Park, whose three-year Winston Cup career has been marked with jagged peaks and valleys, broke into Victory Lane at his "home track," Watkins Glen International, in August. Park, whose career was interrupted by serious injuries suffered at Atlanta Motor Speedway in 1998, won the Winston Open at Charlotte in May. After dropping into the 20s in the point standings early in the season, he rebounded to challenge for a top-10 spot with a superb second half of the year.

Park, from East Northport, N.Y., put an exclamation point on his intentions for 2001 when he finished the season with three top-10s in the last four races. He scored four top-5 finishes over a stretch of seven races, beginning with the Watkins Glen victory. He will return in 2001 with crew chief Paul Andrews, who engineered six top-5 and 13 top-10 finishes in 2000, as well as the first two Winston Cup poles of Park's career.

Park, whose father and uncle, Bob and Bill Park, were successful Modified racers in the Northeast, moved to the Winston Cup Series after winning rookie of the year honors in the Busch Series in 1997, scoring victories at Nashville, Michigan and Richmond. He finished third in the Busch standings that season, the only full year he competed there, along with running five Winston Cup races.

Park's career has accelerated quickly. He finished second in the Featherlite Modified Series point standings in 1996, when he was named the series' most popular driver. In 1995, he finished second in the Modified standings and was tour pole champion. Park has also won races in the Busch North Series. He got Earnhardt's attention with his performance in a Modified and a Craftsman truck at Watkins Glen in 1996.