Hank Parker Jr. pulls upset at Fontana

By Marty Smith, Turner Sports Interactive
April 30, 2001
10:19 AM EDT (1419 GMT)

FONTANA, Calif. - Many times when a racer is burned by a miscalculated gutsy call, he’s skeptical about making the same decision again; but anyone who knows Hank Parker Jr., knows he’s not the least bit afraid to take a chance.

Hank Parker Jr. became the ninth different Busch winner this season.

Parker Jr. took the biggest gamble of his racing career, opting not to pit on the final scheduled stop when everyone else did, then conserving his fuel load to win the Auto Club 300 at California Speedway, his first career NASCAR Busch Series win.

“I just don’t know what to say, it was just a great call to stay out,” said an elated Parker following the race. “I don’t really even remember the final few laps. It’s a wonder I didn’t wreck because all I was looking at was the fuel pressure gauge.

Auto Club 300 Results  Busch Series Standings  Video: Early highlights  Video: Victory Lane  Video: Late highlights

“With about three laps to go, I started to get emotional. Then I told myself, ‘Shut up man, you’re gonna run out of gas, so just shut up. Then the white flag flew, and the gauge still read the same. When I got to Turn 3 I just started yelling to my guys, ‘We’re gonna win this thing! We’re gonna win this race guys!’ I just couldn’t believe it.”

To gain the win, which came in his 73rd career race, Parker Jr., had to battle back from a lap down, the result of a green-flag pit stop early in the race. However, Greg Biffle let them have the lap back when the caution flag flew on lap 81 for Rich Bickle’s blown engine.

Six laps later, the caution flew again when Robby Faggart hit the wall. Parker was one of a handful of teams who opted to pit, giving him just enough fuel to make it to the end when the others couldn’t.

Hank Parker Jr. signed to drive the No. 36 Cicci-Welliver Racing.

He ran out of fuel doing doughnuts during the victory celebration.

“Oh yeah, you can rest assured I ran out of gas,” Parker laughed. “I can do a whole lot better doughnuts than that.”

When Parker took the lead with 10 laps to go, the race took a dramatic change from the state it had been in all day. A quartet of drivers -- Biffle, Jeff Green, Joe Nemechek and Jimmy Spencer -- thoroughly dominated the affair.

Biffle led a race-high 90 laps, building as much as a seven-second lead near the midway point. As the race wore on, Green and Nemechek both sliced and diced their way into the lead, and Spencer likely would have done so were it not for a mid-race mishap in Turn 4 that got him sideways and forced him to lose several positions.

Biffle went on to finish sixth. He was utterly dominant all day, and by all counts gave Parker the chance to win. Had Biffle not let Parker back on the lead lap, he had little, if any, shot of getting that lap back.

“It's disappointing. We didn't even get a top-five,” said Biffle, who took on four tires on the final stop, forcing him to lose valuable track position. “That's just pit strategy and all we can do is learn from it and not make the mistake again. It could have gone several ways.

“The caution flag could have come out and bunched the field up, and I probably had a better car than most guys; but you can't ever gamble on that. You've got to do what you've got to do and these guys had a little bit better strategy today.”

Purvis and Green both used such strategy to finish second and third, respectively. Purvis was the only driver who stayed out with Parker on the final stop, enabling him to earn his first top-five of the year. Green, meanwhile, used a 6.6-second, no-tire-gas-and-go stop to notch his sixth top-five finish.

"I don't know how those guys ran that far on gas,” Green said. “They don't have the same fuel cell I've got. I'm just proud of my guys. This (car) ran good all day. We made adjustments and it was so good there at the end I was able to get around those guys.

“We had good pit stops too, but I just couldn't get on the outside of Greg there. He was protecting his position, but it's another good day for us. We wanted to come out here and win, but Hank Parker did a good job and they played the strategy right, but we had the fastest car and that's what matters."

Kevin Lepage ran up front all day to finish a season-best fourth, while Kevin Harvick quietly worked his way to a fifth-place finish. Harvick’s lead in the series points race is now a mere two points over Biffle, while Green stands 41 points out of the lead.

As for Parker Jr., he now ranks 22nd in the point standings. Prior to Saturday, his best finish of the year was 14th at the season-opening Daytona 500. Since then, he’d only had one top-20 finish. Now, he’s a winner.

“We’ve struggled, financially in the past with my Dad’s team. Then last year we got a sponsor with Team Marines and we were awful good at the beginning of the year,” Parker said. “Then towards the end it wasn’t going so good and we lost our sponsor deal.

“I’m a guy who likes to get close to people and get to know people, so to let all my guys go was really hard. Then, Frank Cicci (team owner) gave me a chance to drive this car and represent a brand new sponsor in GNC. Now, we got their first win and my first win at the same time. This is just awesome for me. That’s all I know to say. It’s just awesome.”