Paul Menard at ease fielding questions about landing sponsor-driven rides
Team owner Richard Childress says driver Paul Menard has "the drive to go out and win." Menard will move to Richard Childress Racing in 2011 with sponsorship from his family-owned business. // Sam Cranston, NASCAR Illustrated
BROOKLYN, Mich. – Paul Menard is used to the questions. He gets them every time he lands a new NASCAR ride.
Did Menard get his latest opportunity with Richard Childress Racing because he brought sponsorship from his family’s home improvement company to the team?
In part, yes, Menard admits. But, he adds, so what? His family is a racing family and it’s going to be involved in the sport whether he’s driving the Menards-sponsored car or not.
“I have my family backing,” said Menard, who signed a three-year contract with RCR this week and whose family-owned company will back the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series team. “They are going to be involved in this sport one way or another. I grew up around racing and have the racing background. If they are going to back somebody, I’m probably the easiest one to yell at and I can dish it back out.
“It’s a good lateral relationship. If I have to answer to somebody as a sponsor, it’s my brothers and my sisters and my uncles and my dad. We can work it out.”
Menard, who has been sponsored by Menards at Dale Earnhardt Inc. and Richard Petty Motorsports, says he doesn’t mind the questions about the unique sponsorship.
“Earlier on, you heard a lot of that. It’s all talk, though,” Menard said. “I’ve looked past that and grown past that. People will always talk about it, and there’s nothing you can do about that.
“Bottom line is, we are a racing family and we have a racing heritage and I’m a race-car driver and that’s what we enjoy doing. It’s kind of our hobby and part of our business. It’s worked in the past and it will work in the future.”
Team owner Richard Childress has had a long relationship with John Menard, Paul’s father, and co-owned a car with him several years ago.
Childress has heard the same questions because his grandson, Austin Dillon, currently drives a Camping World Truck Series entry for RCR.
“I get the same thing with Austin, that they got the break,” Childress said. “The difference is, Paul and Austin both are making a difference. They’ve got the opportunities, but if you watch them on the race track, Paul does the job on the race track.
“It’s something that he loves to do and a passion [for]; it’s not just because he has the sponsor. He’s got the drive to go out and win, just like Austin.”
RCR driver Jeff Burton said Menard’s support from his family is no different than the help many NASCAR drivers have gotten throughout their careers.
“In the situation that he is in with his family, no matter what he does, it is always going to be, ‘If it wasn’t for daddy, he wouldn’t be here,’” Burton said. “That’s what I went through when I was racing Late Models.”
“Paul is his own man. He has been assisted by his father the same way I was assisted by my father. He is going to stand on his own feet and he is committed to doing what it takes to be successful and to be a better race-car driver.
“We saw, especially early this year, that he is capable of running in the front and he is capable of making fast lap times. He’s a growing driver. There is a tremendous amount of upside with Paul and he is committed to doing what it takes.”
