Menard Triumphs At Road America

Paul Menard holds off Ryan Blaney on his way to winning the Road America 180 NASCAR Xfinity Series race. [John Wiedemann Photo]

Paul Menard’s return to his home state of Wisconsin for a summer break had the usual activities: a grill out with his family, riding an ATV around the race track property, having a few Miller brews and winning the Road America 180 NASCAR Xfinity Series race at Elkhart Lake’s Road America.

With a week off from his Sprint Cup schedule on his calendar, the decision was made months ago to come home and visit his Eau Claire family, with a side trip to Road America, which may have turned out to be the most fun of the whole weekend.

#9 Chase Elliott leads the field through turn three at Road America. [Dave Jensen Photo]

Chase Elliott leads the opening lap into turn 8 at Road America. [John Wiedemann Photo]

Brian Scott in front of Ryan Blaney at Road America. [John Wiedemann Photo]

Point leader Chris Buescher held on to the lead in the Xfinity Series with a 9th place finish. [John Wiedemann Photo]

#9 Chase Elliot- running away from the field early in the race. [Roy Schmidt Photo]

#1 Elliot Sadler, #3 Ty Dillon lead pack. [Roy Schmidt Photo]

Defending race winner Brendan Gaughan got off course and filled the front of his car with mud. [John Wiedemann Photo]

#54 Boris Said, #3 Ty Dillon, #22 Ryan Blaney. [Roy Schmidt Photo]

#90 Any Lally, #20 Kenny Habul lead a pack of cars. [Roy Schmidt Photo]

Congested turn six. [Roy Schmidt Photo]

Blake Koch led late in the race before running out of fuel. [John Wiedemann Photo]

Kenny Habul races ahead of Bubba Wallace in turn six at Road America. [John Wiedemann Photo]

Ryan Blaney (22), Boris Said (54) and Ty Dillon (3) race into turn 6. [John Wiedemann Photo]

Brian Scott and Ryan Blaney hammer the gas out of turn six. [John Wiedemann Photo]

#7 Regan Smith gets help after running out of power heading up the hill to turn six. [Roy Schmidt Photo]

Darrell Wallace Jr (6) tries to muscle past leader Paul Menard on the final restart of the race. [John Wiedemann Photo]

Boris Said leads Chase Elliott and Justin Marks in what Said claims will be his last NASCAR race. [John Wiedemann Photo]

Paul Menard takes the checkers and the win at Road America. [Dave Jensen Photo]

Paul Menard waves to his hometown Wisconsin fans after winning the Road America 180. [John Wiedemann Photo]

Paul Menard and the team celebrates at Road America after their NASCAR Xfinity Series win. [Dave Jensen Photo]

Paul Menard poses with the trophy after winning the Road America 180. [Dave Jensen Photo]

Menard, who started eighth, was able to score his third career Xfinity win Saturday by stretching his shrinking fuel supply and holding off a persistent Ryan Blaney while leading just nine laps.

“I’m very fortunate to have won at three of the coolest race tracks: the Milwaukee Mile, Indianapolis and now Road America,” said the winner who pitted his Richard Childress Menards Chevrolet just once on lap 24 and stayed on the track when most of the race leaders decided to stop later in the race.

“We were so close on fuel and we were lucky that the caution we were hoping for near the end stretched from two laps to six (laps 36-41) and those laps helped us get by on the fuel we had left.”

“These races are hard to win and a lot of strategy goes into it. We had a fourth or fifth-place car I felt like, so we decided to go for it and see if we could make it,” said Menard’s crew chief Danny Stockman who told his driver that he needed to save two gallons of Sunoco fuel in order to race until the end and to also hope for that late-race caution.

And as is so often the case, the race boiled down to a four-lap sprint on the final restart with Brian Scott, Chase Elliott and Darrell Wallace Jr. in hot pursuit of Menard and Blaney who quickly opened a gap between themselves and their pursuers.

“We were on a different pit strategy. Those extra caution laps didn’t help us out at all,” explained Blaney, who had never been to Road America. “I had a shot at Paul but he blocked me in turn 14 otherwise I might have been able to pass. We were on a different strategy and those extra caution laps didn’t help us out at all. We knew we were in a great spot when we pitted but the cautions changed that,” as Menard held off Blaney’s Discount Tire Ford for a close 0.572-second win.

