Andy Petree Racing’s Paul Menard, 23, ended a tumultuous weekend by holding off Billy Venturini by 0.151 seconds Saturday to capture his first ARCA victory in the Food World 300 at Talladega Superspeedway. He earned his first pole earlier this season at Winchester, Ind. Menard had the fastest speed in Thursday’s qualifying session but it was disallowed when his #33 Chevrolet failed post-qualifying inspection. Since Menard is running only a limited schedule this season in ARCA, he had no provisionals to fall back on. So, his Andy Petree Racing team bought the car #26 from driver Brad Smith and took his place in the field. “We had the best car all weekend. We had a problem in qualifying. You live and you learn,” Menard said. “This is a new deal for us and these guys gave me a hell of a car. We were just hanging on there at the end. Billy Venturini and Tony Ave are my buddies. They probably could have gotten a run on me, but they stuck with me.” Menard has run a combination of ARCA, NASCAR Busch, Truck and Winston Cup races this season. He entered the Talladega race to become qualified to run on superspeedways as he starts his first full season in the Busch series in 2004. Two drivers involved in a multicar accident on Lap 69 of 113 were taken to area hospitals. Ken Weaver was taken to the University of Alabama-Birmingham Medical Center, and Keith Segars to Northeast Medical Center in Anniston, both for observation.( ThatsRacin.com ), NOTE: Kurt Busch, who started on the pole finished 28th [accident] and Boris Said, being coached by Ernie Irvan finished 24th [accident] in his first superspeedway race. And Christi Passmore finished 5th.[see full results at the ARCA Racing site ](9-27-2003) UPDATE – didn’t sell ride: Brad Smith didn’t sell his ride, but was injured and couldn’t race, from his site: The owner/driver of the #26 Ford was injured Thursday when his ride caught fire during his qualifying run at Talladega Superspeedway. He spent two nights at the Medical Center at the University of Alabama in Birmingham before beginning his trip back to Michigan Saturday morning. So the #26 team had a 38th place provisional starting spot for Saturdays Food World 300, but they had neither a car nor a driver for the event. What do you do in a case like that? You find someone who has both. Wisconsin native Paul Menard, who was fastest in Thursdays qualifying session, found his time disallowed when his rear quarter panel didnt pass inspection. His car owner, Andy Petree, didnt have enough points for a provisional, as the team had run only three other ARCA events this season. The 26 got the owners points for the event, as well as a little extra exposure for the team.( Brad Smith site )(9-28-2003)
