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Steve Park Post Race Report - Charlotte
Steve Park and the Orleans Racing team are finally getting the results they deserve and the proof was in a strong fifth place finish in the Quaker Steak & Lube 200 at Lowe’s Motor Speedway.
Park qualified 20th for the fourth night race of the season but that wasn’t at all indicative of how fast the No. 62 Dodge would be under race conditions.
After the green flag dropped, Park made steady progress through the field and by Lap 76 he was running as high as second.
Three laps later Park made his final pit stop of the race under caution and was mired in traffic on the restart behind several drivers that elected to stay on the track.
From there, Park carefully negotiated his way through the field and with 25 laps to go his truck was among the fastest on the track.
A green/white/checker finish gave Park one final chance to improve his position and after a spirited battle he settled for fifth when Johnny Benson just barely beat him to the start/finish line.
"I had a great race going with Johnny,” said Park about his late race surge. “I think I lost fourth place by a few inches. He left the door open. I didn't think he would, but we came off the corner clean and raced him to the end.”
It was Park’s best finish since he raced to victory at California Speedway in late February and more importantly allowed him to take two giant steps up the point standings to 13th overall. Park now sits just 48 points outside the top 10 going into Dover International Speedway for Race #8 on June 3rd.
“All my guys did a good job,” Park praised. “I want to thank Dodge. That baby had a Hemi in it tonight. We're proud of it.
“Things went in our favor tonight,” Park added. “We didn’t break anything and all in all it was a good night. It was just what we needed to do.”
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