Blk3GM's NASCAR Winston Cup News - Park disappointed, but still 'happy'

Park disappointed, but still 'happy'
By Marty Smith, NASCAR Online
LONG POND, Pa., (June 21, 1999)

Steve Park got a taste of success and wants nothing else this season.

For the first time in his NASCAR Winston Cup Series career, Steve Park is unhappy with a top-15 finish. Behind new crew chief Paul Andrews, Park drove to a career-best sixth-place finish at Michigan Speedway last week, instantly making the top-10 a realistic weekly goal rather than a once-a-month feat.
"We're happy," said Park, driver of the No. 1 Pennzoil Chevrolet, following the race. "It's nice to be a little disappointed with a 13th-place run. We're sitting here disappointed with a 13th-place finish, but we would have been thrilled to death with it a month ago. These guys keep working hard and we're working together as a team. The longer we do that, the stronger we'll get. I'm pretty excited."

Prior to Andrews' arrival, Park's best finish was a 12th-place run in the TransSouth Financial 400 at Darlington Raceway. Aside from that, he's finished outside of the top-20 10 times, and outside the top-30 five times. Needless to say, the program at the No. 1 shop is taking a major turn for the better.

"These guys on the Pennzoil team have been working hard," Park said. "We came off that great run last week, then to come to Pocono for the first time and run 13th, we're pretty happy with that. We just couldn't get the handle on it. We'd either get it too tight or too loose. It seemed like some of these other guys that have run here before have a little better grip on what the track is going to do.

"My hat's off to my guys. They worked hard all day and all weekend long and 13th place ain't too bad. We just kept trying to free the car up all day. At one point we got it just a little bit too loose and it still wasn't turning good. We just need to go back and reevaluate what we did. It was my first time here, and I know a little more what I need in the race car now."

As the circuit heads to Sears Point Raceway -- yet another track on which Park has never competed -- Park stands 25th in the NASCAR Winston Cup Series point standings. However, this being one of the most competitive seasons in recent memory, the top-20 is in his grasp, as he stands just 146 points behind 20th-place Kenny Irwin.

"Sears Point is another track I haven't been to. But I had a chance to go out there and test a formula car," Park said. "I'm getting used to the track layout, but I'll have to get used to it with the Winston Cup car. I love road racing, so I'm looking forward to it."

And he is looking forward to bettering Pocono's 13th-place finish. Had the race been run caution-free, Park may have been in the top-10 yet again.

"We didn't want to see the cautions today," he said. "We were really good on the long runs. It wasn't really that fast on the short runs. The cautions were kind of hurting us and getting us further behind. We had the car set up to go some long runs. You don't usually see that many cautions here. I think the cautions probably hurt us today. We can take what we learned this week ... and improve on that 13th-place finish."

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Blk3GM's Dale Earnhardt Site was born on July 26, 1998 and is owned and maintained by Gary Harris. This site is a tribute to "NASCAR's Greatest Driver" and his up and coming son. We are not affiliated with any official Team, Sponsors, Media Group or NASCAR. This site is solely for entertainment purposes. Information and statistic's on this site have been collected from various NASCAR related sites on the internet, from Winston Cup Scene, Newspapers, Television and our personal experience at Winston Cup and Busch Grand National races. All statistics are believed to be accurate at the time they are updated but cannot be guaranteed.