Colin Braun, driver on the No. 16 3M Ford Fusion captured his first career NASCAR Nationwide Series pole on Saturday afternoon. This is Braun's first start at Autodromo in a stock car and his third career start in the series. His lap time was 88.217 seconds at 102.756 mph, nearly one-tenth quicker than second place starter Scott Pruett.

Braun is one of four Ford drivers to start in the top five for tomorrow’s race. Carl Edwards will start third, Marcos Ambrose is fourth and Boris Said will start fifth.

COLIN BRAUN PRESS CONFERENCE

COLIN BRAUN– No. 16 3M Ford Fusion – (qualified 1st) - COLIN, CARL WAS JUST IN HERE AND SAID YOU WERE THE MAN TO BEAT TOMORROW AND HAD GREAT THINGS TO SAY ABOUT YOUR COACHING OF HIM. TELL US ABOUT THAT AND YOUR RUN TODAY. “First off, I really don’t think I’ve helped Carl too much. We went and tested at VIR about a month ago. Carl helped me out quite a bit, both Carl and Boris Said were there and those guys taught me a lot about road course racing and really helped get me up to speed in these cars. I know, obviously, a little bit about road course racing, but certainly not like those guys do in these stock cars. They helped me out quite a bit and really taught me a lot. I’m really thankful for those guys to help me out. Them helping me has started to dry-out a bit when we’re faster than them. Those guys are great guys and I’ve learned a lot from them. I don’t really think I’ve taught Carl anything, so if he wants to say that, that’s fine. I’m not going to complain. Our run today was really good. The whole 3M Ford Fusion team did a great job. My crew chief Eddie Pardue worked on our car pretty hard last night and made a few little adjustments to it and obviously was a little bit faster today. We ended up being second quickest overall [yesterday] and it was great to end up on the pole here. Those guys worked their butts off and I’m really proud of that whole team. We had a good test at VIR and we ran through a whole bunch of changes, got here yesterday and ran through a whole other bunch of changes. They’ve been working really hard and they definitely deserve to be on the pole here for how hard and for how much work those guys had put in. I’m just proud to be up here with the Ford Fusion car – it’s awesome.”

CARL TOLD THE MEDIA THE STORY OF VIR AND HOW YOU WERE A SECOND FASTER THAN HIM. THEN BORIS MENTIONED YOU WERE THE BEST HE’S EVER SEEN. HOW DO YOU RESPOND TO THAT? “I’m sure I’ll be getting an invoice in the mail from Boris and Carl, here pretty soon to say those good things about me. Hopefully, I can afford it. I don’t know how much the pole pays, but hopefully, it’s enough to cover that. Those guys, they just helped me out a lot. I don’t really know what to respond to that. It’s obviously really nice that those guys say about me and I really appreciate that, but I’m just trying to sit here and learn as much as I can from those guys and just soak it all in. Those guys have done this for so long and have so much experience that I know I have a lot to learn, obviously, this being my first year in stock car racing. If Carl thinks I can help him out here on the road course, then I can go and pick his brain on the oval stuff, that’s going to be a great deal for me.”

WHAT IS IT THAT YOU CAN TAKE FROM YOUR ROLEX SPORTS CAR RACING EXPERIENCE AND PLUG INTO THIS, IF ANY? “That race was obviously a really fun race. I qualified on the pole for that as well and led my whole stint, basically. I think a little bit just about how this race track changes during the day and what kind of car we’re going to have to have going into the race for tomorrow. We have time to make a few final adjustments on it before the race starts. I guess you have to be real smart about what the race track is going to do. I know Scott Pruett is obviously racing in that race this year. He’ll know a little bit better about what it’s going to do. I think a little bit of that and just a little bit the way these races tend to go here, where people can pass and where people get held up in traffic and things like that, I think, are going to come into play a little bit. Racing against guys like Carl and Boris who have done this same race here for the last three or four years. It’s going to be hard to make up that, but certainly it’s going to be better than never being here before.”

IF THERE WERE ANY DOUBTS THAT YOU COULD BE GOOD IN A STOCK CAR IN A ROAD RACE, THEY’VE ALL BEEN LIFTED. WOULD YOU BE MORE INTERESTED NOW TO RACE IN SONOMA OR THE GLEN IN THE CUP CAR, IF THE CALL WERE TO BE MADE? “If the opportunity presented itself, I’d love to go do that. I’m a race car driver. I love driving race cars. It’s something I really enjoy and if I can do it every single weekend of my life, I’d be doing it. If I could do it every day, I’d be doing it. The more racing, the more driving I can do, the better. We’ll see what happens. Nothing has ever been brought up about that. I’m just focused on driving my No. 6 Con-way Freight Ford F-150 truck in the Craftsman Truck Series and we’re trying to as good of a job there as we can and win as many races as we can, and gain as much experience as we can. I’m just focused 100 percent on that. Then going to Nashville a couple of weeks ago in the Nationwide car and coming here this weekend in the Nationwide car, those have been my big focuses and whatever else happens, happens.”

