Photo by Ronald Martinez/Getty Images
Paul Menard made a big change in the 2010/2011 off-season. Menard made the move from Richard Petty Motorsports over to Richard Childress Racing with the hopes of not only being more competitive in NASCAR's Sprint Cup series but contending for race wins more often as well. The end result was a career best season for Menard, including a surprising upset victory in one of the most prestigious races in NASCAR.
Menard started off 2011 in good form, scoring solid finishes in three of the first eight races of the year. Menard placed ninth in the Daytona 500, fifth in the Jeff Byrd 500 and fifth in the Samsung Mobile 500. Menard went through a string of alternating decent finishes with bad ones before he scored another top five finish, a fourth in the Heluva Good! Sour Cream Dips 400. Two races later in the Coke Zero 400, the Menard's Chevy was in the top 10 again with an eighth.
The undeniable highlight of the season came three races later at Indianapolis. Menard overcame an early pit road miscue to stretch his fuel and hold on to score an upset win, his first NASCAR Sprint Cup victory in the Brickyard 400. Unfortunately for the 27 team, things seemed to fall apart after the big win. While Menard backed up the victory with a 10th place effort at Pocono in the Good Sam RV Insurance 500, he would not score another top 10 until the next to the last race of the season at Phoenix with a ninth place effort.
Menard was penalized four times in 2011 for speeding in pit row. The Menard's pit crew was penalized twice, once in the Brickyard 400 and once in the Wonderful Pistachios 400 at Richmond when the crew failed to keep equipment in their pit box.
2011 Statistics For Paul Menard
17th in Sprint Cup standings
1 win (Brickyard 400)
4 top 5s
8 top 10s
82 laps led
2011 Penalty Report For Paul Menard
Race 9 - Pitting before pit road is open, Tail of Field; Speed-Entering pits, Tail of Field
Race 12 - Pitting before pit road is open, Tail of Field; Pitting before pit road is open, Tail of Field; Pitting before pit road is open, Tail of Field; Speed-Exiting pits, Tail of Field
Race 14 - Speed-Exiting pits, Pass Thru
Race 20 - Outside half of the pit box tire violation/Team member not in contact with the outside tires, tail end
Race 24 - Speed-Exiting pits, tail end; Pitting before pit road is open, tail end
Race 26 - Removing equipment from assigned pit area, stop and go/tail end; Pitting before pit road is open, tail end garage; Pitting before pit road is open, tail end