Fontana, California – After a successful stint short track racing at Bristol, Menards Racing turned its attention to the 2-mile d-shaped oval outside Los Angeles, California.

Raybestos Rookie driver Paul Menard launched into the California weekend with a solid 20th place qualifying effort in his No. 15 Johns Manville/Menards Chevrolet.

Menard was quick to cite his terrific qualifying draw with the resulting starting spot for Sunday night’s Sharp Aquos 500.

“First off, the draw really helped us, I think.” Menard said following his lap of 40.036 seconds.  “I kind of under-drove it, but it stuck pretty good.  A little bit tight in the middle of one and two, had to wait out on it a little too long but once I committed to throttle it was good off there.  Real good through three and four, just got tight on exit there.”  

The late draw for qualifying resulted in increased cloud cover, but Menard was adamant that the hot weather would make for better racing on Sunday.

“I think the clouds rolled in and the track cooled off about 10 degrees and that’s always free speed there.”  Menard added. “But for Sunday, I think the heat will make for a better race.  When it’s cool you have so much grip that you’re just locked down right at the bottom and you can’t really wiggle the car.  When it’s hot, you slide around a lot more and it makes for better racing.”   

When the green flag flew on the race, the California heat was in full effect with temperatures topping 100 degrees.

As planned, Menard’s Chevrolet rolled off 20th for the 25th race of the 2007 season.  Menard fell back to 27th place by the time the first caution flag flew on lap 10.

The opening laps of the race were met with several caution flags, including the second one under which the No. 15 Johns Manville/Menards Chevrolet stayed out on track. On lap 21 Menard radioed the crew that he was not happy with the front shocks and that the car had no grip.

Crew Chief Dave Charpentier elected to change shocks on lap 41 when the caution flag flew for fourth time.  During the coming laps Menard reported that the shock change helped the feel of the car, but because of the extra time added to the pit stop to change the shocks, Menard was forced to come in to pit earlier than the other cars and went on lap down on lap 76.

At the halfway point in the race, Menard was running in the 32nd position, but the team continued to work on the car and by lap 168 Menard was up into the top 30.  On lap 175, Menard came into pit under caution when TJ Ford, the jack man for the No. 15 over the wall crew, was hit by the No. 41 car driven by Reed Sorenson.  Ford was transported to the infield care center, where he was sent for further observation and x-rays to a local hospital.  

In the closing laps of the SHARP AQUOS 500, Menard advanced several more positions to enter the top 25.  He went on to finish 24th in the 250 lap event, a grand accomplishment considering the storied events of the 500-mile marathon event.

“It was a long night, but we kept working and I think that tonight we should be happy with a top-25.”  Menard said.  “With the heat and all the work the team did in the pits, I consider this a solid finish.  Now it’s on to the COT for the next month.”