March 31 - April 2, 2000

One week after Steve brought DEI its first Bud Pole Award, Dale Earnhardt Jr. scored their first Victory. Dale did it in dominating fashion -- leading the most laps and winning by nearly a six second lead.

Steve ran a strong race and led a few laps late in the race before Earnhardt Jr. resumed the lead. In the final stages of the race, something broke in Steve's engine, however he managed to hold off a 19th place finish and only fall back two laps after being black flagged. Steve gained a position in the point standings where he now sits in 19th place.

I was fortunate enough to work the race and experience the weekend via a DEI credential. The hardest part was leaving the track shortly before Steve took the lead, only so I could have enough time to get back and post my reports online without waiting for hours in traffic. At least I can say I was there, even though I didn't get to see Dale cross the line like I did two years ago when he won his first Busch Series race at Texas. Listening to Steve and the Pennzoil team all day while working pit lane made up for the disappointment of missing the momentous DEI victory. On a personal note, I met my first fans -- faithful readers of my reports at steve-park.com each week. I'll never forget the feeling when asked "are you Tracy" before introducing myself. Thanks guys!!

Full reports and photos from the track are available at steve-park.com.

April 7 - 9, 2000

     

- April 9th

Rain and cautions were the stories of the weekend at Martinsville. For the second weekend in a row Happy Hour was washed out, as was the Craftsman Truck race. (CTS race to be held on Monday)

L-R: Dave Charpentier, Steve Park, and Paul Andrews

Steve made the field again this weekend on the first day, earning a 19th place starting position for Sunday's race. The team did get in the morning practice before the rain came, but everyone was at a disadvantage without their final practice session.


On Sunday the temperatures dropped significantly after the rain, which may have only added to the unknowns with the car setup. Steve never ran in the top-10 this weekend, however with a record 17 cautions the pace of the race was inconsistent at best.

Park dropped a lap just before pitting on lap 300 then lost a second lap after being penalized for passing on the inside on the restart at lap 372. Although he narrowly escaped other incidents throughout the race, a tap from behind by Sterling Marlin sent Steve spinning on lap 465. All the cars behind him passed by safely, but he lost a lap while waiting for the field to pass by. Steve skillfully righted the Pennzoil Chevrolet in a display that showed all Park fans he's more than ready to turn a few donuts after his first win!

With 30 laps remaining in the race, contact between Steve and Marlin again sent Marlin spinning this time, however the yellow flag did not come out. Steve fell back to 26th place but was able to pick up one position before the checkers flew. Mark Martin went on to win his first race of the season, and set a new Nascar record of 8 different winners in as many races.

Steve's 25th place finish dropped him one position in the point standings, however he is only 79 points out of the top-15. Next weekend he returns to Talladega Superspeedway where he performed so well last fall. This could be the teams opportunity to make a significant turn around in their 2000 season.

Be sure to read my full reports at the Martinsville Weekend page at steve-park.com.

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April 14 - 16, 2000

     
DieHard 500 - April 16th

I'm off to the track again -- this time to cover my first IROC race! I can't say whether or not I'll be able to cover the DieHard 500 from the track or not at this time, but I will be able to bring back coverage from all the preliminary events as I'll be at the track the rest of the time. Reports will most likely come in late, as I will be in Atlanta away from the home base. I'll do what I can, but you can catch all the up-to-the minute news from the Talladega Weekend page at steve-park.com.

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April 28 - 30, 2000

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