Menards Racing
Las Vegas Advance
(Mooresville, NC) – Paul Menard will heads to Las Vegas Motor Speedway ready for another weekend of double duty racing action. Menard will pilot the No. 15 Johns Manville/Menards Chevrolet in Saturday’s Sam’s Town 300 and Sunday’s UAW – Daimler Chrysler 400.
While Las Vegas Motor Speedway was a successful stop for Menards Racing on both the NASCAR Nextel Cup and Busch Series pre season testing tour, NASCAR and Goodyear Tire have opted to return to Las Vegas with a different set of left side tires to use in competition. Menard had logged the second fastest lap overall in NASCAR Nextel Cup testing and had promising results from his Busch program, as well.
The new tire presents a challenge for the Dale Earnhardt Inc. team to work from a different vantage point in the set up to the racecars prior to Friday’s qualifying for each event.
Sam’s Town 300 Notes
Underneath the neon yellow paint…
Menard will drive chassis #12 in Saturday’s Sam’s Town 300. The car was last used two weeks ago at California Speedway, where Menard made a mad charge to the front of the field (the No. 15 car advanced 11 positions in the first three laps of the race) and continued a solid run through the first 100 laps of the event. Misfortune came on lap 120 when Menard reported he was down a cylinder. While Menard retired early from the race, the run left the team confident in the potential for success at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.
Tried and true at pre season test…
Car 12 was tested at Las Vegas Motor Speedway during pre-season Busch testing. Menard led the day two morning session and was the third fastest car in the afternoon session of the Busch test. When the team returns to Las Vegas for the Sam’s Town 300, Crew Chief Mike Grechi say’s he will return with “basically the same set up from the test”, with the exception of a new set of spindles.
Tires are the name of the game…
The tire change on the Cup side will also impact Menard’s No. 15 NBS entry. With harder left sides, Menard still feels confident that the team can find grip in his Busch car.
Past Performance at LVMS…
Menard has three NASCAR Busch Series starts at LVMS, with a best finish of 20th in 2006 and a best start of 11th in 2005.
Menard’s thoughts on the Sam’s Town 300…
The car was awesome at the test. The track had a ton of grip so to give up a little on the Busch side won’t be a huge deal. We went to California where it’s harder to get through the corners and we still managed to stick it there so Las Vegas should be the same. I really like this car, so hopefully we’ll have a good run and then we’ll take #12 to Atlanta, as well.
Crew Chief Mike Grechi on the Sam’s Town 300…
“We’re doing the Busch deal at DEI to win races and run up front and that’s what we plan to do at Vegas. There’s a big emphasis on pit stops, with the smaller fuel cell, so I know we’ll be able to get ahead on pit road. It’s just a matter of getting the car just right with the new tire and I know if we do that, Paul will get it to the front and the over the wall guys will keep it up there.”
