DOVER, Del. -- Steve Park leans up against his hauler, his fireproof uniform unzipped to the waist, his right hand clutching a cold bottle of water.

He's just gone 150 laps on the concrete bowl known as Dover's Monster Mile, and the exertion shows in his flushed face, the sweat dripping from his nose, chin and earlobes as he tries to catch his breath after climbing from the car.

He's taken a mid-pack car and finished in the top 10, exactly what he needed to catch the eyes of perhaps an owner or two in the Nextel Cup or Busch Series garages. But this is the Busch East Series -- and the top three finishers are all teenage future stars, driving in cars prepared by NASCAR's top organizations.

Park may appear tired as he takes a long sip from the bottle but his eyes reflect something much different. They flash with intensity and desire. If there was another race in five minutes, you can bet he'd be the first guy to strap back in.

"I feel great," Park said. "I feel like I've got a lot of things left in me and just to get the opportunity [to race at Dover] shows a lot of people that we've still got what it takes to run up front and win races. Now, we need to keep plugging and look for the next deal and try to capitalize on it."

You don't truly appreciate something until it's gone.

Park has been living that message nearly every day since Sept. 1, 2001.

In his third full-time Cup season and driving the No. 1 Chevrolet for DEI, Park had won at Rockingham earlier that season and was solidly in the top 10 in points, coming off four consecutive top-10 finishes. Park, the 1997 Busch Series rookie of the year, was on the fast track to becoming a star.

However, Park's racing career -- and his life -- can be neatly divided by what happened before the Busch Series South Carolina 200 at Darlington, and what followed.

As the field was lining up for a restart following a rain delay, Larry Foyt was running very quickly up the inside of the track as a lap-down car when Park's No. 31 suddenly veered into his path. The two collided with a sickening crunch, Foyt's car driving directly into the driver's side door of Park's car at least 100 mph.

It took safety crews more than 20 anxious minutes to cut Park out of his damaged racer and airlift him to a hospital with closed head injuries.

"You know, it happened so fast," Foyt said at the time. "It was the hardest hit I've ever taken in my career. Right now I'm just worried about Steve and I hope he's OK."

Park's injuries healed with time but his career has not. He recorded just two top-10 finishes after returning in 2002, which cost him his ride with DEI. He scored just three more top-10s in 2003 with Richard Childress -- and hasn't made a Cup start since.

He finished ninth in the Truck standings in 2004, but dropped to 22nd the following year. He drove 10 Craftsman Truck Series races last season with one top-10 finish -- and broke the top-30 once in six Busch starts. Now he sits and waits.

Park knows he's in a difficult situation. The only available rides are one-offs or field-fillers, which won't do anything to jump-start his career, one that is literally stuck in park.

"We're just taking one race at a time," he said. "We took the year off not to get involved in any teams that can't run up front, run in the top 10 and win races.

"The opportunities haven't presented themselves to be with a team that can run up front. We're constantly looking to put ourselves in a position, whether that's a car or a truck, with a team that can run up front."

Park realizes he faces an uphill battle, first to prove that he's as good as he once was before the Darlington crash and second, to overcome NASCAR's current youth movement. At 40, he's no longer a young gun.

"That's what the problem is," Park said. "There's a lot of young guys coming into this sport. A lot of the older guys are kind of getting phased out and the opportunity that I need to be with a good team has got to present itself.

"If I put myself with a team that runs 20th every week, it's not going to do Steve Park any good. I've got to position myself with a team that can run up front to still show that I've got the youth, I've got the talent and I've got the ability to take the car or truck up to the front and race with these guys."

Still, the inactivity gnaws at Park like a hunger.

"It's been a difficult year, not racing," he said. "That's what I do for a living and what I love to do. To go to the racetracks like I've been doing and watching races makes it very difficult.

"We're waiting. We're sitting by the phone and waiting for the phone to ring, waiting for the next opportunity to get involved and take that to the next level. I feel like I have the assets needed to get with a good team, gel with that team, work with that crew chief to produce top-10, top-five and winning runs. I've got a lot left in me."

He sits there, in the shadow of his hauler, watching the crew prepare to load the car for the trip home. He takes another sip of water and thinks about what might have been -- and what still could be.

"I've got more desire, I think," Park said. "Be careful of what you wish for, because when you're racing 36 weeks a year and complaining about getting some time off, when you get the time off, you want to go back racing again.

"I got desire, I've got the drive, I've got the motivation and keep myself in great shape. Now I'm ready to go racing. We just need the opportunity."