MENARDS RACING NOTES – BRISTOL MOTOR SPEEDWAY
No. 15 Turtle Wax Ice Chevrolet Impala – Nextel Cup

Car Notes –
Nextel Cup Primary Car:
Dale Earnhardt Inc. Chassis #101 / Back up Car: #16
Last Raced:
This car was used as primary in the Bristol spring race when Menard missed the race. It has since been re-worked by Crew Chief Dave Charpentier and tested at Milwaukee last month with very position results.

Fun Fact:
Paul Menard’s Car Chief (“B” Hoover) was on Dale Earnhardt Jr.’s Bristol Motor Speedway winning team (August 2004).

OVERALL NOTES OF INTEREST

Overview
While Menard has 26 NASCAR Nextel Cup starts to his credit, the Sharpie 500 will be Menard’s first start at Bristol Motor Speedway. Despite the impending milestone, Menard heads to Bristol Motor Speedway feeling more than ready to succeed at the ½ mile concrete oval in Tennessee. Not only is Menard backed by a team with proven success at the track, but he has some solid results from testing to bolster his confidence level.

Testing, Testing, One, Two, Three
During the NASCAR sanctioned Bristol test in March, 50 teams worked on COT cars. The No. 15 team worked through some issues during the first day and by day two everyone was extremely pleased with Menard’s lap times in race runs and the findings of the test session. Most recently, Menard tested the Car of Tomorrow at the Milwaukee Mile in July. Previously, Menard’s team has also tested the COT at South Boston Speedway in Virginia and USA International Speedway in Lakeland, Florida.

Car of Tomorrow
Menard’s performance during race day with the COT has been solid. At two of the five COT races he’s run in ’07, he’s won Raybestos Rookie of the Race honors. Richmond International Raceway and Phoenix International Raceway were the two tracks that previously held accolades for Menard’s performance and the team hopes to extend that success to Bristol Motor Speedway this Saturday night.

Busch Break for Menard
Menard will take a brief hiatus from the NASCAR Busch Series, despite logging his third series top-10 finish in a row this past weekend in Michigan, where the No. 15 team brought the Busch entry home in seventh place. Menard’s next Busch start will be at Richmond next month.

Raybestos Rookie Power
Currently, Menard stands third in overall Raybestos Rookie ratings. Juan Pablo Montoya leads the battle with David Ragan on his heels. Menard has won Raybestos Rookie of the Race honors in four events this season, including Michigan, Richmond, Phoenix and Watkins Glen.

Standings Status
Paul Menard is currently 36th in Driver’s Points, while the No. 15 team lost one position after Michigan to 30th place in Owner’s Standings. The team is has a 250 point cushion on the top-35. Menard aspires to be in the top-20 by the end of the season, a goal which is 323 points away from his current point count.

Bristol Quotes
Paul Menard Quote on the Sharpie 500:
“We’ve come a long way with the COT. We started at Lakeland in January and we’ve been testing the COT pretty regularly throughout the season. At first I wasn’t such a huge fan. It’s just a totally different feel. But by the second day of the Bristol test, we hit on some things with springs and the car was actually pretty good. Last time out, we didn’t even get a chance to do any race runs because we missed the show. But since that’s where our strength lies, I think we’ll be running in the top 15 or 20 most of the night and hopefully come away with our first top-10 of the season if we’ve got luck on our side.”

Paul Menard General Quote on the COT:
“Probably the biggest thing I like about the COT is it’s a bigger car, you can get in and out of it easy. If the car starts on fire you can undo your belts and hop out a lot faster than you could in our current car.”

Nextel Cup Car Chief “B” Hoover on the Sharpie 500:
“Dave Charpentier has been a great leader of this team in the last few weeks so if anyone’s going to figure out how to succeed with the COT, it’s going to be him. If anything, the COT evens the playing ground as far as the driver goes and Paul did a great job during the test in March, especially in race runs, so we’re definitely going in with high hopes this weekend. Being locked in the show lets us concentrate on those race runs, which like I said, were very promising during the test.”