Coleman Starts Summer Stretch for Joe Gibbs Racing

Charlotte, July 16, 2009: 21 year-old NASCAR Nationwide Series driver Brad Coleman will finally have the opportunity to get some momentum going in the No. 20 Rudys.com Toyota. For the first time this season, he will run back-to-back races and be in the drivers seat for six of the next seven events.

The Missouri-Illinois Dodge Dealers 250 will be only the third race for Coleman this season and he looks towards the upcoming summer stretch with anticipation and maturity.

“Racing is not only a sport of speed but a sport of patience and momentum as well,” said Coleman. “Sometimes you go faster in the corner by going slower and letting the momentum carry you out of the corner. In the same way, it takes a while to build communications and momentum with a team of people in anything you do. As close as I am with the guys at Joe Gibbs Racing, and these guys are the best, it still takes time to gel with a crew chief you have never worked with and they with me as a driver. We have had minimal testing time together but learned a lot in our first two races and held a number of beneficial meetings working on our communications since then. Now it is time to start putting it all together and we will have the chance to do that in this six race stretch.”

While Coleman did not quite have the finishes he wanted in his first two outings, Top 10 at Nashville and 24th at Milwaukee, he has proven he has the capability to be successful this summer. In his two previous starts, Coleman combined for a Driver Rating of 97.6, an Average Running Position of 10.2, ran 14 Fastest Laps Run and drove 74.3 percent of his laps in the Top 15. He has also qualified extremely well, giving the team full confidence he can earn a good starting spot for Saturday’s race.

His history at Gateway also shows promise. He finished third in his ARCA race at Gateway in 2006, and in 2007 had his Joe Gibbs Racing car running sixth to seventh most of the evening until a late race incident relegated him to 27th. In his Baker Curb Racing car in 2008 he finished 17th.

Coleman will run Gateway, ORP in Indianapolis, then Iowa Speedway prior to an off week. He will not be in the car at Watkins Glen where he has posted a Top 5 with JGR and Top 10 with BCR. He will be back in the No. 20 to race at Michigan, Bristol, and wraps up his planned schedule at Montreal on August 30.