PAUL MENARD, No. 21 Ford Fusion – HAVE YOU LOOKED AT THE LIST OF DRIVERS THAT HAVE DRIVEN THE 21? “Yeah, it is long. It hit me pretty hard probably three weeks ago when Eddie and Len were on this group text thing and they sent me a picture of the show car they had just finished with my name above the door. That was like, ‘Okay, it is happening.’ It was really cool. I am really looking forward to running the 21 car, and to start at Daytona of all places. Just super excited and can’t wait to get on the track in that car. It is a long list of names, names that are historic and a huge part of the sport. It is really special.”
IS THERE A SHORT VERSION OF HOW THIS ALL CAME ABOUT? “No, not really. It just all worked out. Blaney was a Penske guy. Blaney needed to get back to Penske. That kind of left the Woods without anybody and we were looking for something a little different from where we were at and it all worked out.”
YOU’VE SEEN WHAT THIS CAR CAN DO BASED ON LAST YEAR WITH RYAN. IT IS A POWERFUL CAR. “Yeah, it makes me excited. Working with Greg Erwin again – I worked with him a little when I practiced and qualified Robby Gordon’s car 10 years ago. I have known Greg a long time and I get to work with him and kind of build, not a new team but there are some new faces there. It is going to take a little bit to work out a few bugs like we do in any new situation. These first few races will be pretty important to open up communication and be totally honest with each other and push each other and learn each other. So when the summer rolls around we are ready to contend for top-10, top-five’s and wins.”
ARE YOU SUPERSTITIOUS AT ALL? “No, not at all.”
YOUR FAMILY HAS A REALLY STRONG APPRECIATION OF RACING WITH YOUR FATHER AND WHAT YOU BOTH HAVE CONTRIBUTED TO THE SPORT. DOES THAT KIND OF GIVE YOU MORE OF A COMFORT LEVEL GOING INTO AN ICONIC CAR LIKE THE 21 AND WITH THE WOOD BROTHERS? “Ever since I was a little kid I loved history and I love racing, so I love racing history. When I was a little kid I could memorize every Indy 500 winner from 1911 through like 1995 or whenever I stopped doing that. I have always loved history and the Woods are the most historic racing group. When I think of the Wood Brothers I think of my family history, they are different. Totally different. Our racing heritage started in the late ‘70’s and theirs is 1950. I don’t think there is even a comparison. Nonetheless, to have the two groups together is pretty exciting. I know my dad is super excited. He is a racing historian as well and he is super excited for all this. More importantly, we just want to go out and compete and contend for that 100th win.”
DO YOU LIKE HAVING A SITUATION WHERE IT IS A ONE CAR TEAM AND ALL THE ATTENTION IS ON YOU? “Yeah, it is different. I have never really been part of a one-car team. When I was at Yates it was kind of a one-car team with Bobby Labonte on the 96 car. It is going to be different for sure. We have a relationship with Penske and will share some information. I will have some kind-of teammates to look at data and stuff. When I go to the race shop, it is a one car team but when I go to the race track we have friends.”
WHAT WOULD IT MEAN TO YOU TO GIVE THE WOOD BROTHERS THEIR 100TH WIN? “If you look at their history and their list of drivers that have driven for them, everybody has given them wins but nobody has given them their 100th win. That would be remarkable.”
WHAT ABOUT FOR YOU TO GET BACK TO VICTORY LANE? “I am not getting any younger and I would like to win some more races. This is a great opportunity to do that. It has been a few years since I won one at the Cup level and I am ready to get back at it.”
DAYTONA IS YOUR 400TH CAREER START. DID YOU EVER THINK YOU WOULD BE DOING THIS FOR SO LONG? “I just found out that Daytona is number 400. I haven’t even thought about it honestly. It is a lot of damn races tough, I will tell you that.”
OTHER THAN THE BRICKYARD WIN, WHAT ARE YOU MOST PROUD OF? “The other wins I guess. I have a few on the Xfinity side and those are pretty cool.”
HOW EXCITED ARE YOU TO HAVE THAT YATES HORSEPOWER THIS YEAR? “The Fords have been super strong at Daytona and Talladega with Ricky winning a couple and Brad winning one. The Fords have been really good at plate tracks. I am supposed to go up to the shop next week and get a walkthrough. Going from a Chevrolet to a Ford there are some different things with switches and how they reset the power and stuff that a driver needs to know in a situation for troubleshooting scenarios during a race. There is stuff like that that I have to learn. We will do a test next week in Las Vegas and go through a lot of that stuff. The power they have at plate tracks and any track really, and the heritage they have at Ford Performance. They have been around a long time with a great heritage and they are all in through many different series. Talking to the Ford Performance people at Homestead last fall, they are all in. They are hard-nosed racers and want to go get it done.”
WHAT WOULD IT TAKE FOR YOU TO MAKE A PERSONAL TWITTER ACCOUNT? “That is never going to happen. I would retire before that happens.”
SAME THING WITH FACEBOOK? INSTAGRAM? “Yeah, there is so much cool stuff in this world that you can go do and see. I don’t think you have to be on your phone to do that.”
YOU HAVE PEOPLE THAT COULD DO THAT FOR YOU THOUGH RIGHT? “Well, then it wouldn’t be true then. Wouldn’t be genuine.”
ARE YOU COMFORTABLE ON RESTRICTOR PLATE TRACKS? “It is an opportunity anytime you go to a plate race, it opens the window for a lot of people to compete for a win versus an intermediate track. As far as comfort, you are never really comfortable riding along at 200 mph, three-wide. That is not a very comfortable situation but you have to tell yourself to relax and just kind of settle in, log some laps. It is just different. I am no less comfortable or any more comfortable on intermediate versus plate tracks. It is just a different set of circumstances.”
WHEN YOU ANSWER TO THE SPONSOR, YOU ANSWER TO YOURSELF AND BOARD OF DIRECTORS I WOULD ASSUME. CRAFTON HAS TO ANSWER TO THOSE SAME PEOPLE BUT IF YOU WERE GOING TO HIRE THE NEXT DRIVER TO DRIVE A MENARDS CAR, NO MATTER WHAT KIND OF CAR IT WOULD BE, WHAT WOULD YOU EXPECT OUT OF THEM AND WHAT ADVICE WOULD YOU GIVE THEM ON HOW TO REPRESENT A BRAND AS ICONIC AS THE MENARDS BRAND HAS BECOME? “I guess it is all speculative so we will cross that bridge when we get there. We have Ryan Blaney running some Menards races this year. We will see. I will put him under my wing and we will see how it goes.”
YOU SEE IT FROM THE BUSINESS PERSPECTIVE THOUGH, WHAT ARE YOUR EXPECTATIONS? “I don’t know. I am not the best with doing the interviews and I am definitely not on social media and all that stuff and a lot of these kids are. What I feel like I am good at is the behind the scenes stuff. I have been in business my whole life and understand how the business side of things work and a lot of these kids don’t. I am kind of the opposite side of some of these kids. There is a blend there for sure, somewhere, we just have to figure it out.”
“Let’s just use Ryan as an example. We can take Ryan through a Menards store or a distribution center or some manufacturing area but at that point it is just a tour. You have to be involved in the whole aspect of it to really truly appreciate how big everything is and how many people. It is a huge operation that has so many moving parts. You can’t appreciate that on a one-day tour. I have lived it. I have been there my whole life. I understand how all that works. It is a big dynamic and Ryan will represent us well this year in the races that I am not in.”
HAVE YOU BEEN TO THE WOOD BROTHERS MUSEUM IN STUART? “No, I haven’t yet but it is definitely on my to-do list. We are definitely going to do that.”
