NASCAR Sprint Cup Series - Auto Club 400
March 19, 2013 - Auto Club Speedway
Paul Menard, No. 27

Paul Menard will pilot chassis No. 414 at Auto Club Speedway. This No. 27 Chevrolet SS is a new addition to the Richard Childress Racing stable this season. Menard has 10 starts at Auto Club Speedway. His best start of 15th and best finish of 16th both came in 2011. The Wisconsin native has completed 2,241 of 2,279 laps attempted (98.3 percent) at the two-mile oval, leading three of them. Starting 27th, Menard finished 19th in last year's Auto Club 400 when the scheduled 200-lap event was called complete on lap 129 because of rain.

Speeds are really high at Auto Club Speedway and the tires fall off quickly. One of our biggest challenges will be trying to make the tires last as long as we can during a fuel run on the CertainTeed/Menards Chevrolet. With tire wear we can move around a lot on the track and have multiple racing grooves. It's all about lane selection at Auto Club as the racing groove is constantly changing. In the beginning of a run we can typically run the bottom groove, but as the tires fall off momentum is important. The higher we can run the more momentum we can carry and we don't have to be as aggressive with the throttle. We had a good finish at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, another intermediate track, so hopefully that will help us this weekend in Fontana. - Paul Menard

Question and Answer Session

Fans can participate in a question-and-answer session with Menard on Saturday, March 23 at 11:15 a.m. Pacific Time at the Team Chevy Stage, located in the midway at Auto Club Speedway.

Radio & TV

Live coverage of the Auto Club 400 at Auto Club Speedway will be televised on FOX Sunday, March 24, beginning at 3 p.m. Eastern Time and will also be broadcast on the Motor Racing Network and Sirius XM NASCAR Radio.

NASCAR Sprint Cup Series results at Auto Club Speedway

• Starts: 11
• Wins: 0
• Poles: 0
• Top 5: 0
• Top 10: 1
• Laps Led: 3
• Average Start: 27.0
• Average Finish: 23.18