Braun parked for 2 races

[Calif Shelby Mustang]

Braun parked for 2 races? Roush Fenway Racing will bench rookie #16-Colin Braun for two races in the aftermath of a crash with teammate Ricky Stenhouse, Jr., in Monday's NASCAR Nationwide Series race at Texas Motor Speedway. Speaking on the condition of anonymity, a high-level source within the team told Sirius NASCAR Radio's Sirius Speedway with Dave Moody that RFR initially considered removing Braun from the ride permanently, but relented after sponsor ConWay Freight advocated a more lenient sanction. Braun will be in the ConWay-backed car this weekend at Talledega Superspeedway, before being replaced by former Sprint Cup Series champion Matt Kenseth in an unsponsored #16 Ford at both Richmond and Darlington. Braun has struggled in his rookie season of Nationwide Series competition, with a quartet of crash-related DNFs at Daytona, Las Vegas, Bristol and Phoenix. He has posted an average finish of 29.3 in his seven starts this season, with a best finish of 13th at Texas last week. He currently ranks 25th in Nationwide Series championship points

[TeamBlueOval]

According to FOX Sports, he may be out for more than 2 races... their article says he will only run the remaining 14 Conway-sponsored races.

[Army Of Markness]

Why punish Colin? Stenhouse probably woulda wrecked eventually anyway.

[TeamBlueOval]

Colin has wrecked just as often as Ricky, unfortunately.

[Calif Shelby Mustang]

Concord, N.C. (April 23, 2010) – Roush Fenway Racing announced today that Matt Kenseth has been selected to drive the unsponsored No. 16 Roush Fenway Racing Ford at both the Richmond and Darlington races in the NASCAR Nationwide Series.

Roush Fenway Racing further confirms that Colin Braun will continue to drive the No. 16 in the races to which he has been previously assigned, namely those Nationwide Series races where Con-way Freight and 3M are primary sponsors (16 more races).

“Matt Kenseth is our first selection to drive the No. 16 in the unsponsored races to promote Matt and this team’s availability for Nationwide Series sponsorship,” said team owner Jack Roush. “We also believe Matt's participation will strengthen the capabilities of our Nationwide Series programs. We are committed to campaign the No.16 in all the Nationwide Series races, and we may select drivers other than Matt, and including Colin, to drive in the other unsponsored races. In making those driver decisions we will be balancing our competitive, sponsorship and development needs.”

Crew chief Eddie Pardue and the rest of the No. 16 team members will remain with the car no matter the driver.

“I am excited about having Matt rejoin the No. 16 team for these next few races,” Pardue said. “Richmond and Darlington are really good tracks for him. None of our goals have changed for this season though. We have high expectations for Colin and will be excited to have him back in the car at Dover.”

[Calif Shelby Mustang]

well Carl last week said that he like Matt running the nation wide so they could help each other make their cars better so maybe this may be part of that to they may do the same with Ricky to. Jack has sat driver before he even did it with Biffle so nothing new

[Ragan_6_Darnell]

Sounds like the perfect situation to Erik in a car again. Don't know why they are forcing the issue with non-companion races and a Cup driver.

[Special K 17]

Wow, I didn't realize that was part of the reason Matt was going to do the 2 races...

[TeamBlueOval]

Geoff Smith said that Jack has been on his case for months about why Matt Kenseth doesn't have a Nationwide ride, so they decided that Matt would replace either Ricky or Colin in some races, and it ended up being bad timing when Colin wrecked Ricky on Monday, causing them to pull him in favor of Matt.

[speedraceriowa]

Here's a vote from Colin's Iowa fans (including a customer of Con-way Freight) for Colin to drive at Iowa Speedway.