Sprint Cup Car Notes - Menards-Quaker State Chevrolet Impala SS

Sprint Cup Primary Car: Dale Earnhardt Inc. Chassis #048/ Back up Car #038
Last Used:  Brand new racecar built for California  
Interesting ‘Cup’ Fact: For this weekend’s Auto Club 500, the team returns to the site of one of its pre-season tests; a session that could easily be described as a successful start to the team’s intermediate track program.

Overall Notes of Interest
Menards Racing heads to California Speedway on the heels of a solid, 22nd place run in the Daytona 500.  Paul Menard and his crew chief Doug Randolph hope to improve on that finish at the 2-mile D-shaped oval in Fontana, California.
 
The team arrives in California with a brand new racecar, specifically built for Sunday’s 250-lap event.  Randolph hopes for Menard to back up his lap times from the test during Friday’s qualifying session.  In addition, he is looking for the handling of the car to remain comfortable for the driver throughout the duration of the race.                

Testing, Testing, One, Two, Three
Menard’s primary race car is chassis #48, which tested well at California last month.  Menard rounded out the pre season test in 25th place overall.

California Quotes:
 
Paul Menard on California :
“We started off with a decent run at Daytona. I’d like to continue to build on that with a top-15 run at California.”

Crew Chief Doug Randolph:
“We had a really good test at California. I think with our test session going so well, it’s safe to say that a top-15 finish is a realistic goal for this weekend.”