DID YOU EXPECT TO BE ON THE POLE? “Coming into this race, I thought just because how good the car is that the people at Roush Fenway build, how much power we have from the Ford guy and the people at Roush Yates, I thought there was definitely the possibility that we could have the pole here. It just depended on how close our set-up was when we got down here and how well I could drive it. Again, it goes to the hard work those guys have done. We started out here yesterday and we were a little bit off. We weren’t where we needed to be and it’s great to have a good crew chief like Eddie Pardue who has a bunch of notes stored up. We can run through the notes and look back through the changes that we made before and put those on the car. Obviously, it worked out pretty well for us today.”

CARL EDWARDS – No. 60 Scotts Water Smart Ford Fusion – (qualified 3rd) - YOU PICKED UP A TON IN BETWEEN PRACTICES AND POSTED A QUICK LAP TODAY. “Yeah, it was a lot of speed. We didn’t run a qualifying run in practice, so I wasn’t sure how fast it would go. I think that will be a top-eight or 10 spot, I hope and that would be great for us. That would be good.”

CARL EDWARDS PRESS CONFERENCE

CARL EDWARDS – No. 60 Scotts Water Smart Ford Fusion – (qualified 3rd) - TALK ABOUT YOUR QUALIFYING RUN. “First of all, congratulations to Colin. That’s great for him to put a Ford Fusion on the pole here. Him and Boris Said are my road course coaches and Colin has been helping us out a lot. I was really proud of my guys for having the car as fast as it was. We did not make a run yesterday. I just didn’t know how fast we were going to be able to go, but I was very pleased with the lap. I believe this is my best qualifying effort here at Mexico. I’m very proud of my guys and I’m excited to start third. That’s going to be great.”

MORE ON THE STARTING POSITION. “It’s always good to be in front. That is the mission, to be in front of everyone. This is a long race though. Starting up front is, I think, a big advantage just because how of much can happen here. That’s always good. Personally, I’ve been working on my qualifying a little bit and we’ve had great efforts this year in both the Sprint Cup Series and the Nationwide, it’s been good.”

WHAT IMPRESSES YOU SO MUCH ABOUT COLIN BRAUN? “There’s a couple of things that impress me about Colin. Number one, he’s a really nice person. I’m very lucky with the teammates that I have and I think Colin is a great addition. And he’s just unbelievably fast in a road course car. When we went and tested at VIR, Boris [Said] is the one who has helped so much. Boris and Colin and I tested there and I put down what I thought were some good laps for me. I’ve been to VIR a few times and he [Braun] went out and race a second faster. And I was embarrassed and upset. I told Boris, ‘Man, what’s he doing?’ And Boris looked at me and said, ‘He’s the best I’ve ever seen.’ So, I’m leaning on Colin now and he’s a guy that I’ve gone to just lately and he’s agreed to help me out with my road course racing. I just think he’s unbelievable. I believe he is the guy to beat tomorrow in this race.”

HOW DO YOU FEEL IN MEASURING YOURSELF UP AGAINST SOMEBODY LIKE COLIN BRAUN AND SCOTT PRUETT? “I tell you what, I don’t like qualifying third. I want to be on the pole. But I am very aware how good those guys are and it makes me feel really good to be able to put a lap down that’s comparable to theirs and be up there, Because I do have a lot of respect for what they’ve done. I pay attention when we’re out here. Guys like Scott Pruett and Carpentier and Boris and Colin and all those guys, they’re experts at this. So, I try to learn everything I can from them. I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t proud of running that lap. To be that fast today, that was good.”

YOU’VE BEEN SAYING THAT COLIN HAS BEEN HELPING YOU WITH YOUR ROAD COURSE STUFF, HAVE YOU BEEN DOING THE SAME WITH OVALS? “Our deal is, I can lean on him for road courses stuff and he’s going to lean on me for the oval stuff. But I haven’t seen him race too much on an oval. He might not need any help. I tell you what – he’s one smart kid. Definitely, very smart, very humble and he’s going to be very tough to beat. I think he has a really bright future.”

MARCOS AMBROSE – No. 59 Kingsford with Hickory Ford Fusion – (qualified 4th) - “We’re pretty happy. It’s nice to be in the top third for this race. We feel like we have a good car on the longer run. I was hoping for a top-five qualifying run there and I’m pretty pleased with it.” YOU THINK THERE WILL BE A LOT OF LONG RUNS TOMORROW? “Yeah, I think we will because the race will settle down and everyone is just trying to look out for their gear. There will be a cluster of cautions, that’s historically how this race is run.” YOU’VE BEEN ON THE TOP OF THE CHARTS ALL WEEKEND. “Yeah, it’s nice. It’s a nice gain for us. I feel like we’ve really improved our road course program. We were faster here with this car with a 100 less horsepower than what we had last year. We’ve made huge gains on the car and we’re really pleased with it.”

