If the Daytona 500 is the biggest race on the Nascar schedule, then the Brickyard 400 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway would have to be the second biggest. The prestige and spectacle that comes with racing on the now 100-year old speedway is unmatched by anything in motorsports. Going into a Nascar weekend at Indy, there are certain names that circulate in the media of drivers to watch. Drivers like Jeff Gordon, Juan Pablo Montoya, Jimmie Johnson and Tony Stewart are always mentioned as drivers that will be a factor come Sunday afternoon.
One name that was probably not on anyone's radar was Paul Menard. The Eau Claire, Wisconsin native has been in the cup series since 2006, but has had very limited success and remained winless heading into 2011. This is his first season driving the No. 27 Menards Chevy for Richard Childress Racing prepared by veteran crew chief Richard "Slugger" Labbe. Labbe has been a head wrench in the cup series for a number of years and has had a lot of success, including winning the 2003 Daytona 500 (along with two other races) as Michael Waltrip's lead mechanic. The most underrated crew chief in the cup garage teamed with a driver who was relatively unproven. How would that work out?
Pretty well actually. Menard had netted three top-fives and five top-tens heading into Indy and the No. 27 team were looking to keep their momentum rolling. If his team could win the Brickyard 400, it would be vindication for a driver who has taken flak his entire career for being sponsored by his father, John Menard's, company and never breaking through to show he had the talent to race at the Sprint Cup level. Most fans think of him as the untalented, spoiled rich kid who keeps landing Sprint Cup rides because of daddy's giant checkbook (myself included).
David Ragan led the field to green on Sunday, while Menard started back in fifteenth. The early front runners were Matt Kenseth, Jeff Gordon and Kasey Kahne (who had a lead of eight seconds at one point). Menard didn't take the point until lap 82 of the 160-lap affair.
The race was fairly quiet, with only one caution for actual contact. That yellow was for when David Reutimann's bad luck streak continued. His No. 00 Camry blew a right front tire and hit the wall in turns three and four fairly early in the event, ending his day early. The only other wreck occurred on lap 121. This one occurred when David Ragan, Landon Cassill and two other drivers went four wide into turn three. Ragan hit Cassill, sending him into a spin and forcing the rest of the field behind him to drive through the grass to miss his No. 51 machine. The only damage done in this wreck was to the driver's radiators because their grille's were blocked up with grass.
As with most races this season, this race came down to fuel mileage (which was great because who knows how many seconds the victor would have won by had it not come down to gas mileage). Several drivers pitted right after the final restart, while Menard, Brian Vickers, Regan Smith and several others stayed out. These lead cars had the pace slowed to a crawl so they could save precious fuel, while Gordon led the pack that pitted at full speed.
In the final laps, Gordon began to close, climbing as high as second, but when Menard was told to open it back up to keep the lead, Gordon's speedy progress was halted. Paul Menard, the driver that everyone had written off since his career began, had won one of the crown jewel events on the Nascar schedule. Along with Menard, people had also questioned Richard Childress' motives since he signed Menard at the end of last season (again, myself included), saying it was to get John Menard's checkbook instead of Paul Menard's talent. But Childress stood firm and said his new driver had what it took to win at the cup level. I guess Childress and Menard had the last laugh in this one. Congratulations to both of them.
So now that Paul Menard has kissed the bricks at Indy, every big race this season has had a first time, upset winner. Trevor Bayne won the Daytona 500, Regan Smith won the Southern 500, David Ragan won the Coke Zero 400 at Daytona and now Menard has won the Brickyard 400. To his credit, Menard has run very well this season and it was really just a matter of time. I just don't think anyone expected his first win to come on the biggest stage in motorsports. Now it's on to the "Tricky Triangle" at Pocono Raceway where Menard will try and repeat and forty-two other drivers will try and stop him.
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