DARLINGTON, S.C. - Steve Park has convinced NASCAR he's ready to race again. Now he has to work on his fellow competitors.
Park, out the past six months with a head injury, will make his return to racing Friday when he attempts to qualify his Chevrolet for the Carolina Dodge Dealers 400 at Darlington Raceway.
``You have concerns, but I don't think he'd be out there if he didn't feel confident and if the team didn't feel confident and if NASCAR didn't,'' Winston Cup champion Jeff Gordon said. ``I've heard good things.''
Park, who had to be cleared by NASCAR to make his return, understands other drivers might question his readiness, which is why he approached Jeff Burton after the two were on the track together during a test at Darlington last week.
``I asked him afterwards if he was comfortable with me racing side-by-side with him and not make him nervous, and he said he was,'' Park said. ``That's all I could ask for.''
He'll be making his comeback at the same track where he was injured last September in an accident during a Busch series race. But picking it to be the first place he competes was timing, nothing else.
``We're not going there just to feel good,'' Park said. ``We're going there to qualify on the pole and win. That's why I think I've waited so long, I wanted to get to the point where I could come back and race to win.''
Park was injured while the cars were running warm-up laps under yellow after a short rain delay. It's believed his steering wheel slipped off its mounting, causing his car to dart sharply to the left and into the path of Larry Foyt, who was speeding along trying to catch up with the pace car.
His injury temporarily left Park with blurred vision and slurred speech, which delayed his return. But he's tested his Dale Earnhardt Inc.-owned car three times on Winston Cup tracks and was finally cleared last week to race again.
It turned out that Darlington was the next race on the schedule, bringing Park full circle, intentionally or not.
``It's probably emotional for him to return back to Darlington,'' teammate Dale Earnhardt Jr. said. ``I can't speak for him, but I'm sure he's going to be glad to get back to Darlington and make his return. He wants to get in a race car and run good.''
When he met with reporters last week at Atlanta Motor Speedway, Park was no longer wearing the glasses he originally needed to help with his vision. And his speech had improved dramatically since his last public appearance, at the Winston Cup Preview in January.
This will be Park's second comeback from a serious injury. He broke his leg and sustained other injuries in a crash in 1998 during a practice session at Atlanta.
But unlike that injury, in which bones healed, this one wasn't so cut and dry. His vision changed all the time and as of last week, he still only put it at ``95 to 98 percent.''
``But, if an eye doctor went to the garage area and tested every driver, I'd probably score in the upper 95 percent,'' Park said.
Thursday
May 8th, 2025
10:42PM
