Park wins in Earnhardt Chevy at Rockingham

Park scored a win in a Dale Earnhardt Inc Chevrolet in Monday's Dura Lube 400 at the North Carolina Speedway by narrowly beating last year's champion Bobby Labonte. The win comes after Michael Waltrip, also in an Earnhardt Chevrolet, won last weekend's Daytona 500 in which the seven time Winston Cup champion was killed in the final turn of the final lap.

The Rockingham race had been stopped on Sunday after 52 laps due to rain and resumed at 1100hrs (EST) today. During Sunday's emotional pre-race ceremonies, crew members of every NASCAR Winston Cup team held hands while three-time Winston Cup champion Darrell Waltrip said a prayer.

Park led the race on five different occasions for a total of 168 laps, but took the lead for the final time on lap 339 of the 393-lap race and was able to pull away from second-placed man Jeff Gordon. In the closing stages of the race, he had to fight off Labonte, but held on for the win.

"That was for Dale," Park said to his crew on the radio. The spotter radioed back, "There are tears in heaven for you, boy."

Park celebrated the victory by spinning out on the front stretch and waving a No. 3 cap in honour of Earnhardt out the window as he completed a victory lap in reverse.

"Jeff Gordon had a great race car and Bobby Labonte was coming at the end," Park said. "I was running out of fuel. I put a block on him to try to keep him from winning. I want to thank all the great race fans who supported Dale Earnhardt.

"This has been a tough week and it won't be the same without him. I was emotional. I had tears coming down those last couple laps. Then, I wiped my nose and got back on the steering wheel because that's what Dale would want me to do. I put a block on Bobby and I was able to keep him behind me. This gives us tremendous momentum."

The race was restarted today on lap 55 with Stacy Compton's Dodge in the lead. Gordon's Chevrolet immediately passed Compton and led the next 18 laps before Park took his second stint at the front of the two-day race on lap 74. He managed to stay there for the next 31 laps before Gordon regained the lead on lap 105. Daytona 500 winner Waltrip briefly took the lead on lap 128 as pit stops began for the leaders.

The first of two caution flags came on lap 244 when Mike Skinner's car spun out of the second turn. Five laps later, the green flag waved with Gordon in front of Park and Labonte. Park's once sizeable lead vanished almost immediately as Labonte was able to catch, but not pass him. The second-placed man also put on an Earnhardt cap once the chequered flag had been waved.

"It was a great race for us," Labonte said. "Steve and Jeff wore out the tyres more than I did at the end. We had a good run on him and we were both slipping and sliding. I got up in the fence a little bit. Last year at this race, Earnhardt finished second to me. He helped me get to second today."

Jeff Gordon was third followed by Tony Stewart and Ricky Craven. Gordon said: "All day long, we were real strong on new tyres. They were better than us on long runs. I thought we had it figured out two-thirds through the race. Steve Park drove a great race and those guys needed this. We are missing somebody here this weekend, for sure. It's not going to be the same without Dale..."

For full Dura Lube 400 race results click here.