NASCAR Cup

Atlanta: Paul Menard preview

Menards Racing Ready for Kobalt Tools 500 Paul Menard Hopes to Repeat Past Success at Atlanta Motor Speedway MOORESVILLE, N.C. (March 5, 2008) -- Paul Menard and the Menards/Dale Earnhardt Inc. team head to Atlanta Motor Speedway for ...

Published: Mar 7, 2008, 5:27 AM

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Menards Racing Ready for Kobalt Tools 500
Paul Menard Hopes to Repeat Past Success at Atlanta Motor Speedway

MOORESVILLE, N.C. (March 5, 2008) -- Paul Menard and the Menards/Dale Earnhardt Inc. team head to Atlanta Motor Speedway for this weekend's Kobalt Tools 500. Menard will pilot the No. 15 Menards/Energizer Chevrolet Impala SS in the 325-lap event.

"Atlanta is such a fun track with all the room in the world to race and pass," Menard said. "I definitely look forward coming to Atlanta twice a year."

Menard participated in last year's COT test at the track, but the driver's first experience with the new car on a bigger track, left quite a bit to learn following the team's first test session.

"We didn't work on anything specific at the test last year," Menard said. "It was a very general test, the first one I'd done on a 1.5 mile or bigger. There were a lot of unknowns that we've since worked on and improved."

That improvement was evident as Menard raced his way to a 22nd place finish at Las Vegas Motor Speedway last weekend, a finish his Crew Chief Doug Randolph hopes to improve on at Atlanta.

"We worked hard at Las Vegas and we learned a few things that will hopefully translate to Atlanta and help us there," Randolph said. "I'd say our goal for this weekend is a solid top-15 qualifying effort and to follow that up with a similar finish."

Menard knows how to run up front at Atlanta. The Dale Earnhardt Inc. sophomore driver turned in a 7th place finish in this event just two years ago.

"Racing is such a humbling business," Menard said. "Even though we had a top-10 at Atlanta in '06, we weren't very good at all there last year. We'll try to get back to our '06 finish this weekend."

Menard arrives in Atlanta on the heels of a successful test at Phoenix International Raceway where the No. 15 team recorded the second fastest lap of 47 drivers in the two-day test.

-credit: mr/dei

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