Park released after six seasons at DEI

MOORESVILLE, N.C. -- Steve Park's turbulent career with Dale Earnhardt Incorporated came to an end Tuesday when the organization announced it had fired the driver.

Green replaces Park  Almost immediately after Steve Park was fired as driver, DEI announced that Jeff Green would drive the No. 1 Chevy at Lowe's Motor Speedway next week.

"Steve was instrumental in DEI's first NASCAR Winston Cup program," DEI owner Teresa Earnhardt said. "Our loyalty to each other was hard to overcome, however the time came where we simply had to make a change.

"We wish Steve the best in his future endeavors."

Veteran Jeff Green, who was released on Monday by Richard Childress Racing, has been hired to pilot the No. 1 Pennzoil Chevrolet on an interim basis, beginning with the Winston Open at Lowe's Motor Speedway.

Park released a statement on his personal Web site, which said: "Monday afternoon I was released by Dale Earnhardt, Inc. from my contract.

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"I wanted to let everyone know that there are no hard feelings between myself and DEI; companies make decisions like this since that is the nature of the racing business.

"I will always look back on my years of driving for DEI with much happiness. Together the Pennzoil team and I shared many great memories of winning races and pole positions.

"It will always be an honor for me that I was the first Winston Cup driver for owner Dale Earnhardt."

Park's six-year Winston Cup career, composed of 157 starts, two wins, 11 top-fives, 33 top-10s and three Bud Poles; was punctuated by two devastating accidents.

	Park scored 11 top-five finishes for DEI. Credit: Autostock

The effects of the most recent crash, in 2001 during a Busch Series race at Darlington Raceway, ultimately did the 35-year-old driver in.

Park's release came after crashes in successive events that left him with a 40th-place finish at California Speedway after he won the Bud Pole for the Auto Club 500 and 43rd at Richmond International Raceway when he crashed after only 42 laps.

The native of East Northport, N.Y., is 33rd in the Winston Cup standings with one top-10 finish in 11 starts.

Park was hired by the late Dale Earnhardt to drive DEI's car in the NASCAR Busch Series, ironically replacing Green for the 1997 season, after making one start in 1996.

In 1997, Park won three races, a Bud Pole, the Busch Series Rookie of the Year Award and finished third in the standings.

In 1998, Park moved to Winston Cup full-time and suffered fractures to a femur and clavicle in a crash during practice at Atlanta. He came back to compete in 17 races that season.

He finished 14th in the championship in his second season, then scored a career-best 11th place in the standings in 2000, when he scored his inaugural victory, at Watkins Glen International in upstate New York.

	Park was nearly killed in 2001 when he was hit directly in the drivers' door at Darlington. Credit: ASP

Park also won at Rockingham in 2001, one week after Earnhardt's death in the Daytona 500.

Park had five top-fives and 12 top-10s in the first 24 races of that season, but suffered a life-threatening head injury in an accident that occurred under caution in the South Carolina 200 Busch Series race.

Park returned to Winston Cup in March 2002, with some observers questioning whether he had come back too soon, but qualified fourth for the Carolina Dodge Dealers 400.

Since then, he has been nagged by questions about every accident or incident he's been involved in on the race track.

After he won the pole position two weeks ago at California Speedway, Park took the media to task in his pole winner's interview, saying it was his intent to finish the final year of his contract with DEI. Park was given a one-year extension at the end of last summer.

"If I drive the Pennzoil car for 20 years, that's great -- that is something I want to do," Park said at California. "The main thing I want to do is win races and get back to the form that this team was heading for before I got hurt.

"We're not going to quit until that is done."

	Park crashed on the first lap of the Auto Club 500 at Fontana last month. Credit: Autostock

On Tuesday, Park's time ran out. The decision was a bitter one for Ty Norris, DEI's executive vice president, with whom Park lived early in his career in North Carolina.

"At the start of this year we felt like he was in the best position to be competitive again that he had been in, in a while," Norris said at California. "The poor guy -- he lived with me for a while (so) it's not like we're not good friends."

In the end, the friendship wasn't enough to save Park's job. He crashed on the first lap at California, with 2002 rookie of the year Ryan Newman. His crash at Richmond came when he was running alone, and he said a tire had been punctured.

Park was unsure on Tuesday what his next step would be.

"With my departure from the team, I wish (crew chief) Tony Gibson and the rest of the guys on the crew and at the shop great success," Park said on his Web site. "I have enjoyed working with them and know I will see them at the track very soon.

"I would also like to thank all of my loyal fans who have stood by me through the years, and hope to get all of us back in Victory Lane very soon."