Columnist Brian Hilderbrand: Park to take over Gaughan’s truck ride

Friday, Jan. 9, 2004 | 10:06 a.m.

Brian Hilderbrand covers motor sports for the Las Vegas Sun. His motor sports notebook appears Friday. He can be reached at bh@lasvegassun.com or (702) 259-4089.

NASCAR Nextel Cup (NNC) and Busch Series (NBS) drivers scheduled to take part in the open test Jan. 26-29 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway:

Monday, Jan. 26-Tuesday, Jan. 27

NNC -- Jamie McMurray, Kasey Kahne, Jeremy Mayfield, Kevin LePage.

NBS -- Greg Biffle, David Reutimann, Matt Kenseth, Ron Hornaday, Paul Wolfe, Mark McFarland.

Tuesday, Jan. 27-Wednesday, Jan. 28

NNC -- Ward Burton, Ryan Newman, Casey Mears, Rusty Wallace, Jeff Gordon, Jimmie Johnson, Brian Vickers, Ricky Craven, Bobby Labonte, Tony Stewart, Brendan Gaughan, Scott Riggs, Joe Nemechek.

NBS -- Jason Leffler, J.J. Yeley, Mike Bliss, Casey Atwood, Tim Fedewa, David Green.

Wednesday, Jan. 28-Thursday, Jan. 29

NNC -- Dale Jarrett, Sterling Marlin, Kurt Busch, Mark Martin, Matt Kenseth, Greg Biffle, Bill Elliott, Ricky Rudd, Elliott Sadler.

NBS -- Ashton Lewis Jr., Robert Pressley, Billy Parker, Johnny Sauter, Jamie McMurray.

Dates TBA

NNC -- Kyle Busch, Johnny Sauter, Robby Gordon, Kevin Harvick, Michael Waltrip, Derrike Cope, Ken Schrader.

NBS -- Kyle Busch, Michael Waltrip.

Steve Park, a six-year NASCAR Winston Cup veteran who lost his ride with Richard Childress Racing at the end of the 2004 season, will replace Brendan Gaughan as driver of the Las Vegas-based Orleans Racing Dodge in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series this season.

Gaughan, who drove the truck to six victories and a fourth-place finish in the final points standings last season, left the team last month to drive for Penske-Jasper Racing in the NASCAR Nextel Cup Series.

Park, 36, made 181 career starts in the Winston Cup (now Nextel Cup) Series from 1997 to 2003 and posted two victories, won two poles and had 35 top-10 finishes.

"We do have an awesome driver," Gaughan said before the official announcement. "When I spoke with him, he was extremely excited about driving for the Orleans Racing Team. Everybody else we talked to said they were waiting for (other offers).

"This young man who is going to drive for us, the first thing he said was, 'You guys have the best team in the Craftsman Truck Series and I'd be honored to have it.' He wanted to be there. My guys in Vegas will have somebody that's as excited as I was to drive the truck."

Park began the 2003 season driving the No.1 Chevrolet for Dale Earnhardt Inc. but was released after posting only one top-10 finish in 11 races. He quickly hooked up with Richard Childress Racing and drove the No. 30 for the remainder of the season. In 24 races with RCR, Park had two top-10 finishes.

Park's NASCAR career twice has been interrupted by injuries. The New York native missed 15 races during his rookie season (1998) after breaking his leg and collarbone in a practice crash at Atlanta Motor Speedway. Park missed the final third of the 2001 season and the first four races of 2002 while recovering from a head injury he suffered in a crash during a Busch Series race at Darlington.

Park earned his first Winston Cup victory in 2000 at Watkins Glen and scored an emotional win at North Carolina Speedway in Rockingham just eight days after the death of his car owner, Dale Earnhardt, in the 2001 Daytona 500.

Orleans Racing, which is owned by Michael Gaughan, also is expected to announce this weekend that it has signed DHL, an international air express company, as the primary sponsor of the No. 62 truck.

NASCAR TEST: More than 50 NASCAR Nextel Cup and Busch Series drivers are expected to take part in a four-day open test at Las Vegas Motor Speedway later this month.

Virtually every Nextel Cup team will have at least one driver at LVMS for the test, which will be the first opportunity for the teams to test the new Goodyear tire, body styles and spoiler angles at a non-restrictor-plate track.

