Park feeling good after contract negotiations

WATKINS GLEN, N.Y. -- It was around 9 a.m. Monday morning when fans at Dale Earnhardt Inc. saw Steve Park walk into the shop.

Park was all smiles as he and his white Labrador Retriever, Harley, spent an hour posing for pictures. Park was more than happy to hang out with the racing public.

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He just came off of his first top-10 finish since returning to the car after his September accident at Darlington. The seventh-place run at the Brickyard 400 was one week after a devastating accident at Pocono.

Park said the visit with the fans was a good day for him in many ways.

"I was just feeling so good on Monday," Park said. "I had just met with Ty Norris (Vice President of DEI) and a bunch of the guys in the engine shop.

"Ty and I were going over some of my contract negotiation side of racing and it all looked good. I left there and was so happy with that and how Indy went that I just went into the gift shop with my dog.

"We just kind of sat down and signed autographs for an hour. It kind of surprised people that we were in there. I think they took more pictures with my dog than they did with me.

"We had a good time."

	Park was seventh at Indy for his first top-10 of 2002. Credit: Autostock

A good time is something Park hasn't really had for awhile. In 17 starts this year; his highest finish was a 20th-place effort in Texas. Since then, three accidents and some mechanical problems have held him back.

"We thought we turned a corner at Pocono and ended up on our roof," Park said. "The car qualified good (14th) and ran well in Happy Hour. We took some of that same technology and used it at Indy.

"We struggled the first half of this year trying to find what we needed to run well."

Adding to the struggles were false speculations that he was going to be released from the team because of alleged lingering head-injury complications from his Darlington accident. Now, things appear to be looking up and Park is getting back to a level of competition that gave him two victories in Winston Cup.

	Park (right) with Jimmie Johnson Credit: Autostock

"It wasn't just a lucky deal at Indy," said Paul Andrews, crew chief for the No. 1 Chevy. "We qualified well (sixth) and ran in the top-15 spots all day and put ourselves and got good track position at the end of the race.

"We made some good calls and came out of the deal real well and it meant a lot. The team attitude has been real good this week and coming here has upbeat for sure.

"We've definitely struggled at times this year. But, last week put us right where we needed to be running. We need to be running in the top 10 and working our way towards the top five."

In 2000, Park scored his first Winston Cup Series victory in front of his home state fans in New York.

"Coming off our best finish of the year, it's nice to come to a place we won at before and I love coming here," Park said. "I like road-course racing and feel we can not only repeat with a top 10, but be in contention to win."