After a much needed weekend off, the Winston Cup boys headed to Bristol for the

      They had to run in the second round of qualifying on Saturday morning, but the times were even worse. In practice that morning they were the 2nd fastest car, but only achieved a time of 15.593 (123.055 mph). Steve's time in qualifying was only 15.720 (122.061) which was the 43rd over-all fastest speed. They had to use another provisional starting spot, just barely making the race in the 43rd spot. Even worse is the fact that the 42nd (Johnny Benson - #26 Cheerios) and 43rd starting spot have to share the final pit stall, and whichever driver is leading the other at the time of a round of pit stops gets to come in before the other.

      As captured in the photo above (from nascar.com Steve was naturally disappointed. Following the Busch race, Winston Cup had their final practice, and as usual everyone's times were a bit slower now that no one was running their qualifying package. Steve's best lap time was 16.223 (118.276 mph) which was 29th fastest. He looked very strong running out there, with what limited television coverage he did get. At a short track like Bristol, the most important part is to stay out of trouble, and just hang on for 500 laps.

 Steve's response to What Makes Bristol Difficult: 

      Steve had his worst Winston Cup starting spot come Sunday morning, and he didn't finish anywhere near to his best finish. However, Steve ran one of his strongest, most impressive races ever. Rusty Wallace took a dominating lead early in the race, lapping many cars early on. When Rusty caught up to Steve, he had a fight on his hands. Steve was able to hold him off for over 50 grueling laps, just long enough for the yellow flag to fly. Within the first 100 laps he was in 23rd place. He was able to pull around to the back of the field, but at a short track it didn't take long for the same scenario to unfold again. Rusty Wallace began lapping cars again, and as before, once he caught up to the #1 Pennzoil car, Steve held him off. That gave Tony Stewart the opportunity to pass Rusty, and eventually he did pass Steve too. A lap later the yellow flag flew, but Steve just couldn't quite get past Tony. Frustrating, yes, but consider the fact that it took 248 laps for him to loose that lap.... half the field couldn't say the same!

      Steve was never able to get close enough to get back on the lead lap, but that was to be expected with the poor qualifying position. He did manage to get as high as 15th by picking off car after car as the race day continued. With only 30 laps to go it looked like he would get even higher, but Ken Schrader bumped into the back of Steve sending him into a 360° spin. What could have ended his day turned out to be an impressive show of control, as he didn't hit anything, and nailed a stop just as the car turned heading the right direction. He pitted immediately after, but unfortunately he and another car were black flagged for passing under the caution that was brought out by his spin. He ended the race in 23rd place just 3 laps behind Rusty Wallace. Despite his late race troubles, Steve gained an impressive 20 spots from his starting position.

      We head back to another short-track race this weekend; this time at Martinsville Speedway. The

      No one will soon forget the treacherous time most drivers had just making it to the finish here last year. Ricky Rudd pulled off a courageous win, after which he was pulled from his car in victory lane. He had 2nd and 3rd degree burns, and had to enjoy his victory celebration flat on his back while receiving oxygen. Rudd was not the only driver to endure the tremendous heat that day, as many drivers had to make substitutions that day.

      Steve was the 41st driver to take to the track for qualifying Friday afternoon. In the morning practice session he was 29th fastest with a time of 20.136 (94.040 mph). Steve had to watch while several other drivers broke the old track record of 94.129 mph before beating the same mark himself; clocking a time of 20.100 (94.209 mph). Rookie Tony Stewart took the pole with a time of 19.875 (95.275 mph), only .225 seconds quicker than Steve. The #1 Pennzoil Monte Carlo will start Sunday's race in the 23rd starting position, on the inside of row 12.

      Steve had only qualified a Winston Cup car here twice before. He qualified 28th in 1997 for Team SABCO, replacing Robby Gordon. He sat out the spring race here last year, and had to take a provisional starting spot in the fall race. This is the first year that Martinsville will not be using back-stretch pits. They have re-designed it so that the drivers enter the pits going into turn 3, and exit at turn 2.

