Paul Menard came into the 2015 NASCAR season on a mission. Like every year, his goal is to compete for wins, make the Chase for the Sprint Cup and ultimately win the championship. But for an underdog, Menard is exceeding expectations through the first six races of the new season for Richard Childress Racing.
Like many drivers, there are some critics who have questioned Menard’s driving ability in the past. They thought that Menard raced since his father had the money to do so. The quiet driver has silenced them with his performance on-track performance over the years.
The driver of the No. 27 car is under the radar, and often sneaks up on the competition. He is coming off of a season, when he had a career-high five top 5s and 13 top-10s. But in 2014, it was either feast or famine. The team had 13 finishes outside of the top 20, and a season ending average finish of 17.9.
However, it was late in 2014 when car owner Richard Childress decided that it was time for a change. Childress pulled Slugger Labbe from atop the pit box, and replaced him with rookie crew chief and team engineer Justin Alexander.
This was a drastic change for Menard, as he and Labbe had been together for the better part of five years. The veteran crew chief even led Menard to his first win of his career during the 2011 Brickyard 400.
The Daytona 500 is a start of a new season, and that is what team No. 27 needed. The driver/crew chief combination was able to connect with each other over the off-season and created a game plan heading into an entire season, instead of hoping for the best like in the last six races of 2014.
Through six races of the 2015 season, Menard has only one top-five finish and one top-10, but sits sixth in points. The team has showed consistency as it often has in previous seasons with four top 15s in the first six races. He had a fourth-place finish at Auto Club Speedway in Fontana. And it seems as though every week the team gets better and better.
“RCR cars overall have been running really fast,” Menard said prior to the race at Martinsville. “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.”
Richard Childress Racing is having a fairly good season even with its affiliated cars at Furniture Row Racing, Germain Racing and JTG-Daugherty Racing. Menard’s teammate Ryan Newman has also gotten off to a hot start as he was sitting sixth in points prior to his 75 point deduction following the race at Martinsville. His other RCR teammate Austin Dillon sits 22nd in the standings, but has shown more speed than last year, just worse luck.
Then there is Martin Truex, Jr., who has got the No. 78 of Furniture Row Racing off to its best start in team history. Truex is one of three drivers to have finished inside the top-10 in all six races this season. The others are Kevin Harvick and Daytona 500 winner Joey Logano.
“We definitely have to lead more laps and contend for wins,” Menard said at Martinsville. “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.”
For Menard, consistency is a must.
In previous seasons behind the wheel he has gotten off to good starts. But it’s not how you start but how you finish.
Since taking over the No. 27 in 2011, he has had solid beginnings to each of the five seasons. In the previous four, he has fallen off and it will be interesting to see how he approaches the second half of the season this year.
Currently, we are only 1/6 of the way through the season, and Menard often falls off the radar after the July race in Daytona. The team will have to get better at tracks that statistically they are poor at, including Loudon, Watkins Glen, Darlington and Richmond, which are all races after Daytona leading up to the Chase.
Menard will need to improve at these tracks and maintain his consistency, and maybe 2015 will be the year that he finally qualifies for the Chase for the Sprint Cup.
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