Park

HAMPTON, Ga. -- Injured driver Steve Park met with the media Sunday, a week before he plans to make his return to the Winston Cup Series.

Park will be behind the wheel of the No. 1 Chevrolet next week at Darlington Raceway, where he suffered a brain injury last September in a Busch Series event. He temporarily had double vision and his speech is still slightly slurred.

"I feel good, there's no ill effects other than the speech," Park said. "But even though I can't talk, I'll let my right foot do my talking for me."

Doctors have told Park his speech eventually will return to normal.

"The good thing is my recovery has never reached a stalemate," Park said. "It's just been getting better and better."

Part of his rehabilitation included a test last week at Darlington, where he ran 600 laps. The team simulated pit stops during the run.

"It wasn't just to see how I would do, we did an all-out test," Park said. "We wanted to make sure we could go back to Darlington and do what we needed to do. We're not going there to fill the field up, we're going there to qualify on the pole and win the race."

Park said he has discussed his comeback in the garage area with other drivers, who have offered their support.

"They've all expressed their well wishes," Park said. "But the main thing is getting back on the race track. I tested last week with Jeff Burton and 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. That's all I could ask for.

Park was able to compare his head injury to those suffered by Ricky Craven and Ernie Irvan.

"Honestly, they suffered a lot worse injury than I did," Park said. "The lingering effect that I have is in the speech, unfortunately. I've had no vertigo from the onset of the injury. Ernie and Ricky fought dizziness and vertigo. Fortunately, I haven't experienced that. Even though the speech is lagging a little bit, the doctors have said that will come back. It's just a matter of time. It's not hindering my performance behind the wheel of the Pennzoil Chevrolet.

"I don't think this is the last step, I just think it's the next step. I think after a couple of races and just getting used to being back behind wheel is what it takes. Will it take one race, will it take four races? Who knows? I feel I'm capable enough to go out there and try to win. That's the main thing. If it doesn't come in the first race, I feel confident enough it will come sometime this year. I'm looking forward to it."

Petty power
Buckshot Jones and Kyle Petty gave Petty Enterprises two cars on the lead lap, the first time that's happened since it began fielding three teams.

"It's the first time we've had that in probably 10 years," Petty said.

Both rallied from a lap down, with Jones finishing 12th and Petty 15th.

"Right there at the end when we got our lap back, we were too loose getting into the corner," said Jones, who grew up in nearby Tucker, Ga. "It's real good to get your best run at your home track."

Petty started 34th and lost a lap in the middle of the race during green flag pit stops. But when he got back on the track, he ran down then-leader Tony Stewart and passed him to get on the lead lap. He stayed in contention for the rest of the day.

Jones didn't get his lap back for good until final caution on lap 294 for a four-car wreck. Jones' good fortune came at the expense of teammate John Andretti, who was involved in the crash.

"It's a combination of all these guys believing in what they're doing," said Petty, who hasn't won since 1995. "We had a really good run."

Tough luck
Bobby Labonte had won four of the previous nine races at Atlanta but he didn't have the same luck Sunday.

Labonte, who started 18th, never led and spun on pit road after contact with Jimmy Spencer. Labonte quickly righted his car and pulled into his pit, but in the process he over-revved the engine and damaged a cylinder.

He fell of the pace and finished 37th.

"I knew (Spencer) was going to come out of his pits, but I thought he'd be behind us," Labonte said. "But obviously that wasn't the case. I got turned around."

Spark plugs