Paul Menard
From The Third Turn, a Wikia wiki
| Born | August 21, 1980 |
|---|---|
| Hometown | Eau Claire, Wisconsin |
| Awards | - |
| 2005 Sprint Cup position | 71st |
| Best cup position | 66th - 2003 |
| Statistics current as of March 20, 2006. | |
Paul Menard (born August 21, 1980) is a NASCAR Sprint Cup driver of the #98 Menards Ford for Yates Racing.
Menard's successful racing career began to take shape at the age of eight when he won the Briggs Junior Class Championship in his native Eau Claire, Wisconsin. He later won the Briggs Medium Class Champion before working his way up the racing rungs. He began ice racing at the age of 15 and won 10 International Ice Racing Association events in his career. He continues to compete in IIRA events in and around Wisconsin.
In 2000, Paul began racing a limited schedule in the NASCAR ReMax Challenge finishing 13th in points. During his rookie season in 2001, he earned a pole and victory at Road America in Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin, finishing ninth in points.
The 2002 season saw a mixed bag of ReMax Challenge (two poles, seventh in points), SCCA Trans-Am (one front-row start, four top-10 finishes), Grand-Am Cup (victories at Fontana and Phoenix) and the NASCAR Southwest Tour. He capped his season in thrilling fashion in the latter series with a dramatic last-lap pass of veteran Ken Schrader for the Phoenix victory.
The 2003 season was even busier when Menard joined Andy Petree Racing to compete in NASCAR Sprint Cup, Nationwide and Craftsman Truck Series events while still competing in ARCA.
In his first ARCA start at Salem, Ind., he qualified second and finished fourth. Later that year, he started on the pole at Winchester, Indiana, and then scored his first ARCA victory at Talladega. He also registered top finishes of ninth in the Busch race at Indianapolis Raceway Park and eighth in the Truck race at the Kansas Speedway.
In 2004, Menard began the NASCAR Busch Series season driving the No. 33 Menard’s Chevrolet. But, due to a lack of performance, Paul and his Menards Hardware Stores sponsorship bolted from Andy Petree Racing, and moved to Dale Earnhardt, Inc. It didn’t take long for he and the No. 11 team to find their groove, achieving hist first Bud Pole Award in less than 10 starts.
In their short time together that year, Menard and the team showed they had what it took to become winners. With Dan Stillman as crew chief beginning in 2005, they started out by leading 57 laps at Daytona. Winning the Bud Pole Award at Talladega also had them running up front until getting caught up in a wreck.
Constantly looking for that elusive top-10, Menard answered by getting his first top-10 and top-five by placing fifth at the Kentucky Speedway. From there, the team went from 20th to the top-10 in points before finishing sixth on the season.
After a Bud Pole Award at Talladega Superspeedway, six top-fives and 15 top-10s, leading several races and finishing sixth in points last year, Menard is on the edge of racing greatness.
In 2006, driving the #15 car for DEI, Menard scored his first Top 10 finish by coming in seventh place at the Golden Corral 500 at Atlanta Motor Speedway. It has been announced in May that Paul will race a full time Nextel Cup schedule in 2007 for DEI.
[edit] External links
- Profile on NASCAR.com
- Dale Earnhardt Inc. Profile
- Team Menard
- Drivers statistics at racing-reference.info
| Dale Earnhardt, Incorporated | |
| Sprint Cup drivers | Regan Smith (#01) | Martin Truex, Jr. (#1) | Mark Martin/Aric Almirola (#8) | Paul Menard (#15) |
| Development drivers | Trevor Bayne | Jeffrey Earnhardt | Jesus Hernandez |
| Partnerships and affiliations | Richard Childress Racing | Jay Robinson Racing |
| Owners | Teresa Earnhardt |
| Menard Family |
|---|
| Charlie Menard | Paul Menard |
