PUMA.SUBESPORTS.COM

Paul Menard

Website

Paul Menard will continue his ascension through the racing ranks with a seven-race schedule in Nextel Cup Series racing this year.

To keep his rookie status for 2007, Menard will pilot the No. 15 Menards Chevrolet on the part-time basis in 2006. When 2007 rolls around, the plan calls for Menard and team to become a full time force on the Cup level.

Growing up in Wisconsin, Menard spent his youthful years racing go-karts before taking on the frozen lakes in ice racing; something he took up with his father, John Menard. In June of 2004, Paul was named to drive the No. 11 Menard's Super Home Center No. 11 Chevrolet for Dale Earnhardt, Inc.

His debut with DEI was the New Hampshire 200 Busch Series race at New Hampshire International Speedway in late July. In 2005, he competed in the NASCAR Busch Series championship on a full-time basis producing admirable results.

Menards successful racing career began to take shape at the age of eight when he won the Briggs Junior Class Championship in his native Eau Claire , Wisc. He later won the Briggs Medium Class Champion before working his way up the proverbial racing rungs. He began ice racing at the age of 15 and won 10 International Ice Racing Association events in his career. He continues to compete in IIRA events in, and around, Wisconsin to this day.

In 2000, Paul began racing a limited schedule in the NASCAR ReMax Challenge finishing 13th in points. During his rookie ReMax Challenge season in 2001, he earned a pole and victory at Road America in Elkhart Lake, Wisc. finishing ninth in points.

The 2002 season saw a mixed bag of ReMax Challenge (two poles, seventh in points), SCCA Trans-Am (one front-row start, four top-10 finishes), Grand-Am Cup (victories at Fontana and Phoenix) and the NASCAR Southwest Tour. He capped his season in thrilling fashion in the latter series with a dramatic last-lap pass of veteran Kenny Schrader for the Phoenix victory.

The 2003 season was even busier when Menard joined Andy Petree Racing to compete in NASCAR Nextel Cup, Busch and Craftsman Truck Series events while still competing in ARCA.

In his first ARCA start at Salem, Ind., he qualified second and finished fourth. Later that year, he started on the pole at Winchester, Ind. and then scored his first ARCA victory at Talladega. He also registered top finishes of ninth in the Busch race at Indianapolis Raceway Park and eighth in the Truck race at Kansas Speedway.

In 2004, Menard began the NASCAR Busch Series season driving the No. 33 Menard's Chevrolet, fielded by APR, before coming on board with Dale Earnhardt, Inc. It didn't take long for he and the No. 11 team to find their groove achieving a Bud Pole Award, his first, in less than 10 starts.

In their short time together that year, Menard and the team showed they had what it took to become winners. With Dan Stillman as crew chief beginning in 2005, they started out by leading 57 laps at Daytona. Winning the Bud Pole Award at Talladega also had them running up front until getting caught up in a wreck.

They finished up the season sixth in points with six top-fives and 15 top-10 finishes. Menard also made his second career Cup start by qualifying for the Watkins Glen race in August. His growth behind the wheel will carry over in a beneficial way for his Cup racing in 2006.