      On Saturday, Steve was only the 33rd fastest in morning practice with a time of 20.383 (92.900 mph). The fastest times were by those drivers who needed to re-qualify in 2nd round qualifying later that day, so it appears that the drivers who locked down a spot did not do a lot during that practice. The #1 car looked fairly strong during Happy Hour that evening, although Jeff Burton did get into the side of Steve early on. The damage was minimal, as it was just one of those racing things. It did get Steve loose, but he took full control and everything was fine. Later in the afternoon Steve had the 17th fastest time in Happy Hour practice with a time of 20.404 (92.805 mph).

      Pole sitter Tony Stewart led the field to the green flag on Sunday, but quickly started falling back as Mark Martin lead the first part of the race. Steve encountered bad luck early in the race as the first caution of the day came out on lap 8 when Jeremy Mayfield spun out, and Park had to quickly stop to avoid hitting him. It put him down a lap in 42nd place but by the restart he was back up to 37th.

      Steve slowly crept up through the field, and by the 5th caution of the day on lap 254 he had moved up to 25th. A good pit stop moved him up to 20th, the first car a lap down, but he struggled with handling all day long. Despite three more cautions that came out within the next 30 laps, the #1 Pennzoil wasn't quite strong enough to get past the leaders to get back onto the lead lap. After that 8th caution, Steve came out of the pits in 25th, which is where he finished the race. Park wound up 3 laps behind race winner John Andretti who had an incredible run after going down a lap early after spinning on lap 48.

      After two weeks of bumping and rubbing on the short tracks, it was on to the next round of restrictor plate racing. From the circuit's smallest track, to the largest for the DieHard 500. Steve's thoughts heading into Talladega:

      The start of first round qualifying was delayed due to technical problems with timing and scoring, but finally got started under bright sunny skies. Steve Park drew an early starting spot and was the fourth driver to take to the track. He turned a first lap of 49.801 (192.285 mph) and picked up the speed on his second lap with a time of 49.273 (194.346 mph).

      Steve was 29th fastest in Friday morning practice. The fastest lap he turned was 49.391 (193.881 mph) which was about 3 mph slower than the fastest car. Although Steve’s times in qualifying were faster, it wasn’t enough to make it in the top 25 and lock in a starting spot on Friday. 4 different drivers held the provisional pole position, but in the end it was Ken Schrader who came away with the fastest time. His lap of 48.421 (197.765 mph) was over a second faster than Steve, who had the 29th fastest time.

      The DEI team decided to stand on Friday's time, and fortunately only one driver clocked a lap fast enough to pass by Steve. When the green flag drops Sunday, Steve will roll out in 30th. Happy Hour was run Saturday afternoon, with Steve walking away with the fastest time. He ran an impressive fastest lap of 48.655 (196.814 mph) that was a full mile per hour faster than the next driver.

      The team was geared up for a good race Sunday. Early on Steve looked quite strong. Starting so far back he was caught up in 2 and 3 wide racing. He moved up steadily in the early stages of the race, despite getting shuffled around a lot. After the first round of pitting following "the big crash" on lap 48, Steve came back to the track in 12th place. Steve had skillfully navigated his way though the wrecking cars, narrowly getting through. "We made it. We made it. We made it," Steve shouted over the team radio. That combined with one of the crew's fastest pit stops of the year is what put him up so far in the pack.

      With green flag racing underway once again, Steve started shuffling through the pack again. He had been as high as 11th, and as low as 28. Heading toward lap 109 the leaders made the next round of pitting under the green flag. Steve came in on that lap as well, and overshot his pit stall. He quickly threw the car into reverse, and the team made a 15 second two tire pit stop. Something had broken while backing up the car, and while Steve was exiting pit road he radioed his crew that the car wouldn't run. He pulled the car behind the wall to avoid the need for the yellow flag. The car was towed to the garage, where it took the crew a while to determine a gear in the distributor was broken. The got the car out 33 laps after that dreadful pit. Steve only lost one more lap the rest of the race, finishing in 37th place. As disappointing a day as it was for the DEI team, there was a sense of redemption seeing Dale achieve his 72nd career victory; the first since his emotional win at the Daytona 500 a little over a year ago.