NASCAR SPRINT CUP SERIES
STP 500
MARTINSVILLE SPEEDWAY
TEAM CHEVY DRIVER PRESS CONF. TRANSCRIPT
MARCH 28, 2015
PAUL MENARD, NO. 27 PITTSBURGH PAINTS/MENARDS CHEVROLET SS, met with members of the media at Martinsville Speedway and discussed his solid start to the season, his outlook for this weekend at Martinsville Speedway and many other topics. Full Transcript:
YOU ARE OFF TO VERY GOOD START, NINTH IN POINTS RIGHT NOW. JUST TALK ABOUT YOUR GOOD START AND WHAT YOUR OUTLOOK IS FOR THIS WEEKEND HERE AT MARTINSVILLE:
“Sitting ninth in points it is a good spot, we are looking for more. RCR (Richard Childress Racing) cars overall have been running really fast. Our affiliate teams with the No. 47, No. 78 and No. 13 are also fast, so it’s very rewarding for the shop guys, engine guys to see. We had a good run last weekend. Two top five’s with the RCR cars in Fontana. It was a weekend where we had a lot of speed. I think I hear Aric (Almirola) saying that he didn’t have speed, but his car drove good. Our car had speed, but it didn’t drive good. We made a lot of changes Saturday night and got the car so it didn’t fall off as much on Sunday. Daytona, Atlanta, Vegas, Phoenix, we had solid races. We didn’t have great races by any stretch. Had a really good run going at Daytona the last lap and got caught up in a wreck. I think we finished like 12th, 13th and 14th or something in the next three races consistency and starting to get some fast cars.
“Martinsville is a whole different animal. Starting 13th, which anytime you can start in the first half of the field is good, especially on the inside. It has been a tough track for us for sure. It is a track that is really fun to drive, but it is very challenging to race. Restarts get really crazy a lot of beating and banging and just trying to keep your fenders on. Trying to keep your tempers controlled, 500 laps around this place is tough. I’m looking forward to the challenge. We have practice here in a little bit to try to get it tuned up.”
WHAT IS THE MOST FRUSTRATING THING A GUY IN FRONT OF YOU CAN DO AT A SHORT-TRACK WHEN YOU ARE TRYING TO GET AROUND HIM?
“There is a lot of blocking that goes on and nobody wants to give up the inside, but the guy in behind can control that a little bit. You can just get to their bumper and move them if you want. The guy that chops your nose off a lot going into say Turn 3, you are just going to move them. It is tougher to be the guy doing the blocking for sure than it is the guy getting blocked. The guy doing the blocking is kind of on defensive. The guy getting blocked can just move the guy in front. It is frustrating at times, but you definitely want to be on the offensive here for sure rather than defensive.”
WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU GUYS NEED TO DO TO KIND OF GO FROM 10TH TO 15TH UP TO CONTENDING FOR LEADING LAPS AND WINS?
“That is something that RCR hasn’t done much in the last two years is lead laps. This year exception we have had quite a few top fives already with Ryan (Newman) and (Martin) Truex (Jr.) if you look at the affiliates and ourselves. We definitely have to lead more laps and content for wins. How we do that is to keep working on what we are doing. We tried something a little bit different last weekend more similar to what the No. 31 had been doing and the No. 78 and we saw some success there. So that is something we can continue to build on. Martinsville is a different animal so it is hard to lead laps here. Strategy doesn’t really come into play. You take two tires or something you can get up front, but you get passed right away. We just have to keep working hard and try to figure out how to go faster. That is what everybody in the garage is doing. It’s not easy to lead laps and it is definitely not easy to win races.”
WITH IT BEING SUCH A LONG RACE AT WHAT POINT DO YOU SETTLE IN AND JUST CLICK OFF LAPS AS OPPOSED TO TRYING TO GET TO THE FRONT AND BE THE GUY LEADING?
“Martinsville you can’t really rest at any time here. If you are not chasing like a wheel hop on entry you are chasing drive off on exit. You have got guys all around you obviously trying to pass you. It is really hard to ride here. There are times when it kind of does get strung out and you might have an 80 lap run or something that you can kind of conserve your brakes. Or kind of cognitively try to take care of your stuff, but for the most part you are running hard every lap trying to make lap time. My crew chief and my spotter tell me lap times pretty much every lap. You are always using that to try to go faster and try to figure out something that you can pick up a half a tenth or a tenth here or there, which at the end of 80 laps is pretty huge. The restarts you have to get all you can right away. Once it kind of strings out it obviously gets harder to pass, but you are still running hard every damn lap.”
DO THE TIRES FALL OFF A WHOLE LOT?
“Yeah it is the same tire that we ran last fall. Yesterday being the rain-shortened everybody was basically in qualifying trim. We will get a better understanding of what the tires do this upcoming practice. This is definitely a place where tires do fall off and you are holding on at the end of the last third of your fuel run you are just holding on for dear life. You bolt on four tires you can go a couple of seconds quicker and make up some ground. That is where some of that strategy comes into play. I don’t foresee us having many green flag pit stops, but guys at the end might gamble with two tires or no tires and it’s going to be a free for all.”
HOW DO YOU THINK YOUR TEAM IS ADAPTING TO THE NEW RULES PACKAGE FOR 2015?
“I don’t really see much difference in driving the car. We have less horsepower, but we also have quite a bit less drag. Your net loss isn’t that much. It is like 30 counts of horsepower, so you don’t feel the power as much. The engineers and the teams build and develop their race cars so well that we are getting some of the downforce back. Really the biggest thing you feel is going up through the gears on a restart or something the power loss. Once you are up at full song you don’t notice it a whole lot. I feel like our ECR (Earnhardt Childress Racing) engines are stronger this year than last year. It is kind of, I don’t know if we got a step ahead of everybody, but they have really worked hard and put in the effort into this new package at the beginning of last year. I feel like we are in a good position there.”
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