NASCAR WCUP: Steve Park, Winner of Dura Lube 400, Interview
Posted By Terry Callahan
Motorsports Editor, The Auto Channel
Steve Park, No. 1 PennzoilChevrolet Monte Carlo (winner): “I’m glad it’s
over, actually. It’s justbeen an emotional roller coaster this past week. I
just tried to do everything that Dale Earnhardt taught me todo. I didn’t
want to run out of gas onthe last lap. They told me toconserve. I tried to
put a block onhim. I was just glad it was him. He’s won this race just as
much as we did.If it wasn’t him, we’d probably both would have wrecked. He
checked up and gaveme the opportunity to win. I just want to thank Bobby
Labonte. I’ve got to thank this whole entire team. Iknow I’m going to
forget somebody. This is a dream finish for all of us at DaleEarnhardt Inc.
Dale’s gone but he’s notforgotten. He’s going to be with allthe guys, Dale
Jr., and everybody, for the rest of the year. It was hard toconcentrate. I
was emotional. I had tearscoming down those last couple of laps. I had to
kind of wipe my nose and gotback up on the steering wheel, because that’s
what Dale Earnhardt would want meto do and that’s what we did. Again, thanks
to Bobby Labonte and his wholegang. I threw a block on him, but I was trying
in my heart to win this race.” (What about the battlewith Jeff Gordon?) “Gordon had areal good race car. He was really faston fresh tires. I was probably a little bit better in the middle of the run,and he was probably a little bit better than us in the end. We made some adjustments on the car thatmade us really good in the long runs. When we had the lead there towards the end, they told me to conserve ongas and we had just enough to get us to the end.”
(Tell us about the hatexchange with Bobby Labonte) – “As you know, race car drivers usually carryhats around their shifters and that’s how they’re available to us in VictoryLane. We’ve all been wearing thesespecial No. 3 Dale Earnhardt hats all weekend. I got on to the backstretchafter we got the checkered flag and the tears were falling down my face. I could barely see. Bobby Labonte pulled upalong side of me and gave me a thumbs-up and pulled his (Dale Earnhardt) hatout and hung it out the window. Man, Ijust busted out in tears. I grabbed my hat. I wanted to do something for the fans. You know we obviously all miss Dale. The outcry from the fans at the shop and the media from all over theworld have just been incredible. This sport is so focused on what the race fanswant. And to win a race is great for usand it’s great for all the fans that are here to enjoy it. But it’s so hard togive something back to them. The bestthing about the Polish victory lap is that it gets the drivers side over to seethe fans. They’re all hanging on thefence and they’re all waving their Dale Earnhardt hats and shirts – rippingthem off their body to wave ‘em. To beable to salute Dale by getting a win and saluting all the DEI fans by doing areverse lap and being able to signify the race was in his honor by waving hishat, it was just beyond words. Then Ididn’t think I was going to get back around – I ran out of gas on thebackstretch. The car was sputtering and then I had to get down on the flat andthen I almost ran into Michael Waltrip ‘cause I couldn’t see because of thetears in my eyes. It’s a whole teameffort. It’s not about Steve Park.”
(What does this do foryour momentum?) “This gives ustremendous momentum. I’d like to thank both my teammates, Michael Waltrip andDale Jr., who was unfortunately caught up in that incident yesterday. We’re twofor two and we’re going for three for three next week. When we had our mediatour, and you all remember that, Dale is the one who stood up there and saidthat the Pennzoil Team was going to go on and win more races and that Dale Jr.was going to get his stuff together and that they would win more races. I think the only concern he has was withMichael (Waltrip) and his team. And hetold Michael he needed to go win. And that’s kind of where we all stood. Whenyou’re associated with Dale Earnhardt, it’s not about running second. You don’tget a pat on the back for running second. You might get a pat on the back for winning. You can call it tough love, but that’s just the way he’s taughtus”
Text Provided By Nancy Wager
Editors Note: To view hundreds of hot racing photos and art, visit
The Racing Photo Museum and the
Visions of Speed Art Gallery.