"I would say this is a pretty important test," Matt Borland, crew chief for Ryan Newman, said of the LVMS test. "We have never tested on these tires or with this body. We did some wind tunnel work with the spoiler, but we haven't been on the track with it.

"We need to really know what we will be fighting. Most teams will probably leave Las Vegas feeling like they still have a lot of work to do."

Nextel Cup and Busch Series drivers are allowed to test only two of the four days, although some drivers such as Las Vegas native Kyle Busch, reigning Cup champion Matt Kenseth and two-time Daytona 500 winner Michael Waltrip will be testing both Nextel Cup and Busch Series cars and will be on track all four days.

The test will run from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. each day and will be open to the public, free of charge.

BUSCH GETS SPONSOR: Hendrick Motorsports announced today that Lowe's Home Improvement Warehouse will sponsor Kyle Busch's No. 5 NASCAR Busch Series Chevrolets this season.

Lowe's also sponsors the No. 48 Hendrick Motorsports Nextel Cup Chevrolets, driven by Jimmie Johnson.

In addition to running the entire Busch Series schedule, Busch also will attempt to qualify for six Nextel Cup points races and the Nextel All-Star Challenge non-points race in the No. 84 Carquest Auto Parts Chevrolet. Busch will attempt to make his first Nextel Cup start in the March 7 UAW-DaimlerChrysler 400 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

RAHAL TABS RICE: Buddy Rice of Phoenix will replace Kenny Brack in Team Rahal's Indy Racing League entry while Brack recovers from the injuries he sustained in the IRL season finale last October at Texas Motor Speedway.

Brack suffered a fractured right thighbone, a fractured sternum, a fractured lumbar vertebra and fractures to both ankles in the accident but has said he hopes to return to racing this season.

Rice, the 2000 Toyota Atlantic Series champion, has 18 IRL starts and finished second in his debut in 2002 at Michigan. Rice will begin testing the Pioneer/ Argent Mortgage G Force/Honda for Team Rahal on Jan. 28 at Homestead, Fla.

The 2004 IRL IndyCar Series opens Feb. 29 at Homestead-Miami Speedway.

ADD BRACK: Brack and his wife, Anita, are the proud parents of their first child. Karma Brack was born on New Year's Eve at Riverside Methodist Hospital in Columbus, Ohio and weighed in at 6 pounds, 13 ounces.

Brack, however, was not able to assist in the delivery of Karma because he was recovering from surgery at the same hospital when his daughter was born.

"I was also in the hospital, but a few floors up, recovering from another surgery," Brack said. "What a great ending to an otherwise challenging year. I was able to see Anita and the baby in the hospital room a couple of hours before New Year's and we had a great celebration together."

CHEEVER RACING EXPANDS: Red Bull Cheever Racing will expand to a two-car team for the 2004 IRL IndyCar Series season, with Alex Barron driving the No. 52 car and rookie Ed Carpenter in the No. 51 car.

Barron, 33, served as a replacement driver for three injured drivers last year -- Gil de Ferran, Arie Luyendyk and Felipe Giaffone. Barron won the 2003 race at Michigan International Speedway, driving for Hollywood Mo Nunn Racing. He joined Red Bull Cheever Racing for the final three races, with a best finish of seventh at Chicagoland Speedway.

Carpenter, 22, won the inaugural Freedom 100 IRL Infiniti Pro Series race last May at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway and also competed in three IndyCar Series races for PDM Racing.

KALITTA ADDS DRAGSTER: Veteran driver David Grubnic of Australia has been named to drive Kalitta Motorsports' third NHRA Top Fuel dragster for the entire 2004 NHRA Powerade Drag Racing Series schedule, the team announced this week.

Grubnic will join Doug and Scot Kalitta on the three-car team. Team owner Connie Kalitta will handle crew chief duties for the new entry.

"To say I'm extremely happy would be an understatement," Grubnic said. "I am fully stoked. I've been at this drag racing game 13 years at this point. I've been in the states a long time chasing this dream. To finally land with a team I have such enormous respect for and to be getting the seat in a car that should be as good as any car out there is a fantastic opportunity no matter my role."

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