Menard holds off Gordon in Brickyard 400 for series win

This year’s NASCAR Sprint Cup Series theme of first-time winners continued Sunday as Paul Menard earned his first career Sprint Cup series win in the Brickyard 400 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

The win came in Menard’s 167th start in NASCAR’s premiere series. In the race’s 18th year, Menard became the first driver to score his first series win at the speedway.

Jeff Gordon attempted to catch Menard, but the winner was able to conserve his fuel sufficiently to claim the victory. Gordon finished second.

“Paul did a great job saving fuel,” Gordon said. “He had saved enough to go back to a full pace. I’m so happy for him. If you’re going to get beat, it’s good to get beat by someone who can appreciate this win.”

Menard said he was confident he had done what was necessary to win.
“I was saving a little bit, maintaining (pace) with the 5 and the 1,” Menard said. “I knew we saved plenty of fuel.”

Menard received updates on the drivers trailing him from his crew chief Slugger Labbe.

“I was more worried about the guys who pitted,” Menard said. “Slugger kept telling me where Jeff was and how hard he was coming.”

Gordon, a four-time winner of the race, said he understands what it means to win at this track. He won the inaugural race in 1994.

“That race changed my life and career forever,” Gordon said.

While only time will tell how this win will affect Menard’s life, the win gave him his first top 10 finish in five races at the track.

This year’s season has seen four different first-time winners. Rookie Trevor Bayne won his second career start at the Daytona 500 on Feb. 20.

On May 7, Regan Smith earned his first career win in Darlington, S.C. Brad Keselowski broke through at Kansas Speedway on June 5.

On Sunday, Paul Menard added his name to the list.

“For Paul to get his win here is unbelievable,” his father, John Menard said. “He has followed this place all his life. My heart is going 1,000 miles per minute. It’s a wonderful place. It’s unbelievable.”

Menard inherited the lead when Tony Stewart pitted on lap 145. As Menard drove to save fuel, defending race champion Jamie McMurray passed Menard just prior to lap 153.

Menard retook the lead from McMurray in turn two on lap 157.

Meanwhile, Gordon kept shrinking his deficit. The race still came down to fuel mileage, a predictable finish to Matt Kenseth, who placed fifth.

“I’m not surprised,” Kenseth said. “That’s all we’ve been talking about for three months. I thought it was us and the 24 (Gordon) who probably had the best two cars overall, so it’s a shame one of us didn’t get the win.

“Paul had a reasonably fast car and, of course, fuel mileage.”

Gordon said Menard and his team had to go out on a limb to put themselves in a position to win.

“They took a risk,” Gordon said. “They had to beat a lot of other guys that were trying to save fuel.”