Brad Coleman has unusual testing experience
LEBANON, Tenn. – Joe Gibbs Racing driver Brad Coleman cued his microphone at a test of a NASCAR Sprint Cup Series car at Toyota Arizona Proving Grounds earlier this week and said something over the radio he’s never said before.
“Guys, I hit a coyote,” Coleman said.
Coleman was running close to 200 mph around the 10-mile test track when he saw the animal wander under the outside guardrail.
“I’m in the middle of the corner, and I’m doing like 190,” Coleman said Friday at Nashville Superspeedway before practicing his Nationwide Series car. “I’m just cruising. You run the high line there, because that’s where the most banking is. It’s the high-speed lane. There’s just a guardrail there like on the freeway.
“I see this thing, it must’ve been 100 feet in front of me, just jump out. Right when I saw it come out from under the guardrail, I was like, ‘That’s a coyote.’”
As soon as he got “coyote” out of his mouth, he struck it with the nose of his Toyota.
“It just started smoking like crazy,” Coleman said. “And it smelled terrible. I didn’t see anything in the mirror, so I was like, ‘I wonder where it went?’ I said, ‘Guys, I hit a coyote. I’m going to come in because I think it screwed up the radiator. I think it clogged up the grille a little bit.’”
The animal went through the grille of his car and bent the radiator. Coleman said it all happened in less than a second and he had no time to react.
