Truck Series
Winston Cup and Busch South series owners eyed Park when he started and finished 11th at Indianapolis in a NASCAR Craftsman truck race in 1996. However, his breakthrough moment came at Watkins Glen when Joe Nemechek asked the youngster to qualify his truck. Nemechek was in Bristol racing in a Winston Cup race.
With instructions to "just get the car in the field" like that night years ago at Riverhead Speedway, Park climbed into Nemecheck's truck and took off on the twisty New York road course and surprised everyone but himself by winning the pole. He turned the truck over to Nemechek for the race, but Park had taken a big step toward making a name for himself.
Car owners wooed Park to move south, and even some of the sport's biggest names took an interest. Richard Childress wanted him for his truck team, and Dale Earnhardt started eyeing the youngster.
|
|
|
