Paul Menard 2014 Review
By Richard Tix
Season Grade: C-
Once again 2014 started on a high note for Paul Menard. Not Daytona or Phoenix, but the next five races Menard had four top 10's (one top five). That prompted me to give Menard the spotlight during the regular season when NASCAR headed to Darlington.
"So far Menard has passed the early season test, but if he wants to avoid another season where he finishes around the 16th-20th spot in points he needs a good finish this weekend. If he can manage a quality win and maybe even a top 10 at Darlington we maybe talking about Paul Menards first season finishing in the top 15. If not, we might be able to just expect the same Paul down the stretch." -Season Spotlight
Turns out, Menard ran into some bad luck and finished 41st at Darlington. He never fully turned back to his early season success which has been a trend the last few years of his career. After Darlington he picked up only 9 more top 10's (28 races), in the first 8 races he had four top 10's. That's a dramatic percentage drop of for Paul when it comes to top 10 finishes.
It actually seems to happen more often then not. In 2013 he picked up 4 of his season total 9 top 10's before Darlington (race 11 in 2013). So, we are really just waiting for Menard to put it together for a full season starting at Darlington ever year (or about race 8-11).
Menard ended up finishing the season 21st in points after not winning a race again in 2014. On a side note: Menard did win his first Nationwide race since 2006 this past season. Even through all the bad, Menard had an ok season. He had a child in 2014, which is exciting news for any driver. Paul also still managed to post new career high's in top 5's (5) and top 10's (13), yet notched a three year low in average finish position of 17.9.
So, all was not lost in 2014 even though some of the season trends don't go his way. Paul could finally finish in the top 15 if he could just take early season success and continue it on after Darlington (race 8-11 the past few years). The most important thing going forward will be to find a way to win in the first 26 races.
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