Dover, DE (September 25, 2010): Steve Park posted a 21st place finish after a late race accident took him out of the Sunoco 150 at Dover International Speedway 11 laps before its conclusion. Park was behind the wheel of the No. 54 VanDyk Baler Corp. / Bollegraaf Chevrolet, a car owned by NDS Motorsports and prepared and crewed by Fadden Racing.
“We struggled all weekend – the car was really free,” said Fadden Racing team owner Mike Olsen. “Harry (Norcross) and the guys changed everything on it trying to get it better. We did accomplish that a little bit for the race, but we had to fine tune on it. Steve did a really good job with the car and probably could’ve finished in the top-15.”
Park turned laps ranging from 25.391 seconds to 25.730 seconds in the K&N Pro Series East practice sessions on Thursday afternoon, and backed it up with a qualifying effort of 24.870 seconds on Friday morning. The lap earned him a 22nd place starting position.
Park maintained his starting position in the early laps of the race, but was the first car to go a lap down to the torrid pace of the leaders. At his first opportunity, Park came onto pit road where the team changed tires and made an adjustment. After that, he was well on his way to making progress through the field. Park pitted one more time for left side tires and made his way up to 15th before he blew a tire and hit the wall at lap 144.
“The 2 car got in the fence and we caught a piece of debris,” explained Olsen. “It blew the right front and Steve hit the wall. It was a pretty hard hit.”
Park was done for the day.
Fadden Racing completed the 2010 K&N Pro Series East season with a 23rd place finish in the owner point standings. They will return for the 2011 season with driver Julian Albarracin behind the wheel for the full schedule.
For more information on Fadden Racing or driver Julian Albarracin, visit www.faddenracing.net.
The Sunoco 150 will air on SPEED on Thursday, Oct. 7 at 6 p.m. ET.
- Fadden Racing Press Release
