FONTANA, California - Steve Park completed the rare
NASCAR hat trick.
Park became just the 10th driver to win a race in all three
NASCAR series when he captured Friday's Craftsman Truck Series
American Racing Wheels 200 at California Speedway.
The 1997 Busch Series Rookie of the Year, Park already had two
Nextel Cup Series and three Busch Series victories under his
belt when he started his engine for this one.
After beginning 25th in a Dodge, Park took advantage of Mike
Bliss' misfortune with less than six laps remaining to get his
name in the record books.
"That's pretty exciting," Park said. "That's a short list. I'm
just really happy about that. It's unbelievable. It will
probably sink in tomorrow."
Bliss, who took over for an injured Jack Sprague early in the
race, held the lead in a Chevrolet before running out of fuel.
Leading Park by eight car-lengths, Bliss was forced to pull off
the track.
"I was trying to figure out how to get around Bliss, and the
next thing I knew, he pulled down, pulled off the racetrack,"
Park said. "And I was like, for a second, 'Where's he going?'
And then I knew because my spotter was telling me there were
like four (laps) to go. I'm like, 'He must have got a flat or
run out of gas or something.'"
"Man, I wanted to win this race," Bliss said. "I was going to
donate the winnings to getting Jack's gutters cleaned. ... Jack
might have done something a little different with the fuel and I
know he would have taken it to the front. It was hard on him
to get out of such a great truck."
A three-time Truck Series champion, Sprague suffered a broken
left heel in an accident at his home Wednesday, forcing him to
withdraw during a caution on the sixth lap.
"I just couldn't risk damaging my foot more than it is because
then I would be out for a long time and this team is a
championship contender this season," Sprague said. "I will get
the gear I need for my foot so I can drive it and drive it
hard."
Seizing the opportunity, Park jumped ahead and held on for his
first career truck series victory. Bliss finished 22nd.
The win was a satisfying one for Park, who suffered a concussion
in a serious accident at Darlington Raceway in September 2001.
"I'm hoping this puts closure to it," he said. "It's been a
three-year book. It's a story of winning races, getting hurt,
losing your job, struggling back to winning races again. This
is the closure of the chapter in that book."
Defending series champion Bobby Hamilton was second in a Dodge,
1.229 seconds behind Park. Hamilton, who leads the Truck Series
standings by 25 points over Ricky Craven, captured the Florida
Dodge Dealers 250 at Daytona last week.
"We're going to try to hold on to that (points lead), no matter
what the critics say," Hamilton said. "We're just having fun
right now, it's pretty cool. The guys worked their tails off on
this thing and they didn't panic when the thing ran hot. We
communicated well."
Craven was third in a Ford, notching his second straight
top-five finish, and rookie Todd Kluever fourth, also in a Ford.
"That was a lot of fun," Craven said. "Two weeks in a row, I've
had a lot of fun. I am starting to come out and establish
myself. I'm still new at driving trucks and I'm still learning
how to drive these things."
Three-time race champion Ted Musgrave rounded out the top five
in a Dodge.
"I'm a three-time winner and didn't even lead a lap," Musgrave
said. "It's not our fault. ... The only thing that kept us out
of victory lane tonight was ourselves. My heart is into this
place, and when we come out of here with just a fifth-place
finish, that stinks. Anything short of a victory here is a bad
defeat for us."
Making his 200th consecutive series start, Ricky Crawford
finished 14th in a Ford.