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NASCAR BGN: Park Finishes 13th In Texas After 4-Hour Rain Delay

2 April 2000

#31 Whelen Monte Carlo driver Steve Park thought the raindrops falling on 
Texas Motor Speedway all afternoon Saturday would never end. 

But he's sure glad they did. 

After a 4 ½ rain delay, the NASCAR Busch Series finally ran the Albertson's 
300 under the lights of the 1.5-mile trioval and Park registered a 13th place 
finish in the Whelen Monte Carlo - the best of the season.

"Man that was a long day," said Park after the race ended more than 7 hours 
after it took the green flag on an overcast Texas afternoon. By the time the 
race ended, the winds had picked up and the temperature had dropped almost 15 
degrees.

That didn't mean the action on the track had cooled off because of the 
incoming darkness.  

"That was kind of a war out there," said Park who showed off wheel marks and 
fender damage from a few encounters at 190 mph. "We had some close calls, but 
the car handled pretty well all afternoon and I guess all night."

Park started the race in sixth position, but at the start of the race he 
couldn't get down on the bottom groove and fell back several positions. When 
he finally moved low on the track he began to creep back up on the leaders 
but that is when torrential rains brought out the red flag just after the 
25-lap mark.

Four hours later the race resumed under the lights and during the long green 
flag runs Park slowly moved up through the field climbing into the top ten 
and enjoying some good pit stops by the Connecticut-based Ted Marsh Racing 
team.

Park maintained his position throughout the race and climbed to 13th by the 
time the race ended.

"We were pretty good but I think those leaders had a bit more power on the 
straightaway," Park said.

Park referred to winner Mark Martin and second place finisher Matt Kenseth.

Park's 13th place followed the 18th place finish he posted in Darlington. 
Park and his Marsh Racing teammates return to action May 5 in Richmond, Va.