Park hoping experience sparks turnaround

CONCORD, N.C. -- This isn't the start to the season that Steve Park wanted.

Left behind in NASCAR's top series at the end of last year, Park landed in one of the Craftsman Truck Series' best rides, replacing Brendan Gaughan in Orleans Racing's No. 62 Dodge. This was supposed to be Park's opportunity to take a step back in his career, refocus and prove he still had the talent to win.

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But Park hasn't come close to winning. Shoot, he really hasn't come close to finishing in the top 10. The best Park has done this season is a 12th-place finish at Atlanta Motor Speedway.

The other three races? Park fans, turn away. There was a 27th at Daytona, a 26th at Martinsville, and a 27th last Sunday at Mansfield. He's 22nd in the NCTS points standings, 254 behind leader Dennis Setzer.

And a veteran driver like Park and a solid team like Orleans shouldn't be behind four rookies. But that's exactly where Park stands.

The news got a little more dreary this week when the team announced that crew chief Johnny Allen was leaving, replaced temporarily by Charlie Wilson.

Gaughan and Shane Wilson, where have you gone?

Well, Park and the team aren't exactly hitting the panic button just yet. Yes, a crew chief change is dramatic, but Park's season has gone about as smoothly as a boulder field.

In the season-opener at Daytona, Park was caught up in two accidents. In Atlanta, Park started 27th, moved to fifth, was penalized during a pit stop, and then rallied to seventh before getting collected in a late-race wreck.

	Steve Park

At Martinsville, Park moved himself to 10th before cutting down two tires in the final 20 laps.

He got in another wreck at Mansfield for his lone DNF of the season.

The poor fortune is enough to make a guy sick, but Park is looking on the bright side. Replacing Allen is a step in the right direction, he said.

"Johnny, I thought, did a good job for us, but we had some issues, like preparations for tests and stuff like that, that probably weren't up to the caliber that the Orleans Racing team wanted it to be up to," Park said. "They decided a change was in order. It has nothing to do with the performance of the truck. The results haven't shown how well the truck has run all year.

"I don't want people to think that it is based on performance because people will think that getting caught up in someone else's wreck is no reason to let a crew chief go. It has nothing to do with that. It was more the preparation of the truck. It has nothing to do with the results on the track. It is about how the team works together. It needs to be a well-oiled machine. Right now it is not running like one. I guess they felt like the change was in order."

In Allen's place comes an Orleans team member. Wilson crew chiefed Scott Lynch to the NASCAR Grand National West championship last season for Orleans and also served as crew chief for Lynch in truck races at Las Vegas and Homestead when Orleans fielded a second team.

Lynch, by the way, finished 12th in both races.

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"Charlie Wilson is great," Park said. "I think the world of Charlie Wilson. Look at his credentials and what he has done with Scott Lynch in the West Series car. He is a very knowledgeable guy. He is a guy who will work well with the team in the interim. I was actually a proponent for having Charlie travel with us this year and help out at the racetrack. That is coming to fruition now with him filling in as we search for a new crew chief."

Orleans is looking for a guy who can return the team to 2003 form when Gaughan nearly won the Craftsman Truck Series championship.

"We are looking for a person who is going to move forward to make this team a better race team," Park said. "Shane Wilson (Gaughan's crew chief) did a great job the last few years making this team a team that wins races and contends for championships. We are looking for a guy who can do the same thing and work well with the guys. We are going to exhaust all possibilities to find the right person."

In the meantime, Park and Charlie Wilson will do the best they can, starting with this weekend's Infineon 200 at Lowe's Motor Speedway. Park has done well in NASCAR races at Lowe's in the past, finishing in the top 10 in both Cup races for Dale Earnhardt Inc. in 2000.

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"The Orleans Racing team has competed here before, and I have a lot of experience at Lowe's," Park said. "It makes for an interesting racetrack. It has bumps in Turns 3 and 4. It is pretty smooth in Turns 1 and 2. You have to give and take a little on your setup. You can't be perfect in both corners."

Most Craftsman Truck Series teams are based near Lowe's Motor Speedway, but not Orleans, which is headquartered in Las Vegas. But with the short transition from Mansfield on Sunday to Lowe's on Thursday for qualifying, Orleans stayed in North Carolina this week. The team worked out of Rusty Wallace Inc.'s Busch Series shop in Mooresville and Dodge Motorsports' facility in Statesville.

Park hopes his experience at Lowe's will help the team run well there.

"I like going to Lowe's," Park said. "It is in our backyard. The racetrack is unique. It changes so much from day to night. A lot of people don't like it for that reason. The track is hot and slick during the day. At night it has a lot more grip in it, and it changes a lot. It is very sensitive to weather and temperature changes.

"From a driver standpoint and crew chief standpoint, you have to stay on your toes. The track will change a bunch from qualifying to race. We have to keep in mind that what we have in qualifying will need to change for the night race. We can adapt to that."

And maybe Park and Orleans can turn around what has been a rotten season so far.