Early race leader Chase Elliott started second in his NAPA Chevrolet and led for a race-high 23 laps, often by ten-seconds or more, but several off-track excursions for which he took the blame caused him to fall behind, only to rally near the end and finish fourth.

“That was my worst race. I’ll be honest with you I absolutely screwed this up,” admitted Elliott who will move up to the Sprint Cup Series full-time next year. “I had a good car and I let them down.”

Pole-winner Ben Rhodes, who had the fastest lap in practice, was awarded the pole win when qualifying was called off Saturday morning due to rain and generally wet conditions.

Series’ point leader Chris Buescher started sixth and finished ninth retaining a 16-point lead over runner-up Elliott. Ty Dillon is third (-19), followed by Regan Smith (-50) and Elliott Sadler (-85).

So how did the winner feel about this home-state win?

“My cousin was spotting for me in turn seven and my dad (John) was in the pits. I took my daughter for an ATV ride around here last night and during the race I noticed a lot of Badger tents and Packer clothing along the fences. You all know how I feel about Road America: It’s the greatest race course in America and if they had a Sprint Cup race here it would be standing-room only.”

And if that happened, Menard wouldn’t have to take a vacation just to race back here again.

RA NOTES:
• Several drivers were upset that what started out as a 1-2 lap caution period for Rhodes’ car that spun in turn seven on lap 35, turned into a six-lap slow-down that irritated fans and stymied drivers. Menard described the episode as a “comedy of errors”, and Brian Scott said that he was “frustrated with the officials –there were four too many caution laps. They didn’t seem to get organized.”
• All the parts for the winner’s trophy were purchased at Menards.
• Paul Menard said that he didn’t think his father, John, who has fielded entries in Indy car racing in the past, would be interested in going back with a car for the upcoming celebration of the100th Indianapolis 500. He thought his dad felt that there were “too much politics” there.
• A moment of silence was held prior to the race for IndyCar driver Justin Wilson who died last week after being injured at Pocono. Several Xfinity drivers placed decals on their cars in memory of Wilson.
• This was the sixth annual Road America NASCAR Xfinity race at Road America. The first NASCAR event here was a Grand National race held back in 1956.
• Darrell Wallace Jr. was the highest finishing rookie with his fifth-place finish.

Paul Gohde

Paul Gohde heard the sound of race cars early in his life.

Growing up in suburban Milwaukee, just north of Wisconsin State Fair Park in the 1950’s, Paul had no idea what “that noise” was all about that he heard several times a year. Finally, through prodding by friends of his parents, he was taken to several Thursday night modified stock car races on the old quarter-mile dirt track that was in the infield of the one-mile oval -and he was hooked.

The first Milwaukee Mile event that he attended was the 1959 Rex Mays Classic won by Johnny Thomson in the pink Racing Associates lay-down Offy built by the legendary Lujie Lesovsky. After the 100-miler Gohde got the winner’s autograph in the pits, something he couldn’t do when he saw Hank Aaron hit a home run at County Stadium, and, again, he was hooked.

Paul began attending the Indianapolis 500 in 1961, and saw A. J. Foyt’s first Indy win. He began covering races in 1965 for Racing Wheels newspaper in Vancouver, WA as a reporter/photographer and his first credentialed race was Jim Clark’s historic Indy win.Paul has also done reporting, columns and photography for Midwest Racing News since the mid-sixties, with the 1967 Hoosier 100 being his first big race to report for them.

He is a retired middle-grade teacher, an avid collector of vintage racing memorabilia, and a tour guide at Miller Park. Paul loves to explore abandoned race tracks both here and in Europe, with the Brooklands track in Weybridge England being his favorite. Married to Paula, they have three adult children and two cats.

Paul loves the diversity of all types of racing, “a factor that got me hooked in the first place.”

racingnation.com

Related Posts

• 
  Sebring 2024
• 
  Giuseppe Victorious
• 
  Car or Driver