E
Eagle1
Guest
CONCORD, N.C. -- For Orleans Racing, winning at Texas Motor Speedway is a fore-Gaughan conclusion.
Brendan Gaughan and his team won all four times they raced at Texas in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series, but Gaughan is gone. Gaughan moved up to the Nextel Cup Series for 2004, and no matter how much he begged Roger Penske, Gaughan won't be racing at Texas this weekend.
Orleans, a team owned by Brendan's dad, Michael, will bring the No. 62 Dodge to Texas for the O'Reilly 400K this weekend.
And Steve Park knows the pressure is on.
"Going to Texas for the first time in a truck after watching Brendan do so well there and win there year after year, I didn't know what to expect," said Park, who replaced Gaughan at Orleans. "It will be a pretty exciting time for me going to Texas for my first NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series race. Brendan set the bar pretty high by winning four races in a row at Texas."
Park knows a little bit about pressure, however. He drove for one of the top teams in NASCAR, Dale Earnhardt Inc., for more than five years. Park won two Cup races during his tenure with the team.
"The pressure is on," Park said. "I drove for DEI with Dale Earnhardt Jr. It was almost nice to just do our own thing and race. All of the hype surrounded him. The tables have turned a bit as we go to Texas. Now I feel a little bit of the pressure he feels.
"It is expected of us to run well and do well week in and week out. I like that pressure. The pressure is put upon ourselves as much as it is by the outside world. We know what our job is. We just have to go do it."
Driving for a team that has won four races in a row at a particular track is a positive and a negative.
On the down side, Park can only equal the team's success -- or fail. On the up side, Park knows he will have a good truck.
"We took 'Lone Star' out on the track, and I don't think I ever went around Texas as well as I did in that truck," Park said. "It put a big smile on my face. I'm really looking forward to going back to Texas for the race. I know that we can race hard and enjoy ourselves doing it."
Park and the team tested at both Texas Motor Speedway and at Texas World Speedway in College Station in preparation for this weekend's race.
"We felt it was important to go there and test because of the changes NASCAR has made for 2004," Park said. "We wanted to make sure the truck was still a winning truck. We want to put the Orleans Dodge in the winner's circle again and try to not break the streak.
"There is a big transition of information from last year to this year, but there are differences that keep you from using all of the information you have. The bodies, engine location and tires are all different this season. Unfortunately we can't go back with the exact same setup that Brendan had so much success with the last few years.
"That is why it was important for us to go test. We needed to start where the team left off last year and try to improve on that. It is hard to improve on something that has worked so well. We needed to make sure that the Orleans Dodge was still capable of winning."
And Lone Star was fast. But that shouldn't come as any surprise, for every time it has been at Texas, the truck has been fast. Lone Star is the truck Gaughan drove to victory at Texas four times, and it's back for a chance at a fifth consecutive victory.
"We had another new truck at a test that was supposedly as close to Lone Star as we could get it," Park said. "From a driving standpoint, I like Lone Star. I think it drives better. Trucks are inanimate objects. They run as well as you put them together. The team has just done a fantastic job with Lone Star from the chassis to the body. I can see how they have had success in the past with it, and I hope we have success in the future with it."
The future, of course, is this weekend.
"There is more pressure because of the team's winning streak," Park said. "We want to win everywhere we race, but Texas holds a special place in Mr. Gaughan's heart and Brendan's and mine. To go there and keep the streak alive would mean a lot. We will work a little bit harder, and it will mean a little bit more to put the Orleans Dodge out front and win."
Maybe then Orleans can Park Lone Star in Victory Lane. Again.
Brendan Gaughan and his team won all four times they raced at Texas in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series, but Gaughan is gone. Gaughan moved up to the Nextel Cup Series for 2004, and no matter how much he begged Roger Penske, Gaughan won't be racing at Texas this weekend.
Orleans, a team owned by Brendan's dad, Michael, will bring the No. 62 Dodge to Texas for the O'Reilly 400K this weekend.
And Steve Park knows the pressure is on.
"Going to Texas for the first time in a truck after watching Brendan do so well there and win there year after year, I didn't know what to expect," said Park, who replaced Gaughan at Orleans. "It will be a pretty exciting time for me going to Texas for my first NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series race. Brendan set the bar pretty high by winning four races in a row at Texas."
Park knows a little bit about pressure, however. He drove for one of the top teams in NASCAR, Dale Earnhardt Inc., for more than five years. Park won two Cup races during his tenure with the team.
"The pressure is on," Park said. "I drove for DEI with Dale Earnhardt Jr. It was almost nice to just do our own thing and race. All of the hype surrounded him. The tables have turned a bit as we go to Texas. Now I feel a little bit of the pressure he feels.
"It is expected of us to run well and do well week in and week out. I like that pressure. The pressure is put upon ourselves as much as it is by the outside world. We know what our job is. We just have to go do it."
Driving for a team that has won four races in a row at a particular track is a positive and a negative.
On the down side, Park can only equal the team's success -- or fail. On the up side, Park knows he will have a good truck.
"We took 'Lone Star' out on the track, and I don't think I ever went around Texas as well as I did in that truck," Park said. "It put a big smile on my face. I'm really looking forward to going back to Texas for the race. I know that we can race hard and enjoy ourselves doing it."
Park and the team tested at both Texas Motor Speedway and at Texas World Speedway in College Station in preparation for this weekend's race.
"We felt it was important to go there and test because of the changes NASCAR has made for 2004," Park said. "We wanted to make sure the truck was still a winning truck. We want to put the Orleans Dodge in the winner's circle again and try to not break the streak.
"There is a big transition of information from last year to this year, but there are differences that keep you from using all of the information you have. The bodies, engine location and tires are all different this season. Unfortunately we can't go back with the exact same setup that Brendan had so much success with the last few years.
"That is why it was important for us to go test. We needed to start where the team left off last year and try to improve on that. It is hard to improve on something that has worked so well. We needed to make sure that the Orleans Dodge was still capable of winning."
And Lone Star was fast. But that shouldn't come as any surprise, for every time it has been at Texas, the truck has been fast. Lone Star is the truck Gaughan drove to victory at Texas four times, and it's back for a chance at a fifth consecutive victory.
"We had another new truck at a test that was supposedly as close to Lone Star as we could get it," Park said. "From a driving standpoint, I like Lone Star. I think it drives better. Trucks are inanimate objects. They run as well as you put them together. The team has just done a fantastic job with Lone Star from the chassis to the body. I can see how they have had success in the past with it, and I hope we have success in the future with it."
The future, of course, is this weekend.
"There is more pressure because of the team's winning streak," Park said. "We want to win everywhere we race, but Texas holds a special place in Mr. Gaughan's heart and Brendan's and mine. To go there and keep the streak alive would mean a lot. We will work a little bit harder, and it will mean a little bit more to put the Orleans Dodge out front and win."
Maybe then Orleans can Park Lone Star in Victory Lane. Again.
, but five times in a row will be hard even if Brendan is driving.
r: Have a Great Time and get some good Picks for us :flassh: