NASCAR WCUP: Park's Rollercoaster Weekend In Texas Continued on Sunday
30 March 1999
If you ever wondered whether NASCAR Winston Cup racing was a rollercoaster ride of emotion just ask #1 Pennzoil Monte Carlo driver Steve Park whose weekend at Texas Motor Speedway rivaled any thrill ride at an amusement park. Except it wasn't as fun.Park posted a 32nd-place finish in the third running of the PrimeStar 500 on the treacherous 1.5-mile oval in Fort Worth. But, how he got there was interesting and frustrating, to say the least.
"What a weekend," said Park after climbing from his Dale Earnhardt Inc. Chevrolet. "That was tough. It seemed like all weekend one minute we were pretty down then we were up and then we were down again."
Park arrived in Texas on Thursday - a day earlier than normal to practice Wayne Grubb's Busch Grand National car. Grubb broke his shoulder at Atlanta two weeks earlier and Park agreed to drive his car to gain more practice on Texas Motor Speedway.
After posting the 29th quickest time on the first day of qualifying, he and the Grubb team attempted to requalify. However, in second round qualifying the team's speed wasn't enough to make one of the top 36 spots on the grid. Park along with more than 20 other Busch drivers weren't allowed to race.
"That was pretty disappointing because I thought for sure we would make that race," Park said. "The car just didn't run as well as it had in practice."
Now came the tough part.
After missing the Busch race, Park had to walk over to the Winston Cup garage where a few hours later he was attempting to qualify the Pennzoil Monte Carlo. This wouldn't be just a normal qualifying attempt either. In practice, the second-year driver posted the second quickest time of the 48 cars making qualifying attempts.
Add to the drama that the treacherous track was tearing up race cars at a pretty alarming rate. Since Park was the 43rd car to make a qualifying run he had to watch as Ken Bouchard was cut from his car after an accident and other drivers smacked the outside wall. He knew a good run would require a great deal of courage and skill.
"My Adams apple felt like a softball when we went out to qualify because I was so nervous," said Park.
With some very quick times already posted and the sun setting in the Texas sky, Park would have to turn in his best qualifying effort of the year for everyone to leave the track happy.
And he did just that.
Park's lap was the third quickest time of all the drivers and earned him his best qualifying spot of his career. Needless to say, it couldn't have come at a better track as his sponsor Pennzoil planned to fill the seats on Sunday with customers and employees.
"Man that was great. I knew we were fast and knew we could do it, but it still feels great when you do it," Park told the media gathered around his bright yellow Monte Carlo. "That's going to make Sunday a lot of fun."
Here comes the rollercoaster part of the weekend into play once again.
When Sunday's 500-mile race started Park appeared on the verge of a career-best finish as he raced with the leaders in the opening laps. By the 30-lap mark Park occupied eighth place and knew he had a long time before he should start making a move on the leaders.
"We ran pretty good and were basically just riding around knowing that this race has a lot of accidents and caution flags. I was just trying to get to the finish. We were good enough that if we made it to the finish we would have something for everyone."
When NASCAR implemented a mandatory caution period on lap 30 so teams could check tires, Park knew a fast pitstop could propel him closer to the lead. As the Dale Earnhardt Inc. pit crew pushed him out of the pits in fifth place after an 18-second pitstop disaster struck.
"I can't get out of first gear," Park radioed the crew as he circled the track on the apron.
When he returned to the pit the crew realized its chances for a top finish were quickly evaporating. Major repairs were in order.
"OK guys lets take it back to the garage and change transmission," said Crew Chief Philippe Lopez.
For the next 30 laps Park sat in his car on top of jack stands as the Pennzoil team replaced the transmission. The rollercoaster was definitely off the tracks.
"Man I can't believe our luck," said Park as he returned to the track in last place. But the day wasn't over and nobody in yellow gave up.
The Pennzoil car kept turning laps, in fact it kept turning laps consistently faster than most of the top 10 cars. A few times the team had to tell Park to allow the lead cars to pass him because they weren't fast enough to pass him by themselves.
"Bud, your lap times are phenomenal," Lopez said. "Just be careful. We don't need to wreck."
Lopez's warning came after drivers like Jeff Gordon and Mike Skinner destroyed their cars in single car accidents after cutting tires. Park never reported any tire or mechanical trouble.
The remainder of Park's day was uneventful except for a late-race pit stop that nearly turned into tragedy.
As Park approached the pits and mashed the brake, the brake pedal went to the floor. The Pennzoil Monte Carlo raced through the pits and struck one of the tires carried by tire carrier Gary Smith. The tires were knocked out of Smith's hand, but he luckily only suffered a bruised leg.
Park spent five laps in the pit as the team repaired a broken brake line. They returned Park to the racetrack where his perseverance and race attrition resulted in a 32nd-place finish.
"It was a weird day. We had a car that was definitely a top-ten car and maybe a top five car except we had all kind of problems. It's like we were snakebite," Park said. "That can't last. We will get this bad luck behind us and starting finishing like we race."
Park and his teammates have Easter weekend off but return to action the following week at Bristol.
1999 Unofficial Standings After PRIMESTAR 500 Texas Motor Speedway Race No. 6 / March 28, 1999 Official standings are announced by NASCAR on Mondays after all decisions regarding the last race have been finalized. Pos Driver Pts 1 Jeff Burton 909 2 Bobby Labonte 907 3 Dale Jarrett 847 4 Jeff Gordon 790 5 Terry Labonte 786 6 Mark Martin 780 7 Jeremy Mayfield 770 8 Ward Burton 749 9 Mike Skinner 734 10 Michael Waltrip 710 11 Rusty Wallace 706 12 Chad Little 705 13 Tony Stewart 696 14 Bobby Hamilton 654 15 Ernie Irvan 641 16 Dale Earnhardt 629 17 Ken Schrader 625 18 Johnny Benson 612 19 Rick Mast 610 20 Sterling Marlin 609 21 Bill Elliott 596 22 Kenny Irwin 574 23 Wally Dallenbach 552 24 John Andretti 543 25 Steve Park 527
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