Paul Menard and the No. 21 Quaker State Ford Mustang are set to start Saturday night’s Quaker State 400 from 14th place.
The starting line-up won’t be official until after the cars are inspected on Saturday prior to the race.
With a schedule like the one NASCAR is following this weekend, teams start the race with the same chassis set-up used in qualifying, so crews tend to sacrifice some speed in qualifying and focus on a set-up that will be best for the race.
Menard, who now has qualified 14th on five occasions this year and 10 times since he joined the Wood Brothers team last year, posted a speed of 182. 020 miles per hour in qualifying. He said afterward that he was pleased with the way the No. 21 Mustang is driving.
The Quaker State team had two practices to tune their car for Saturday’s 400-mile run. In the opening session, he ran 34 laps, with his fastest lap of 180.383 mph placing him 16th on the speed charts.
In Happy Hour he ran another 44 laps and again was 16th fastest with a best speed of 180.367 mph.
Eddie Wood said he felt good about his team’s prospects for Saturday night.
“Paul said on the radio after qualifying that the car drove good, so that’s a good sign for the race,” Wood said. “It would be nice to have a strong run in the Quaker State 400 with the Steve Kinser-themed Quaker State paint scheme on our car.”
The paint scheme on the Wood Brothers’ Mustang this week was selected in a fan poll and is designed in the same fashion as the one Kinser ran on his World of Outlaws sprint car in 2005 when he scored his 20th series championship.
The Quaker State 400 is set to get the green flag just after 7:30 p.m. Eastern Time on Saturday with TV coverage on NBCSN.
WBR PR
