Struggling Hall of Fame turns to Nationwide driver

When he signed with Hall of Fame Racing as a test driver late last year, Brad Coleman figured he'd be in a Sprint Cup car at about this time in the 2008 season. But he thought his debut at NASCAR's highest level would be in a second vehicle, and not the organization's flagship No. 96 Toyota.

Not that he's too choosy, mind you. "I'll take this," Coleman said Friday, two days after team management informed him that he would take over the No. 96 beginning next weekend at Michigan. "I'm excited about it."

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Brad's got a tremendous amount of talent. He's going to be challenged as a rookie here, but he's shown us a lot.
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TOM GARFINKEL, OWNERMired 38th in owner points and with only one finish better than 24th this year, the Hall of Fame team this week fired J.J. Yeley and turned to the 20-year-old Coleman, who will slide behind the wheel after P.J. Jones competes in Sunday's road-course event at Watkins Glen International (read more). Although Coleman has never won in more than two years in the Nationwide Series, Hall of Fame brass is more focused on his reputation as a strong qualifier -- the Texan has seven starts inside the top 10 this year, and won a pole at Talladega last season.

"If you watch what he's doing every week in the Nationwide Series, he consistently out-qualifies his practice times by two or three tenths [of a second]," team co-owner Tom Garfinkel, also an executive with the Arizona Diamondbacks, said by telephone from his Phoenix office. "He brings the car home where the car should be or higher, he doesn't get in crashes, he communicates well about what he needs in the car to make it better. What he did last year in really good Nationwide equipment, qualifying up front at Bristol the first time he's ever seen the place, winning a pole at Talladega the first time he's ever been there, Brad's got a tremendous amount of talent. He's going to be challenged as a rookie here, but he's shown us a lot."

There's little room for error -- the No. 96 car is a distant 216 owner points out of the top 35, the line that separates teams with guaranteed starting berths from those who must qualify on speed. Coleman will have to earn his way into the field next week at Michigan, and perhaps do the same for much of the rest of the year. But he knows that's why he's being brought on board.

"We're going to put a lot of emphasis on qualifying," he said. "In order to get back in the top 35 in points, you've got to qualify for races. I look at myself as a pretty good qualifier. Through my Nationwide career, my ARCA career, I've qualified up in the top 10 most of the time. I'm excited to get in there and try one of these out."

Qualifying is what doomed Yeley, who this time last year lost his ride in Joe Gibbs Racing's No. 18 car -- which now belongs to series points leader Kyle Busch. The affable Phoenix native and former U.S. Auto Club champion failed to make four events this season, and never started better than 22nd. Garfinkel said team management had some "frank discussions" with Yeley after they missed the June 8 race at Pocono, and again after they missed the June 22 race at Sonoma, and made the change after a 43rd-place start and 39th-place finish last weekend at Pocono.