Concord, NC - Paul Menard and the No. 15 Quaker State/Menards Chevrolet racing team showed consistency throughout the weekend of on track action at Charlotte Motor Speedway.  
 
Menard was the top qualifying Raybestos Rookie of the Year candidate in Thursday night’s pole night.
 
“The second lap was better, obviously.  I ran the first lap and had a lot of grip and I just under drove it so I just figured I’d go for it the second lap and it stuck.  This is the car we had for the Open in May and it drove really good then but we wrecked that car so we thought it would be good to bring it back and we were right.”
 
After qualifying 17th for the 500-mile event, Menard followed up with top-10 placements in both Friday practices, including a third place effort in the Happy Hour session.  
 
“We’ll take a good run anywhere, but it would be good to have a top-10 finish at Charlotte.” Menard said.  “I’ve got my family in town and the family from the race shop and the guys that work there and their families are all here.  It’s a little extra motivation.”
 
 Menard rolled off in his top-20 starting spot for Saturday night’srace and set his sights on the top-10.
 
Menard hung with the top-30 until he was lapped by the leader on lap 65.  Luckily, the caution flag flew on lap 67 and Menard got the Lucky Dog free pass to get back on the lead lap.  After the crew performed a four tire, fuel and air pressure pit stop, Menard returned tothe track in 28th spot.  While Menard worked his way up to 20th by lap 96,he radioed the crew that the car was “pretty decent but rolling tight through the center.”
 
Strategy was the name of the game on pit road and it caused a problem for the No. 15 team on lap 177 when the 20 car of Tony Stewart made slight contact with Menard while entering his pit stall.  Due to Menard‚s attention to the situation, there was no damage to his racecar and he returned to the track in 23rd place.  Once again, strategy came into play on lap 190 when Menard made a fuel only pit stop.  He restarted the race in 10th place but the fresh tires on the cars behind Menard forced Menard to fall back a few spots to 23rd by lap 207.  Despite this momentary setback, Menard continued to avoid any on track may lay and was rewarded with a top-25 finish when the checkered flag finally flew in the Bank of America 500.
 
It was close to Midnight, as Jeff Gordon won the race and Menard came home a respectable 22nd.  
 
“It‚s too bad we didn’t get some more long green flag runs, because I think we could have had something for these guys.” Menard said following the race.  “It can always be better, but it also could have been worse.  We stayed out of trouble and that’s a good thing at Charlotte.”
 
Next week, Menard and his race team turn their attention back to the Car of Tomorrow as the series heads to Martinsville Speedway.