Circuit City 250 - Brad Coleman Notes

Coleman Looks forward to Virginia Homecoming
NBS Driver Lived with Racing Legend; Attended High School in Martinsville

NEW YORK CITY, NY, (April 30, 2007) – Even though he was born and raised in Texas, 19 year-old Brad Coleman left his Houston home at the age of 14 to spend his high school years living with his mentor and driving coach, Price Cobb, in Virginia. This week, the youngest driver in the NASCAR Busch Series will make his Virginia debut behind the wheel of the No. 18 Carino's Italian Grill Chevrolet in the Circuit City 250 at Richmond International Raceway.

Coleman will bring significant momentum with him in the way of three consecutive Top 20 finishes in just five starts for Joe Gibbs Racing, earning an NASCAR Busch Series career-best pole and Top 10 spot last week at Talladega.

"I love Virginia," said Coleman. "I have a lot of great memories and special friends there and look forward to seeing them at the track. I will always consider my years at the Carlisle School in Martinsville some of the best years of my life. The people in Virginia are great people and it is a beautiful state. I will feel very much at home when we pull into Richmond, even though I have never raced on that track."

The teenage Joe Gibbs Racing sensation lived and trained with Cobb, a LeMans champion and well-known sports car legend. They would train daily at Virginia International Raceway, a complex 17-turn road course in Danville, Virginia, in sports cars and formula cars. Coleman would then go to the short-tracks at nearby South Boston and ACE Speedways with the successful Sellers Racing Team to train in stock cars to round out his program. Cobb credits Coleman's phenomenal success to his natural talent and commitment to this unique "cross-training" approach.

"Brad was given a special gift to drive race cars the day he was born," stated Cobb. "He has an uncanny natural ability to navigate traffic on a race track unlike anyone I have ever seen. When you combine his special gift with the cross-training program he committed to at a very young age, you know why he is rising to the top of the sport."

H.C. Sellers thinks Coleman is one of those rare talents that come along once in a great while. "Brad came to us and had never been in a stock car," said Sellers, the brother and Crew Chief of Dodge Weekly Series 2005 National Champion Peyton Sellers. "He took to it immediately and won the rookie championship and was third overall in his first season. Midway through the season he was giving the veterans all they could handle. He has a special gift behind the wheel and I look forward to watching him in the Nextel Cup soon."

When asked about his time in Virginia, Coleman talks about Cobb, H.C. Sellers, and the Carlisle School , the private school he attended in Martinsville that allowed him to travel the country to races while making sure he still received a top education.

"The Carlisle School is a fine school run by some great people," insisted Coleman. "They allowed me to chase my dream while making sure I was getting a world-class education. They supported me through thick and thin. They even gave me a pep-rally before one of my Grand Am Rolex sports car races. You know, just like the football team. They had the cheerleaders, the band and all the students in the gymnasium doing school cheers and playing music. It was awesome! I still enjoy watching the video!"

Coleman made the most of his time at Carlisle School, earning the respect of peers and administration alike, ultimately being voted "Most Likely to Succeed".

"Brad is a special young man," comments Simon Owen-Williams, Head of School at Carlisle. "He handles his success with a lot of humility and that earned him the support and respect of the entire staff and student body. That young man has a lot of fans and friends in Virginia and I am sure they will all be there for him this weekend. We are honored to call him an Alumnus of our school."

Coleman graduated Carlisle last June, the same week he ran his first NASCAR Busch Race at Nashville at 18 years-old.