Menard, fifth in points, enjoying his ride at Richard Childress Racing

Menard, fifth in points, enjoying his ride at Richard Childress Racing

By Jim Pedley
Special to Sporting News NASCAR Wire Service
(March 2011)
The questions were coming at Richard Childress Racing new-guy driver Paul Menard rapid-fire during a preseason press conference in Daytona last month. It was inevitable that somebody would ask about his goals for 2011.
What, he was finally asked specifically, would constitute a dream season?
"I think if we could make the Chase (for the NASCAR Sprint Cup), that would be a huge deal obviously, that would be a dream season," the journeyman from Wisconsin said.
As the Sprint Cup Series hits Auto Club Speedway for the fifth race of its 36-race schedule this weekend, that dream season is shaping up nicely.
Menard sits fifth in points today. He has top-12 finishes in three of the four races this season and is coming off a fifth-place finish at Bristol . He has led laps in all but one of the 2011 races this year.
He is not only proving himself Childress-worthy, he is the organization's top driver—by far. He may also be the happiest.
"What's cool is," Menard said this week, "we've been to four different racetracks and we've had strong runs at all four. A testament to Slugger (Richard Labbe, his crew chief) and everyone at RCR. There is a lot of talent up there. Slugger built a heck of a race team and (I'm) just having a lot of fun right now."
There are signs that the fun factory could ratchet upward during Sunday's Auto Club 400. While Menard has not won at the track in Fontana , Calif. in eight starts—or anywhere else during his 151-race Cup career—it appears that Auto Club-like tracks are where Menard performs best.
Seven of Menard's 10 career top-10 finishes have come at superspeedways. Two of the others were at plate-racing tracks. So, it appears that for Menard, the bigger the better when it comes to racetracks.
And this year, with Childress Chevrolets under him, and winning-team data at Labbe's disposal, things should be even better for Menard at tracks like the 2-miler in Southern California .
"Yeah," he said, "those tracks are horsepower tracks, and we have the best engines in the garage. The cars are really nice. There are a couple things that Slugger is bringing to the table that is going to help the intermediate program (excel). I think it will turn around this year."
Labbe's name comes up a lot when Menard talks. They came over from Richard Petty Motorsports' Ford team together. Great packaging, said Menard, now in his fifth full season in Cup.
"There is always a transition when you go to a new team obviously, but it feels like I have been there a lot longer than I have," Menard said. "A lot of people I worked with at DEI (where he was from 2004 through 2008) are there. Having Slugger come with, that obviously takes a huge learning curve out of it."
And moves Menard that much closer to realizing his dream for the 2011 season.