Paul Menard retired from full-time competition after the 2019 season.
54 Facts About Paul Menard
2.
Paul Menard has competed in the NASCAR Xfinity Series in the past, including running part-time with Andy Petree Racing in 2003 and 2004, full-time with DEI in 2005 and 2006, and full-time with Roush Fenway Racing in 2010.
3.
Paul Menard has won 1 Cup Series race, 3 Xfinity Series races, and 1 ARCA Menards Series race.
4.
Paul Menard is the son of entrepreneur John Menard Jr.
5.
Paul Menard's racing career began at the age of eight when he won the Briggs Junior Karting Class Championship in his native Eau Claire, Wisconsin.
6.
Paul Menard later won the Briggs Medium Class Champion before working his way up to higher level racing.
7.
Paul Menard began ice racing at the age of 15 and won 10 International Ice Racing Association events in his career.
8.
Paul Menard continues to compete in IIRA events in and around Wisconsin.
9.
Paul Menard borrowed Bryan Reffner's Late Model for a week winning his heat race and placing around fourth in the feature.
10.
Paul Menard decided to build his own late model and raced the car three to four times per week.
11.
The 2002 season saw Paul Menard compete in ReMax Challenge, SCCA Trans-Am, Grand Am Cup and the NASCAR Southwest Tour.
12.
Paul Menard capped his season in the latter series with a last-lap pass of veteran Ken Schrader for the Phoenix victory.
13.
In 2003, Paul Menard joined Andy Petree Racing to compete in NASCAR Cup Series, Busch, and Truck Series events while still competing in ARCA.
14.
Paul Menard had top finishes of ninth in the Busch race at Indianapolis Raceway Park and eighth in the Truck race at the Kansas Speedway.
15.
In 2004, Paul Menard began the NASCAR Busch Series season driving the No 33 Chevrolet.
16.
Paul Menard got his first top-10 and top-five by placing fifth at the Kentucky Speedway.
17.
In 2006, driving the No 15 car part-time for DEI, Paul Menard scored his first top-10 finish in the NASCAR Nextel Cup Series by coming in seventh place at the Golden Corral 500 at Atlanta Motor Speedway.
18.
Paul Menard finished off 2006 with a sixth-place finish in the standings, tying his best finish in the standings last year.
19.
Paul Menard scored 16 top-10 finishes and 7 top-5 finishes in the Busch Series.
20.
Paul Menard failed to qualify for six races that season, but after DEI's merger with Ginn Racing, the owner's points were transferred from Sterling Marlin's No 14 car to Menard, who was then locked into the rest of the races.
21.
In 2008, Paul Menard won his first Sprint Cup Series pole at Daytona International Speedway in early July and remained in the top 35 in owner's points for the entire season.
22.
At Talladega in the fall, Paul Menard had the best run of his career leading laps and coming home with a strong second-place finish.
23.
Paul Menard was up front for a good part of the day in the other.
24.
Paul Menard finished up the season with $3,559,130 in earnings and finished 26th in points standings, a career high.
25.
Paul Menard showed limited improvement in 2009, running in the top 10 many times, only to later have problems.
26.
At the second Dover race, Paul Menard started 10th and ran in the top 10 for most of the day, only to find his car tighten up near the end of the race and come home 19th.
27.
Paul Menard ended up finishing 31st in the final point standings.
28.
Paul Menard then went on to have Top 20s at Las Vegas and Fontana.
29.
Paul Menard posted another top 10 in the circuit's 19th race at Chicagoland Speedway.
30.
In early 2010, Paul Menard drove in the No 90 Daytona Prototype for Spirit of Daytona Racing in the Rolex 24 hours at Daytona International Speedway.
31.
Paul Menard was running 7th when he was spun out on the final lap by road course specialist Tony Ave.
32.
Paul Menard moved to Richard Childress Racing in 2011, driving the No 27.
33.
On July 31,2011, Paul Menard won his first and only Sprint Cup race in his 167th start, in the Brickyard 400 at the prestigious Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
34.
Paul Menard did so by making his last pit stop with 36 laps to go.
35.
Paul Menard led late, but with 9 laps to go, he was passed by Jamie McMurray.
36.
Paul Menard is the first member of the Menard family to win at Indianapolis, in any event, held at the track.
37.
Paul Menard joins Trevor Bayne, Regan Smith, David Ragan, and Marcos Ambrose as first-time winners in the 2011 season.
38.
Paul Menard crashed during the Aaron's 499 at Talladega and went winless for 2012.
39.
In 2014 Paul Menard scored 13 top tens and held a chase spot for most of the regular season but two consecutive 18th place finishes at Atlanta and Richmond dropped him out of contention.
40.
Paul Menard won the Nationwide race at Michigan for his first NNS win since 2006 in June 2014.
41.
Paul Menard won after Joey Logano blew a tire with 4 laps to go.
42.
Paul Menard led the first 7 laps until he was involved in a big wreck, finishing 21st.
43.
Paul Menard later finished in the top 5 in Auto Club and in Talladega and got 5 top 10s and 22 top 15s.
44.
Paul Menard made the Chase for the first time in his career mostly because he had only one DNF, grabbing the final spot by 17 points over Aric Almirola.
45.
Paul Menard was eliminated in the first round, but with Matt Kenseth's two-race suspension, Menard passed him and finished in a career-best of 14th in the standings.
46.
Also in August 2015, Paul Menard took the checkers at Road America, holding off Blake Koch and Ryan Blaney for his third Xfinity Series win.
47.
Paul Menard scored his 2nd top 10 of the year in the GEICO 500 at Talladega, finishing 9th.
48.
Paul Menard survived most of the carnage in the Brickyard 400 but crashed in a late big one.
49.
On July 26,2017, Paul Menard was announced as the replacement for Ryan Blaney in the No 21 Wood Brothers Racing Ford starting in 2018.
50.
On June 30,2018, almost 10 years to the day, Paul Menard got his second ever NASCAR Cup Series Pole Award at Chicagoland Speedway for the Overton's 400.
51.
On July 12,2019, Paul Menard announced he had a contract for the 2020 season, indicating that he plans to stay with Wood Brothers.
52.
On September 10,2019, Paul Menard announced his retirement from full-time racing after the 2019 season.
53.
Paul Menard attended the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire, majoring in business.
54.
Paul Menard is a Roman Catholic and a fan of power metal music.