Wallace to drive Park's car on Sunday
By Dave Rodman, Turner Sports Interactive
September 2, 2001
2:56 PM EDT (1856 GMT)
DARLINGTON, S.C. -- Kenny Wallace Sunday morning was confirmed to drive the No. 1 Dale Earnhardt, Inc. Chevrolet in Sunday afternoon's Mountain Dew Southern 500.
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Steve Park is 10th in Winston Cup points.
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Wallace was standing by to relieve regular driver Steve Park, who was scheduled to be released from Carolinas Hospital System in Florence, S.C., Sunday afternoon. However, by 2:40 p.m. Sunday it was determined Park would remain in the hospital for anywhere from 24 to 48 more hours to recover from the effects of a moderate concussion.
On Sunday morning, the team announced Park, who turned 34 on Aug. 23, suffered no broken bones in a freak accident that occurred in Saturday's South Carolina 200 NASCAR Busch Series race.
A Sunday morning CT scan was also negative. Park was injured when his No. 31Chevrolet was T-boned behind the driver's door by Larry Foyt's car in Saturday's event. Foyt said he was traveling more than 100 mph in third gear when he struck Park's car.
Sunday morning NASCAR Busch Series director John Darby said a preliminary examination of the car, which was impounded by NASCAR, revealed no definite cause for Park’s hard left turn into Foyt’s car’s path while the field was under caution. Darby said the car was taken to NASCAR’s R&D facility near Hickory, N.C., for further examination.
Hospital officials Saturday could also not confirm whether Park had a possible fracture or dislocation of the left sterno-clavicular joint.
Park, who wears a HANS device in Winston Cup races, was wearing a similar Hutchens head and neck restraint system on Saturday.
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Kenny Wallace
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Wallace drove the car in Saturday's final 45-minute Winston Cup Happy Hour practice and posted the 27th best lap behind fast driver Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Earnhardt Jr.'s fast lap was in 30.134 seconds, 163.191 mph, while Wallace was at 159.611 mph after running 21 laps.
Wallace has been without a Winston Cup ride since splitting with Eel River Racing at midseason. Since then, Wallace has concentrated on running the full Busch Series schedule. He finished 18th in Saturday's race.
Park has driven for DEI in the Winston Cup Series since his rookie season of 1998. That year, he was injured in a crash at Atlanta and missed half the season. He won the 1997 Busch Series Rookie of the Year Award while driving for DEI. Park broke through with his first win in 2000 and followed that up with a win at Rockingham earlier this year.
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