LOUDON, NH – Menards Racing faced challenges in today’s LENOX Industrial Tools 300, posting a 39th place finish in the race. A broken sway bar bolt caused a vibration in the front end of the No. 15 Sylvania / Menards Chevrolet and the problem continued forcing driver Paul Menard to go several laps down.  
 
Prior to the frustration filled race, Menard ultimately qualified 35th for the 16th event of the NASCAR Nextel Cup season, it was another day of nervous tension during Friday’s qualifying for the entire No. 15 team.  
 
Following his lap of 30.028 seconds and prior to confirming his place in the field, Menard waited out the completion of qualifying.
 
“The car drove pretty good.” Menard commented.  “It was a little tight in the middle, kind of what we’ve been fighting, but it seems to get off the corner really good.  We’ll see how it plays out.”  
 
A few moments later, Menard would see that it played out in his favor, as Michael Waltrip’s lap time was slower than Menard’s; a fact that locked the No. 15 car in the field for Sunday’s 300-lap event.
 
Before taking the checkered flag, Menard and team worked through two sessions of practice on Saturday.
 
“We’ve been really tight basically since we unloaded yesterday and we just keep working on it and I think we’re pretty decent now.” Menard said.  “We ran pretty consistent times and pretty comparable to other guys on same lap tires.”  
 
Early in the race, Menard’s tight condition continued and was joined by a loose in handling concern.  On lap 48, Menard went one lap down.  On lap 55, Menard reported the vibration to the team, but the green flag pit stop on lap 77 helped the handling for a short time.  On lap 133, Menard reported yet another vibration and the team spent 7 laps on pit road attempting to dissect and repair the problem.  The ultimate cause of the issue was a broken sway bar bolt.