Gibbs losing promising young gun Coleman
Quote selected text Published October 25th, 2007 in NASCAR News
Joe Gibbs Racing has lost one of its much-admired group of “Young Guns,” with 19-year-old Brad Coleman set to leave the team at the end of the 2007 season to become a full-time driver with Brewco Motorsports in NASCAR’s Nationwide Series, currently the Busch Series.
“It looked like things were shaping up for a full-time run for the championship with JGR in 2008 but, after the Gibbs Cup drivers had filled the sponsored Nationwide seats, there was no room left for a full season,” Coleman explained. “It would have been difficult for me to run another partial season in 2008 because I want to be in the race car every weekend and I am thankful for Brewco and (sponsor) Kleenex providing me that opportunity.”
Coleman will take over the No. 27 Ford Fusion that has been shared during the past two seasons by Nextel Cup drivers Greg Biffle, Robby Gordon, Jamie McMurray and Ward Burton.
Brewco, recently bought by a new ownership group, plans to shift from weekly driver changes to one driver and make a run at the Nationwide championship.
“We believe Brad is one of the hottest young prospects on the circuit and when we found out he was not going to be in a full ride at Gibbs, we made a run for him,” Brewco owner and CEO Gary Baker said. “He … is the kind of guy we want to build our organization around. He is not only talented on the track, but off the track as well, and will add significant value to our sponsors.
“We think he can contend for the Nationwide championship next year and the guys on the team are already excited about 2008.”
- 18-year old Coleman to make Mexico City Busch debut
- Hall of Fame Racing moving to Toyota
- Gibbs waiting to see what Stewart wants long-term
- Dale Jr says turning down Gibbs and Childress was ‘hard’
- NASCAR seriously considers increasing age limit for Cup-UPDATE
Good! Hamlin ant the other Gibbs drivers should focus on the cup series and quit taking money and points away from the struggling Nationwide regulars.
I agree with him leaving screw that parttime driving because a cup driver wants to run 10 to 15 races.
gibbs jus lost another great driver because of theyre cup crap. wat happened to driver development?
Wow what a stupid move by Gibbs. You take away a ride from a young kid trying to get into NASCAR so your cup guys can run a few Busch oops Nationwide races.
NASCAR really needs to limit the amount of Nationwide and Truck races that the Cup guys can run. Those are supposed to be rides for young kids trying to move up. Not some guy who just wants to have some extra practice.
Gibbs lost Almirola earlier this season because of their money hungry driver and sponsors. Looks like they lost another one for the same reason. Brad Coleman is smart to get away from Gibbs, but will have to settle for a team that has limited resources compared to what he is used to.
It will be interesting to see how this works, and if it doesn’t… how long Brewco will keep him.
Yeah, chalk up another one for the Cup guys. Gibbs had the two best young guns in ALL of NASCAR with Coleman and Lagano. You watch, Coleman will get picked up soon by another Cup team that sees the potential this kid has. He is a future Sprint Cup star for sure!
Hey Cup guys…why don’t we get Michael Jordan and go play some high school ball?
do they still have Lagano? cause this kid is a bad ass! i watched him whip all the guys at irwindale a few weeks ago.
Gibbs is an idiot for letting this kid go. I’ve been keeping my eye on him…he’s hell on wheels! I’ll be glad to see him driving a Ford, though…and full-time. Let’s see what this little rocket can do.