Steve Park

However, after finally being convinced that the real Dale Earnhardt was calling him, Park made one start in the No. 31 Busch Series (now known as the Xfinity Series) car in Charlotte in October that resulted in a 29th-place finish.

Park posted a best finish of sixth in the Kmart 400 at Michigan and finished 14th in the point standings.

Stephen Brian Park (born August 23, 1967) is an American former professional stock car racing driver.

He won races in NASCAR's two top Northeast touring series (Modified and K&N East) and all three national divisions (Truck, Busch, Cup Series).

Park was born in East Northport, New York as the youngest of four sons.

Park began racing not in an entry-level class, but in NASCAR Modifieds on Long Island of longtime National Modified Championship contender Bob Park.

After establishing himself in weekly Modified racing at Riverhead Raceway, he advanced to the Featherlite Modified Series.

He won several races and became a championship contender before moving on to the Busch Series.

He won twice in NASCAR's highest division.

Park was initially hired by seven-time Winston Cup Champion Dale Earnhardt in 1996.

Initially, Park refused to return Dale's phone messages, who was calling with interest to hire Park, thinking his friends were pranking him.

Park was then given a full-time ride in Earnhardt's No. 3 AC-Delco-sponsored car for the 1997 season.

Throughout the season, Park posted three wins at Nashville, Michigan, and Richmond, walking away with Rookie of the Year honors with a third-place finish in the final points standings.

Park came to the Winston Cup Series (now known as NASCAR Cup Series) as the driver for the No. 14 team of Dale Earnhardt Inc. (DEI) in 1997.

He attempted eight races in this car, qualifying for four of them.

He also ran a race in the No. 40 car at Martinsville Speedway for Felix Sabates.

In the 1998 season, Park switched to the No. 1 Chevrolet for DEI and drove the first two races, but he failed to qualify at the third race of the year at Las Vegas.

During practice for the fourth event of the year at Atlanta, Park suffered a tire failure and had three hard hits before his car came to rest.

He sustained a broken leg, broken collarbone, broken shoulder blade, and two chipped front teeth.

Park returned later in the year at Indianapolis and ran the rest of the year.

In 1999, his first of only two full Winston Cup seasons, Park finished 30 of 34 races.

He went out with handling problems during the Daytona 500 and Charlotte, an engine failure at the other Daytona race, and a crash at Sears Point.

In the Sears Point crash, Park spun in turn two and backed into an embankment, thrusting his car up into the air and over onto the top of a tire barrier.

During the 2000 NASCAR Winston Cup Series, Park would grab his first win at his home track of Watkins Glen, winning the 2000 Global Crossing @ The Glen and finish 11th in the point standings.

Park was injured in an accident at Pocono during the 2001 race where he flipped several times after hitting the turn 3 wall at over 200mph.

Park's 2001 season began with a crash in lap 173 of the Daytona 500, in which he was one of eighteen cars involved.

He was unhurt and had led for several laps prior to the crash, which itself was overshadowed by his boss Dale Earnhardt's fatal crash on the last lap.

The following week, Park scored an emotional win for DEI by winning the Dura Lube 400 at North Carolina Speedway.

He also competed in the Busch Series that season, but on September 1, he was injured in a crash at Darlington Raceway while driving the No. 31 Chevrolet for Marsh Racing.

While under caution, his steering wheel came off, causing him to yank a hard left.

At the same time, Larry Foyt was speeding up to join the front for the restart, and he rammed the driver side of Park's car.

Park was hospitalized with a brain injury and several broken ribs, and suffered double vision and slurred speech.

Foyt said that his car was traveling "well over 100 miles per hour."

Park missed the first four races in 2002, but he returned to race at the fifth race of the year at Darlington.

He had many accidents, however.

The largest incident was a flip at Pocono Raceway.

During the first lap, Park tried to get to the outside of Rusty Wallace but Wallace tried to block Steve and he put Wallace in the wall.

Park was 10th in the Winston Cup Series standing at the time of the accident.

The incident marked the beginning of Park's struggles to get back into NASCAR's upper divisions.

He posted a best finish of 11th at Michigan and Dover.