Justin, TX – Paul Menard rounded out a double duty weekend at Texas Motor Speedway with two terrific finishes in the No. 15 Energizer/Menards Chevrolet.
“We got some momentum built up this weekend.” Menard said. “We thought we’d be pretty good at these intermediate tracks but Atlanta and Las Vegas didn’t go as well as expected. This is the same car that we ran at Atlanta, though and I think we hit on a couple of things to make it better.”
Menard hopes this weekend’s success will carry over to next weekend’s event at Phoenix International Raceway, where the No. 15 bunch will attempt their third Car of Tomorrow start of the year.
“We have a COT race again next week in Phoenix so hopefully we can get it going.” Menard said. “We had a really good test in Richmond so I’m looking forward to it.”
The Texas weekend began with the hope of a turnaround to his challenging season so far and ended in serious satisfaction. Menard logged his first top ten finish in the NASCAR Busch Series driving his Dale Earnhardt Inc. Chevrolet to a ninth place finish in the O’Reilly 300. On Sunday, Menard capped off the Texas twosome with a 15th place finish in the Samsung 500.
“It was really good at the end there.” Menard said of his Cup car. “It started off pretty decent and went to tight and then loose. At the end it was just a little loose but a good free, I guess since we were the second fastest car on the racetrack at that point.”
Menard’s car wasn’t the only thing that was fast. The Menards Racing pit crew was phenomenal on pit road both Saturday and Sunday.
“Awesome pit stops all day long.” Menard added. “I think we should have had the Lucky Dog there at the end. The 2 was behind us and he wound up getting the Lucky Dog and I still don’t understand how that happened. But the guys still got us spots on pit road and that’s the easiest way to pass cars so I’m really proud of my team.”
Beyond that, Menard knew that the car was capable of more than what the finish would suggest.
“Definitely had a top-five car.” Menard said. “Pops and everybody did a heck of a job and I’m really looking forward to Charlotte.”
