Brad Coleman signed a contract to drive for Joe Gibbs Racing Thursday at the Waldorf=Astoria in New York City. The 18-year-old will drive in 17 of the 35 NASCAR Busch Series races during the 2007 season, sharing the No. 18 Chevrolet with Tony Stewart and Aric Almirola.
The successful ARCA RE/MAX Series driver from Houston, Texas, posted the highest average finishing position this year (third) by notching eight top-fives in his nine total ARCA starts. Coleman also earned his first major stock car victory at Kentucky Speedway in July by holding off eight-time ARCA champion Frank Kimmel during two green-white-checkered restarts.
"We are excited about Brad joining our race team and what the future may hold for him," said Gibbs Racing President J.D. Gibbs. "He brings a total package approach to the sport. At a very young age, he has proven himself in a wide variety of race cars in a number of different series."
Coleman ran the first of his two NASCAR Busch Series races in 2006 at Nashville Superspeedway and posted a respectable 29th-place result a mere week after graduating from high school in Martinsville, Virginia.
With his strong ARCA results, a record-setting run at the Rolex 24 Hours At Daytona as part of the youngest driver lineup in series history, rookie of the year short track honors in 2005, and open wheel experience in Formula Mazda and the NASA Fran-Am 1600 Series, Speed Channel's Dave Despain was prompted to call Coleman "The prototype NASCAR young gun of the future."
"I could not be more blessed to find a home with Joe Gibbs Racing," Coleman said. "I have the greatest respect for the Gibbs family and the entire organization for their approach to life and racing. For an 18-year-old, I guess you could say this is the dream of a lifetime, and now I have to live up to my end of the arrangement."
Joe Gibbs Racing¹s Vice President of Busch Series Operations Steve deSouza said, "We've watched Brad race all year and have been very impressed with the way he has driven and handled himself in a variety of situations. He is not only smooth and precise on the track, but he is equally good in the way he handles media and sponsor relations off the track."
"Brad is a very talented driver and has an incredible NASCAR future ahead of him," added Mark Gundrum, ARCA RE/MAX Series Vice President of Marketing. "Having him in our series has been a real highlight to our spectacular 2006 season. He is a first-class young man and conducts himself professionally at all times."
A sponsor for Coleman will be announced in the weeks ahead.
