Paul Menard Looks Ahead to Taming Darlington at the Southern 500

NASCAR Sprint Cup Series – Southern 500
May 11, 2013 – Darlington Raceway
Paul Menard, No. 27

Paul Menard will pilot chassis No. 414 at Darlington Raceway. This No. 27 Chevrolet SS was previously run this season at Auto Club Speedway finishing eighth. Menard has six career NASCAR Sprint Cup Series starts at Darlington Raceway. His best start of 14th and best finish of 13th both came in 2012. The Wisconsin native has completed 2,161 of 2,206 laps attempted (98 percent) at the 1.366-mile track. In his last appearance at Darlington Raceway, Menard started the No. 27 Chevrolet from the 14th position and brought home a 13th-place finish, his best effort to-date at the track.

It a great track, and a lot of fun to drive. Since the repave we haven’t seen the tire wear that Darlington (Raceway) is known for. With the new pavement it has lost some of its character and drives a lot like some of the 1.5-mile tracks. It’s still a really cool track to race on and I’m anxious to see what our Pittsburgh Paints/Menards Chevrolet has when we unload for practice on Friday. Turns one and two are really fast, and in turns three and four you’ve got to slow the car up a lot, which makes it tough to gauge how you want to lay your splitter down. You’ve just got to decide which end you want to set up for. – Paul Menard

Radio & TV

FOX’s live coverage of the Southern 500 begins Saturday, May 11 at 7 p.m. Eastern Time. The race will also be broadcast on the Motor Racing Network and SIRIUS XM NASCAR Radio.

NASCAR Sprint Cup Series results at Darlington Raceway

• Starts: 7
• Wins: 0
• Poles: 0
• Top 5: 0
• Top 10: 0
• Laps Led: 0
• Average Start: 24.4
• Average Finish: 23.71