Joe Gibbs Racing's Brad Coleman looks for top finish in final scheduled start
Joe Gibbs Racing driver Brad Coleman will make his eighth and possible final start of the season this weekend at Circuit Gilles Villeneuve in Montreal, Canada. // Jeff Velte, NASCAR Scene
Brad Coleman has known all along that Sunday’s NAPA Auto Parts 200 at Circuit Gilles Villeneuve is his final scheduled NASCAR Nationwide Series race of the season for Joe Gibbs Racing, but that still gives him plenty of incentive to get the best finish possible in hopes of landing an additional race this year or a full-time ride next season.
Coleman, who has shared the car with JGR Sprint Cup drivers Joey Logano and Denny Hamlin, has driven in seven Nationwide races in the No. 20 Toyota, with a best finish of fifth at Gateway International Raceway.
“The economy is tough for everyone,” Coleman said. “It affects teams, drivers, sponsors and fans alike. I want to run a full season in 2010 and know I can be competing for the championship. Until then, you do what you have to do to stay alive and run for the front."
In seven starts this season, Coleman has finished every race and led a total of 35 laps.
“I have given up a few top-10s in my seven races this year because top 10 is not good enough when you are not running for points. And guess what, I am not running for a top-10 at Montreal either. I’m running for the checkered flag.”
Coleman has extensive road-course experience in his background, and three of his 10 career top-10 finishes have come on road courses.
“I am not a ‘road-course specialist,’” Coleman said, “but I am highly capable of running up front every time I set four wheels on one. Road courses take a technical know-how of driving that in my opinion only the best drivers have. Being a great driver in NASCAR requires you to run well at a road course as well as the ovals. You can’t be a top-level NASCAR driver and talk down either type of track. You have to love them all.”
Coleman has made one prior start at the 2.708-mile Circuit Gilles Villeneuve, where in 2007 he was running in the top five before being taken out in a late-race crash just after a restart.
“I’ll never forget that day,” Coleman said. “We had a top-five, got caught up in someone else’s mess, and then came back to the pits with the hood folded up in half so I could not see. [Crew chief] Jason [Ratcliff] said it was a great run but we were done.
“I asked them to hammer on it and get me back out before the field came around. They did a great job, and we went back out 13th as they dropped the green-white-checkered. It was a single-file restart but I was able to pass five cars on the last lap to bring home a top-10 finish.”
Coleman ended up eighth that day, but he hopes for a much better result this time.
