Fuel mileage not Parker Jr.'s only worry in win

FOUNTAIN, Colo. -- While a gutsy fuel mileage gamble sent Hank Parker Jr. to Victory Lane on Saturday at Pikes Peak International Raceway, it wasn't his closest call of the day.

	Hank Parker Jr. barely missed disaster on lap 4 of Saturday's NetZero 250. Credit: VPS Motorimages

Parker, who started the NetZero 250 in 23rd position, was riding along on lap 4 behind a pack of cars that included Tony Raines' No. 33 Chevrolet. Suddenly, Raines dramatically slowed in traffic, debris spewing from underneath his ride.

As the first of only two caution flags on the day waved over the field, several competitors drove through the lead weights falling from beneath Raines' car. One such driver, Johnny Sauter, ran through the mess and broke a left-front brake rotor, sending him behind the wall and eventually to a 34th-place finish.

Parker barely missed it.

"I'm not sure what happened there," Parker said. "I saw little things flying everywhere, and I came back around and realized they weren't very little. They were a lot bigger than what I thought."

How close was he?

"My teammate (Casey Mears) was behind me, and I saw a big chunk missing out of his roof, right over the driver's side," Parker said. "That's pretty serious. We're fortunate we didn't hit it. I can't believe we didn't hit it."

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Had he, it would have just been another chapter in a season full of disheartening bad luck.

"Let's just take last week at Gateway, for example. We had a fast race car and got put a lap down. Then they wouldn't let us to the front of the line to try and get my lap back," Parker said.

"Or at Las Vegas -- I'm running third at Las Vegas and the tear-off comes off my windshield, gets stuck in the cowel and shuts my motor off. It's just been one thing after another."

Overall, Parker has failed to finish five events this year. Though that tips the proverbial iceberg, it's not truly telling of just how tough the year has been for the No. 36 GNC Racing bunch.

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"I just really want to make it happen, and I'm trying hard to make it happen. I just want to run good every week and stay consistent," Parker said. "We've done a lot this year to have top-10 cars, we just don't have the finishes to show for it.

"Today, it was a great day. Everything actually worked with us instead of against us. The biggest thing is just having everything go my way."