Menards Racing Ready for 500 Miles at Texas Motor Speedway

MOORESVILLE, N.C. (April 2, 2008) – On the heels of his best finish of the 2008 NASCAR Sprint Cup season, Paul Menard leads his Dale Earnhardt Inc. backed team to Texas Motor Speedway for this weekend’s Samsung 500. Menard will pilot the No. 15 Quaker State/Menards Chevrolet Impala SS in Sunday’s 3443-lap event. The race will broadcast live on FOX at 1:30 p.m. ET.

“I really enjoy going to Texas,” Menard said. “It’s very fast, which makes the speed demon inside us drivers smile. The groove is starting to widen out which makes for better racing.”

Menard heads to Texas with high hopes for success at the 1.5-mile quad-oval superspeedway. Crew Chief Doug Randolph appreciates the building momentum as he sets his sights on a top-10 for his team at Texas Motor Speedway.

“It was nice to have a solid top-20 run at Martinsville and I believe that will carry us into Texas with a little momentum,” Randolph said. “On top of which, we worked hard at Atlanta and learned a few things that will translate to Texas. I’d say our goal for this weekend is to be fast off the truck and go after a top-10 finish on Sunday.”

In three previous Cup starts at Texas, Menard’s best qualifying effort is 16th, while his best finish is 15th. In six NASCAR Nationwide Series events at the track, Menard has two top-10 finishes, with a best finish of seventh place (April – 2006).

“I've had good runs there in the past in both Nationwide and Sprint Cup cars, so there's a certain feel that I'll be looking for,” Menard said. “Doug and the boys prepared an awesome Chevrolet in Atlanta and we'll bring the same one to Texas with a few minor tweaks based on what we learned in Atlanta.”

Prior to heading to the race track to fulfill his ‘need for speed’, Menard will visit the Quaker State corporate headquarters, his Houston-based hood sponsor for this weekend’s race.

On track action at Texas Motor Speedway begins Friday afternoon with qualifying for the NASCAR Sprint Cup event. Qualifying will air live on SPEED beginning at 4:30 p.m. ET.