NASCAR WCUP: Steve Park Notes, Post Race, Texas Motor Speedway
By Terry CallahanMotorsports Editor, The Auto Channel
April 2, 2001
Steve Park, No. 1 Pennzoil Chevrolet Monte Carlo (finished 2nd): "The back of that No. 88 car is getting pretty familiar and I'm not really liking it too much. The only consolation to anything is to look where we were a year ago when we weren't even contending for a win. I think just the competitive side of me is not happy with finishing second, but when a day or two goes by you look back and look at the points and everything that really mean a lot and you think maybe second isn't that bad after all. But we're definitely getting tired of finishing second to that 88 car. (Johnny Benson added, "Especially as bad as his car's been lately. He's really been crying about it.") Yeah, you're right. Good point, Johnny. Those Fords have absolutely no aerodynamic downforce."
(Comment regarding the tires): "We had the opportunity to test here in January. Obviously the conditions weren't the same, but Goodyear brought us a whole slew of tires here to try to slow the cars down and do what they've been doing all year long to try to mandate a handful of tires for a lot of these race tracks that we go to. I think they've done a fantastic job. A lot of people are struggling with these tires, but the tires just last and last and last. For us, it seems to be working. It seems to fit my style and Paul's (Andrews, crew chief) style. To be able to come out here and test and decide what tires we should come back here really wasn't our decision. It was Goodyear's decision. We were just as surprised as everybody else when we got here. I just think our team is able to adapt fairly quickly to changing conditions and when they change the tires and I think that's what's making us fairly strong right now."
(Do aerodynamics play a big role at this track?) "Oh without a doubt. We're running 190 mph around here so aero plays a big role. My car was just a little aero tight all day long in traffic, but when I could get out front man I could take off. My car was perfect. You don't want to adjust on it to get it too loose so that when you get out front, you can't drive it. So we were kind of stuck between a rock and a hard place trying to keep the car where it was fairly decent in traffic and then real fast when we got out front. We just didn't get out front during the late stages of the race in order to capitalize on that."
(Talk about that pit stop and your fuel & tire decisions): "That wasn't by design. We thought we could make it the rest of the way on fuel and then after how much gas the car took we knew that we couldn't. So we knew we were going to have to pit again. So, a little bit of a miscue, but we were able to rally back from it and it shows you how strong this Pennzoil team is. By in large, it was a good day. But we're getting tired of finishing second."
Text provided by Nancy Wager
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