Car Notes - Johns Manville/Menards Chevrolet Monte Carlo
Nextel Cup Primary Car: Dale Earnhardt Inc. Chassis #022/ Back up Car #037
Last Used: Charlotte Motor Speedway – May 2007 – Coca Cola 600 weekend
Last Used: California Speedway – February 2007 – Qualified 22nd Finished 20th
Fun ‘Cup’ Fact: This car was tested at Charlotte in advance of the Coca Cola 600 and was extremely fast, according to driver, Paul Menard.
Overview
Paul Menard’s solid showing in last August’s NASCAR Nextel Cup event at Michigan International Speedway, where Menard finished 20th in his Nextel Cup debut at the track, lends excitement to the driver’s return to MIS. Since Menard has long been a fan of the racing action found at MIS, he’s a perfect complement to his Dale Earnhardt Inc. backed team which has had considerable success on intermediate style tracks. Menard’s teammate Dale Earnhardt Jr., took the Menards Chevy to Victory Lane in the last August Busch Series event at MIS. Menard looks to new crew chief Dave Charpentier to find similar success in this weekend’s Cup race. Charpentier stepped into the leadership position beginning last week and has breathed new life in the Raybestos Rookie candidate’s outlook on what’s ahead for the No. 15 team.
Rookie Power
Menard stands third in overall Raybestos Rookie ratings. He has 93 points; 59 points behind Juan Pablo Montoya who leads the battle with 152 points. Menard has won top rookie honors two times this season and looks for win number three this weekend at Michigan.
Working Towards Top-35
The No. 15 team sits 39th in Nextel Cup Owner’s Standings, 199 points outside of the top-35. The team made up significant ground closing the gap 37 points during last weekend’s 28th place run at Pocono.
Michigan Quotes:
Paul Menard on the Cup Race:
It’s good to be back on a mile and a half. I like Michigan and California because you can pass in the corners and the way the groove is at this track, you’ll see guys racing three wide. I’m not sure what it is about Michigan that I like so much, but of course it helps to have had a top-20 in last year’s August race at the track. With that we know going into this weekend that we should be solid in race trim. Just have to hope for a good qualifying draw and once we get in on Friday, we’ll go to work on the car on Saturday to get it ready for 400 miles.
Nextel Cup Crew Chief Dave Charpentier on the the Cup Race:
Paul’s had a really busy week but he’s really motivated by all the good things happening for our team right now, so I think he’ll be riding that momentum into Michigan this week. Without a doubt we should be able to easily qualify for this race. This is the same car we ran at California earlier in the year and we ran top-20 there most of the day. Our mile and a half program has always been good so I’m really looking forward to my second week serving as crew chief for the No. 15 team.
