Park searching for a ride

Steve Park, whose last NASCAR race was in a Busch car at O'Reilly Raceway Park last August, was in the garage at Atlanta Motor Speedway on Friday knocking on doors in the hopes of finding a ride for 2007.

While driving a Cup car for DEI in 1998, Park was seriously injured in a crash at Atlanta Motor Speedway. He returned to race later that year, but in 2001 he suffered a brain injury in a violent crash during the Busch race at Darlington.

In his only full season in the trucks (2004), Park finished ninth in points. The following year he won the second race of the season at California Speedway, but by the end of the season, Park and team owner Steve Gaughan went their separate ways.

In 2006, Park started the season driving 10 races for James Harris' CTS team but moved over to the Busch Series to compete in six races for James Marsh.

"I'm here looking for a job," Park said. "Atlanta is the first stop on the East Coast for a lot of these teams and I wanted to be here to talk to a few people about a ride in the truck or Busch series."

Park says it's been tough for him to sit at home.

"I was born to race," he said. "I should be on the race track right now."

Park said he had a deal to get back in the Busch Series this season, but it fell apart a month before Daytona.

"I spent a lot of time in the Craftsman Truck Series and enjoyed it," Park said. "I'd like to get back into one for the rest of this season."

Park joked that during his time away from racing, he cut 10 strokes off his golf game.

"Playing golf is great over the winter time when you know you have a job to go racing again in the springtime," Park said. "But when the spring time comes and you're not out there racing, it's a bummer."