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| Thursday, April 26 |
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| Ray staying with Menard in 2001 ESPN.com news services | |||
They won a championship in 1999 together. They've struggled in 2000 together. And in 2001, John Menard and Greg Ray will remain together for the Northern Light Series.
Menard put to rest any rumors about the duo's breakup during Sunday's Belterra Resort Indy 300 at Kentucky Speedway.
"Oh, yeah, we're going to have a team," Menard said. "Greg now is in the second year of a five-year contract. We'll keep on
going with a one-car team."
Ray, who replaced Tony Stewart as Menard's driver at the end of the 1998 season, was rummored to be moving to another team in the Northern Light Series or to NASCAR. Menard also had been mentioned in reports that he might leave the IRL.
But Menard downplayed any talk of either jumping to NASCAR.
"Someday that's something Greg may want to do in his career, but we've got
a situation now that I think Greg feels he's got a pretty good situation
where he's at," Menard said. "I know Greg would be a success in any series
he'd run, but as it stands now he's given every indication of fulfilling the
contract."
Thomas Knapp was hired as team manager at the same time Ray signed with
Menard. Knapp and Ray had raced together in the past, and everything seemed
to go smoothly through the first year together.
But Knapp and Menard agreed to part company in midseason this year. Menard
hired Mitch Davis to fill the team manager role and also is assisting with
those duties.
Menard, an original member of the IRL, said the key to
success is sticking with what a team is doing and keeping a driver over an
extended period. He added that team stability is very important even though
he made some personnel changes in recent weeks.
"(Winning at Atlanta) really bolstered us to begin believing in ourselves again that we could actually finish a race," Menard said. "We just hadn't been able to finish races for whatever reason."
Ray captured the championship last year, winning three races. This season, the team was winless until Ray drove to victory in the Midas 500
Classic on July 15 at Atlanta. He is 11th in the point standings with one
race remaining. Send this story to a friend | Most sent stories | |
ALSO SEE Team Menard's ex-manager charged with money laundering Lazier captures Belterra, builds IRL series lead | |
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