BORIS SAID – No. 25 No Fear/Team Smithfield Ford Fusion – (qualified 5th) - “It was a good run, but I hoped to be better. We were a little loose in qualifying, so we’ll make a few adjustments. I think we’ll be all right for the race. I shouldn’t be disappointed with fifth, but I am just a little bit. I feel like I let our guys down, but they did a great job with this car, everyone at Rensi, Frank and hopefully, we’ll race good.

ERIK DARNELL – No. 17 CitiFinancial Ford Fusion – (qualified 14th) - WHAT DO YOU THINK ON THIS FORMAT OF QUALIFYING? “It is really different. Our CitiFinancial Ford Fusion is pretty fast and I thought we would have run faster than we did yesterday. I think it’s just my inexperience on these places. I sailed off into turn one on cold brakes and then didn’t get slowed down quick enough and just spun off the track a little bit. I knew we had to make it on time, so for my second lap, I just went nice and smooth and got in the show and tried for it a little harder on the third lap. The car just wasn’t quite where it was yesterday. I’m a little bit disappointed with that lap. That’s the same lap time we ran yesterday in practice. I thought we’d go faster today, but we didn’t. It’s a lot of fun. I’m out there learning and I think we’ll end up with a top-15 starting spot and I’ll be pretty happy with that. I’m looking forward to the race tomorrow. I had to do a conservative lap to make sure we got in, then kind of went for it in the third lap. Then they told me how fast Carl [Edwards] ran and I thought the track had picked up from yesterday. It didn’t for me, but Carl turned a heck of a lap.” CONGRATULATIONS ON MAKING YOUR FIRST NASCAR NATIONWIDE AND ROAD COURSE START. “Thank you. Yeah, it’s a first for both. We’re in the show, we were top-10 in practice yesterday. That’s where I was hoping we ended up in qualifying today. A top-15 starting spot is good. Hopefully, we’ll be able to keep all four fenders on it and get a decent finish out of it tomorrow.”

KELLY BIRES – No. 47 Clorox Ford Fusion – (qualified 18th) – “It’s a good pick-up from yesterday. That’s what we focus on every week, is having our fastest lap in qualifying trim. It was a good lap. It should give us a good, solid starting spot here for tomorrow. The guys did a great job. We made a ton of adjustments over night and to be able to go out there and be fast like that, that’s a pretty good accomplishment for the Clorox Ford Fusion team.” YOU PICKED UP TIMES BETWEEN THE TWO PRACTICES AND POSTED A QUICK TIME TODAY, YOU LEARNED THE TRACK REALLY FAST. “Yeah, I’m real new at this so every time we go on the track, I get better. It’s gonna keep doing that. Every race I get to run on a road course it will just keep getting better and better. It’s just the way it works and I’m so new at this that it is going to take me a little bit to get on a top-10 pace, but that’s a great start today.” WHAT ARE YOUR FEELINGS TODAY? YESTERDAY YOU WERE ANXIOUS. “I’m still anxious; anxious to get the race started.” WHEN YOU PUT TOGETHER A LAP LIKE THAT WHERE IS THE DRIVER? WHERE DO YOU SEE THE CRITICAL POINTS OF THE RACE TRACK? “It’s very, very slippery out there for qualifying today. I don’t know if it’s the rubber from the number of cars that were on the track this morning. You’ve got three laps than you can use brakes up on. You can rely on them. I felt out there that I just wasn’t smooth. I didn’t try to hustle the car. The third lap I tried hustling the car and it got loose on me. It’s just being smooth and great adjustments overnight made us get a good pick-up.” HOW MUCH OF A CONCERN ARE BRAKES? “We haven’t had any issue with them yet this weekend. I have been very happy with that. The guys on the Clorox Ford Fusion team put a great package together here to go road racing, especially with me being the first time.” DO YOU THINK YOU’RE GOOD AT ROAD RACING BECAUSE YOU HAVEN’T DONE IT BEFORE AND HAVEN’T DEVELOPED BAD HABITS? “They say that’s true, but when you’re not in a good race car, you develop bad habits too. The guys prepared a great race car for me and I’m able to learn in a good car and that helps a ton.”

DAVID RAGAN – No. 6 Discount Tire Ford Fusion – (qualified 23rd) - “I thought we’d qualify better, so we’ll probably end up 24th. We didn’t go fast. We were a little free. We didn’t run what we did yesterday. We probably should have made a qualifying run yesterday. We tried, but qualifying isn’t everything here. Certainly, it would be fun to start in the top-10 or 15, but it looks like we’re not. So, we’ll just have to go racing tomorrow.” DON’T YOU WANT THE CAR TO BE FREE ON ROAD COURSES? “Yeah, you want to be free, but you don’t want to be wrecking loose, fixing to wreck the car. Yeah, it’s good to be free and that will help 10 or 15 laps into a run. Some of these guys can go out and run fast. The big thing is making no mistakes on race day and we’ll be fine.”