Steve Park (NASCAR)
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| Born: | August 23, 1967 | |
| Birthplace: | East Northport, New York | |
| Awards: | ||
| NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Statistics | ||
| Car #, Team | Not in Cup | |
| 2003 NEXTEL Cup Position: | 32nd | |
| Best Cup Position: | 11th - 2000 (Winston Cup) | |
| First Race: | 1997 The Bud at The Glen (Watkins Glen) | |
| First Win: | 2000 Global Crossing @ The Glen (Watkins Glen) | |
| Last Win: | 2001 Dura Lube 400 (Rockingham) | |
| Wins | Top Tens | Poles |
| 2 | 35 | 4 |
| All stats current as of {{{Updated_On}}}. | ||
Stephen Park from East Northport, New York was born August 23, 1967. He currently drives the #59 Harris Trucking Company Ford F-150 in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series.
Park began racing not in an entry-level class, but in NASCAR Modifieds on Long Island (New York) as the son of longtime National Modified Championship contender Bob Park. After establishing himself in weekly Modified racing at Riverhead Raceway, he advanced to the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour (then known as the Featherlite Modified Series). He won several races and became a championship contender before moving on to the Busch Series.
Steve Park came to the Nextel Cup series as the driver for the start-up team of seven time NASCAR Winston Cup Champion Dale Earnhardt. In the 1998 season, Park drove for five races until an injury from a hard crash at Atlanta Motor Speedway sidelined him. Park returned later in the year. But trouble would strike again in 2001, while on his way to being a top ten fixture, Park had a violent crash in a Busch Series race at Darlington Raceway. Park bruised his brain and suffered broken ribs. Many say he still has not recovered from the injury. Nevertheless, he returned to racing six races into the 2002 season and had many accidents. In the 2003 season, DEI let Park go midway into the season and was traded to Richard Childress Racing for Jeff Green. A few days later, he won the pole for the Winston All Star Open, but at the start of the race he jumped the start and had to start from the rear. He never made it to the next round. His best finish at RCR was a 5th place finish at Michigan that June, as he fought then teammate Robby Gordon for that position.
At the end of the 2003 season, announced he would not return to the #30 AOL car and would join the Craftsman Truck Series the following season. He joined Las Vegas-owned team Orleans Racing and piloted the #62 truck, vacated by Brendan Gaughan who was offered a ride in the #77 Kodak Nextel Cup car for Penske Racing. Although Steve never won a race in 2004, he finished 9th in driver points, and was voted Most Popular Driver by his peers.
In 2005 he won the second race of the season at California Speedway, but suffered a lot of misfortune the rest of the season with speeding penalties, getting caught a lap down for pitting and a caution comes out, etc. In October, right before the truck race in Martinsville, Steve Park and Orleans Racing parted ways due to Dodge pulling support and money to many truck teams. As of early 2006, Park is still without a ride.
Among his accomplishments, Steve has won two NEXTEL Cup races (2000 Global Crossing @ The Glen and 2001 Dura Lube 400 ), three Busch Series races in 1997, leading to a third place season standings, and one Craftsman Truck Series race, the 2005 Fontana race.
