Watkins Glen, NY - Paul Menard capped a rain soaked weekend in the Finger Lakes region of New York with a 28th-place finish Sunday at Watkins Glen International. Starting 29th, by points, with Friday's cancellation of qualifying, Menard tried to play the strategy game in his Quaker State/Menards Chevrolet, but didn't find the breaks needed to move up into contention.
Rains were a threat all weekend and Sunday was no different from Friday with early showers in the morning putting teams on notice that anything was possible for the race in terms of how many laps they would actually get to run.
Menard stayed steady in the top-25 for the first portion of the race. Engine temps were rising due to some debris on the front of his Impala giving Menard all the more reason to stay conservative through the opening stint.
On lap 25, Menard pit for fuel and tires under green, as did the rest of the field within a 5 lap window. Minor changes on the pit stop didn't seem to improve his ability to move forward through the next stint, but with all the jockeying and threats of rain, strategy and consistency were becoming a bigger part of the thinking.
A lap 47 caution brought Menard in for fuel only, trying to extend his fuel window and gain track position. By lap 58, Menard had reached 5th-place as the leaders began to pit one by one under green.
By lap 60, Menard could no longer wait for a break and came in to pit for tires and fuel the last time dropping back to 34th.
Ultimately the strategy game did not pan out and rains stayed away the entire day paving the way for Kyle Busch to win and sweep the road races this season.
"We're trying to get out of this rut we've been in the last few weeks andfind a break or two to get us back where we were when the season started," said Menard. "I've always enjoyed places like Watkins Glen and today we just weren't as off as it may show on the scoreboard, but we have to take it up a notch. I don't think anyone on this team is happy to finish 28th, myself included because we're better than that. Michigan is a track where we've had our best results so maybe that's just what the doctor is ordering for next weekend."
