03/25/2000
LONG ISLAND'S OWN, STEVE PARK WINS HIS FIRST
WC POLE...
(Bristol, TN) East Northport's Steve Park,
driver of the Dale Earnhardt, Inc.-owned Pennzoil Chevrolet, toured the
concrete surface in 15.184 seconds, at 126.370 mph, to set a new track
record Friday in Bud Pole Qualifying for Sunday's Food City 500.
It was the first Bud Pole of his NASCAR Winston Cup Series career, which
began in 1997.
Park turned in some impressive times during practice and knew his No. 1
Monte Carlo possessed the power to take the top starting spot.
"It's a real nail-biter to have to do a lap in just over 15 seconds
and then have to wait for 25 minute to see if you've gotten the pole,"
Park said. "But my crew chief Paul Andrews keeps up with who is
fast and kind of let me know that.
"This is an awesome feeling to win my first pole position. I'm
just excited. The whole Pennzoil team have done a great job.
When they took that Chevrolet Monte Carlo out of the truck today it was
fast. We're excited to have the opportunity to come to Bristol. We
thought we had a pretty good car but to lead both practices and get the pole
is something we really didn't expect."
Park has greatly improved his efforts over the past nine races that
stretch back into the 1999 season. The East Northport, NY, native has
found himself solidly leading events and finally showcasing his talents in
NASCAR's most elite circuit. With his contract up with DEI at the end of
2000, he wants to pile up as many positives as possible in hopes or renewing
his paperwork.
"The performance really started toward the second half of last
year," Park said. "We were hoping with the new body style change
in the Monte Carlo we could take that performance and roll it into this
year. If you look at the stats, we have two top-10 finishes and two
DNFs in the first five races. That's not the consistency we've been looking
for. We've been having a lot of mechanical failures but the guys are
working hard to fix that. It seems like when we do finish races we can
finish them in the top-10, run for poles and run for wins. The whole
team has come together and this is the first whole year where I've had the
same crew chief and it's really starting to show on the race track."
Park, 32, has never has won a NASCAR Winston Cup Series event, but he
captured three NASCAR Busch Series Grand National Division races in 1997.
His best finish in five races this season was fourth at the Cracker Barrel
Old Country Store 500 at Atlanta two weeks ago.
Sunday's race is the sixth of 34 stops on the series schedule and
features a $2.3 million purse. It will be televised live on ESPN at 1 p.m.
ET, with live radio coverage by Performance Racing Network affiliates.
Source: Ben White/NASCAR
Winston Cup Illustrated/NASCAR Online
Posted: March 24, 2000
