smith with 23 minutes remaining and won by a margin of 1.283 seconds. The team posted three wins at Sebring, Laguna Seca, and Canadian Tire Motorsports Park. They also posted two second-place finishes at Detroit and Road America.
Braun also made his Global Rally Cross (GRC) debut with CORE autosport in 2016.
2017
In 2017, IMSA eliminated the PC class and Braun moved to the GTD class in a Porsche GT3R with CORE autosport and co-driver Bennett.
Braun also returned to GRC Lites competition for CORE autosport.
2018
The CORE autosport team moved into the Prototype class in IMSA competition, with Braun and Bennett driving an LMP2-spec car. The team began the season with a second-place finish at the Rolex 24 and posted back-to-back wins at Canadian Tire Motorsports Park and Road America. They also posted two more podiums at Watkins Glen and Laguna Seca. Braun also scored poles at Watkins Glen and Canadian Tire Motorsports Park. At CTMP he ran a quick time of 1:06.315, bettering the previous track record (a 1:08.459 by Ricky Taylor) by over two seconds. As the only private, non-factory funded team, Braun and Bennett finished the 2018 season just four points shy of the overall IMSA Championship.
In 2018, Braun joined forces with George Kurtz and his team, CrowdStrike Racing for Pirelli World Challenge racing. Braun raced the two-driver SprintX format with Kurtz in the No. 04 CrowdStrike/GMG Racing Audi R8.
2019
In November 2018, CORE autosport announced they would not race the ORECA 07-Gibson in the LMP2 class in 2019. Instead, they would make the switch to IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship's DPi class in a Nissan Onroak DPi with drivers Braun and Bennett. Braun and Bennett combined with Loic Duval and Romain Dumas to finish fourth at the Rolex 24 Hour race to start off the year. In July, Braun broke his previous track record at Canadian Tire Motorsports Park with a lap at 135.250 mph. It was an IMSA track record and less than a second off the all-time track record set by Marco Werner in a diesel-powered Audi R10 in 2007. Mid-way through the 2019 season, Bennett announced he would be retiring leaving Braun to look for other opportunities.
In February, CrowdStrike announced it would partner with DXDT Racing, where the duo of Braun and Kurtz would drive the No. 4 Mercedes-AMG GT3 in the GT World Challenge America competition. They posted two podium finishes on the year.
2020
In December 2019, DragonSpeed announced that Braun would join its 10Star entry for the Rolex 24 At Daytona on January 25–26. Braun would join co-drivers Henrik Hedman and Ben Hanley in the LMP2-class ORECA 07-Gibson. Braun helped the team win their second-consecutive LMP2 victory at the Rolex 24 At Daytona. Following the win, Era Motorsports announced it had signed Braun to assist with the remaining three endurance races – the 12 Hours of Sebring, Six Hours of The Glen, and Petit Le Mans.
Bennett announced his retirement at the end of the 2019 IMSA season. After a year off, the team announced in late 2020 that it would field a Ligier JS P320 in the new-for-2021 LMP3 class in IMSA with drivers Bennett and Braun. IMSA adopted the LMP3 class as a way to bolster car count.
Braun also joined George Kurtz and the CrowdStrike Racing team in GT World Challenge's GT3 Pro-Am class. The two posted eight podium finishes on the season, including three wins. They finished the season with wins at Virginia International Raceway (VIR), Road America, and at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. The duo also partnered with driver, Ben Keating to take a second win at Indianapolis in the Pro-Am class in the Intercontinental GT Challenge's Indianapolis 8-Hour race after driving in both wet and dry conditions. Braun and Kurtz finished the season second in the overall Pro-Am Drivers Championship. Braun and Kurtz also made their debut in the Total 24 Hours of Spa as part of SPS Automotive Performance's lineup for the Belgian endurance race. It marked Braun's first career start at the race.
2021