Colin Braun, driver of the No. 16 CitiFinancial Ford Fusion, posted the second fastest time during the NASCAR Nationwide Series first practice on Saturday morning (23.012 seconds at 107.318 mph). Braun competed in the truck series race on Friday night and earned a 15th place finish. He talks about practice and the difference between the truck race and today’s Nationwide race.

COLIN BRAUN – No. 16 CitiFinancial Ford Fusion – YOU WERE SECOND TO MIKE SKINNER IN TODAY’S FIRST PRACTICE. IT LOOKS LIKES LAPS YESTERDAY HELPED. “I think they helped. My crew chief Eddie Pardue brought a really good No. 16 CitiFinancial Ford Fusion for us today. It’s the same car that we ran at Milwaukee and it was pretty good there. He made the body a little bit better, I think. It’s certainly a very good car for today. It turns really well, it does the things I want it to do and seems to race well. I’m excited about tonight.”

WHAT DO YOU MEAN ‘IT DOES WHAT I WANT IT TO DO’? “For me, the biggest thing is that I want to be able to drive it hard and not have it get free. I want to have it roll in the center and turn in the center pretty good and have really good grip coming off. Those are the things that we’ve definitely got. I feel like I can drive some different lines. I feel like I’m able to pass some people here. That’s something that’s going to be important for tonight.”

ON THE RADIO, YOU SAID THE FUSION WAS A LITTLE TIGHT? “Yeah, it was a little bit tight in the center, just rolling through the center. I think this race track is going to free up tonight kind of like it did last night. So, we don’t want to make too many adjustments and changes here. I think we’re going to take it easy and be smart about what we’re going to do here.”

CAN YOU TALK ABOUT THE DIFFERENCE RACING A FUSION AND A TRUCK AT ORP? “It’s not that different. It feels like you’re sitting down a little bit lower and the wall are a little taller, but they’re not.”

LAST NIGHT THE PREFERRED GROOVE WAS THE TOP. DOES THAT APPLY HERE TODAY? “I think it will be. I think you’re going to have guys on new tires that are going to run the bottom just to get passed people on the old tires. Just a little bit of going where everybody else isn’t. I think the preferred groove is definitely the top, but at the same time, I think you can make it work on the bottom, too.”