With the stuff dreams are made of, Paul Menard became the fourteenth different driver to win a race this season and the first driver to score his first victory at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Beating out a charging Jeff Gordon who was looking for his fifth victory at the Brickyard, Menard’s fuel mileage became the winning factor that took him to victory lane.


Gordon had to settle for second by a margin of .725 seconds behind Menard. In hindsight, Gordon, the winner of the inaugural Brickyard 400 in 1994, graciously remarked that Menard probably, “has a greater appreciation for it than I did in '94, because while I was watching from a distance and my heroes were Indy 500 drivers, I wasn't in the garage like he was.” With Gordon summing up, “So he could probably appreciate it even more.” Menard’s father John has fielded IndyCars for a variety of drivers and Paul remarked, “I just spent a lot of time in the garage area. I didn't miss an Indy 500 from 1989 to 2003. I was here for the inaugural Brickyard 400 in 1994. It's just a really special place for my family and myself."

Menard’s close friend and first time winner this season at the Darlington race run in May placed third and promised to attend Menard’s victory celebration at Indy like Menard did his at Darlington. Last year’s Brickyard winner Jamie McMurray came in fourth, Matt Kenseth brought home fifth, and Tony Stewart sewed up sixth despite a seemingly ugly day of competition. Greg Biffle, Mark Martin, Brad Keselowski, and Kyle Busch finished seventh through tenth respectively.

The Sprint Cup Points Chase finds Carl Edwards atop the leader board again this week, 11 points ahead of five-time defending Sprint Cup Champion Jimmie Johnson who sits confidently in second again. Kevin Harvick, one point behind Johnson, picked up one position to sit in third. Kyle Busch and Matt Kenseth each popped up one position to take over fourth and fifth respectively. Kurt Busch dropped three spots to inhabit sixth. Jeff Gordon and Ryan Newman stayed frozen in seventh and eighth respectively while Tony Stewart improved two spots to ninth. Dale Earnhardt Jr. dropped one spot to tenth as did Denny Hamlin taking over the eleventh place. And Clint Bowyer stayed locked in twelfth. Menard’s win does put him in contention for one of the wild-card slots available to the highest-ranking race winners in positions 11th-20th in points.

The action moves back East to the Pocono Raceway for the Good Sam RV Insurance 500. The second date at Pocono finds the Sprint Cup drivers taking the track starting at 1pm EST. ESPN will be broadcasting the event. Please stay tuned to this site for the Race Recap by Chief 187 a short while after the broadcast is over.

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