Texas II: Paul Menard preview

* PAUL MENARD will make his seventh NASCAR Sprint Cup Series start at Texas Motor Speedway this Sunday in the Dickies 500.

* MENARD AT TEXAS... In his six previous starts, Menard's best finish at the 1.5-mile speedway was last April when he started fifth and finished 13th. He has also led one lap of competition at TMS.

* AVERAGES... Menard has an average start of 20.8 and an average finish of 23.0 in Cup Series competition at Texas Motor Speedway.

* VERTIS MAKES DEBUT ON HOOD...The No. 98 team will unload the Vertis / Menards Ford Fusion for the first time this season. Vertis Communications is a premier provider of targeted advertising and marketing solutions to America's leading retail and consumer services companies.

Paul Menard on racing at Texas Motor Speedway:

"The last time we were at Texas, I thought we had one of the best cars we've had all season long. We qualified fifth and finished the race 13th that weekend. Yates Racing and Ford have really done a great job with their intermediate program and I think that getting back to Texas this weekend will be a good rebound from last weekend. It was hard to believe that we picked up a piece of debris on lap four. That really could have happen to anyone out there. Hopefully our No. 98 Vertis / Menards team can bounce back from last weekend in Talladega and have a competitive weekend in Texas."

Crew Chief Larry Carter on racing at Texas Motor Speedway:

"I think our intermediate program has been one of our stronger programs this season. We've had fast cars for Paul at Chicago, Atlanta, and of course Texas earlier this season. I think all the guys are ready to get back out there after going out so early last weekend in Talladega. That was really a huge let down because I thought Paul had one of the better cars on Friday during practice. A strong weekend in Texas would be great for our No. 98 Vertis / Menards team."

-credit: yr