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NASCAR BGN: Park-Whelen Busch Combination Ready For First Audition

9 November 1999

Posted By Terry Callahan
Motorsports Editor, The Auto Channel

Park Plans To Parlay One Day Of Testing Into First Busch Start Since 1997

In a perfect world the combination of Steve Park and Ted Marsh Racing would test for a month or two before making its first attempt in the ultra-competitive Busch Series. In the real world, Park and his teammates will attempt to put the Whelen car in the field for Saturday's Busch race at Homestead-Miami Speedway after only one day of testing. It will mark the first race appearance in a Busch car for Park since the 1997 season when he won the three races, the rookie award, and finished third in the season point standings driving for Dale Earnhardt Inc. Plans call for Park to drive the Whelen car for Marsh Racing in 15 Busch races in 2000.

Steve Park on Busch Qualifying

"Winston Cup qualifying determines where you start. Busch qualifying determines if you start. That's tough.

"In running in the Busch Series you aren't even thinking about the race. All your attention is qualifying. There might be 60 some cars at Homestead. Making the field boils down to two laps. In just that short of time you decide if you are going to race or not. That's pressure. There's more pressure in Busch qualifying than Winston Cup qualifying. At the Phoenix Winston Cup race last week there were only 44 cars there. That meant only one car went home. Nearly everyone there knew that if they screwed up in qualifying they would get in on a provisional. In the Busch race at Phoenix about seven guys including drivers like Joe Nemechek and Bobby Hamilton went home. They are great drivers who have won races but they had to go home because they weren't quick in those two laps. For guys like me venturing into the Busch Series, if we screw up we go home."

Challenging Veteran Busch Teams

"We were testing the Pennzoil car so I only had one day to fly down to Homestead to test. We started that day off pretty slow, but we worked hard and made a bunch of changes to the car. So many changes we couldn't keep track. But by the end of the day we were one of the fastest cars there. That is a good test. You don't mind starting slow if you end up fast. We learned a lot. There are a lot of teams with more experience but there is nothing you can do about that. Part of our reason for running this weekend is to gain experience so we can be ready for the Busch races in 2000.

No matter what we are excited. The Whelen folks have an 10-year employee, Everett Niles, who has been in a pretty tough battle with cancer. So we put Everett's name on the C-post of the Whelen car to honor him. It's that kind of stuff that makes you want to do a little bit better than normal.

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