Ever since he was a little kid, Paul Menard enjoyed getting behind the wheel of a racecar and going fast. That is something that hasn’t changed one bit since becoming a Sprint Cup Series driver.
“I wouldn’t say the easiest part is, but the part you enjoy the most is right before the race and getting strapped in the car, firing the engine, doing your pace laps and start to get ready to go racing,” he commented. “That’s fun and that is what we wake up for every day. There is a lot of stress involved in how you prepare and do all these other things but ultimately the end is a lot of fun. It’s very rewarding when you have a good day and very humbling when you have a bad day.”
Menard admits that the length of schedule doesn’t it make it easy, as you’re going a total of forty straight weeks, which can become taxing. However, he admits that when he does get time off, it’s hard to simply relax because you don’t know what to do.
“You are accustomed to having that schedule and that routine,” he commented. ” You miss out on a lot of things. You miss out on friend’s weddings, and now I have a little daughter and I have missed out on a few steps of her growth. But this off-season was a great time for me to be with her and see her achievements.”
While the off-season can be fun, Menard admits that usually around January 2nd is when he starts itching to get back in the car.
“You get done with Miami and there is this big list of things you want to do and you think you have all this time to go and do it,” he said. “I did some deer hunting and went home back over Christmas and New Year’s. But then about January 2nd or 3rd you kind of want to get back to your routine. You are kind of like, ‘now what do I do?’, that is kind of when the season starts and we do the media tours and such. I think the season kind of starts around the middle of January and that is when you get kind of busy.”
No doubt Menard joins the list of drivers that are excited to get on track, beginning with this weekend’s Sprint Unlimited. While it’s not for points and just glory, it marks the first time since the season finale that many of these drivers and teams have worked together due to the new testing policy. The focus may be on the driver this weekend, but the team is also there set to begin the season with them.
“There are so many people behind the scenes that make everything happen that get overlooked,” he commented. “Obviously the crew chief’s, the owners, and everybody back at the body shops, fab shops, chassis shops and engine shops. They work just as hard as anybody in this sport and they don’t get the recognition they deserve. Our guys at RCR work very hard, and everybody in this industry does, but they build some beautiful race cars and they are a lot of fun to drive.”
Menard enters this year looking to have a stronger year than before as he calls the 2014 season “okay” with not making the Chase.
“This year we have no excuses and we are going to make the Chase and that is our expectation,” he commented.
Going after those goals begins with next week’s Daytona 500, which has been a strong suit for Richard Childress Racing as they always seem to be strong on the restrictor plate tracks.
“It’s going to be unique how the qualifying effort works with a lot of strategy involved,” he commented. “There will be a lot of balls-to-the-walls laps run on Sunday in qualifying and in the Duels. There are a lot of cars here and it’s going to be tough to make the field for a lot of guys.”
