Q&A: Hank Parker Jr.

Hank Parker Jr. will likely reach two career milestones at Darlington Raceway this weekend. First, Parker needs to win just $7,162 in Saturday's DarlingtonRaceway.com 200 to reach the $2 million mark in career NBS winnings. Secondly, Parker will hit the centennial mark in the March 16 event, making his 100th NBS career start at "The Lady In Black."

Parker now sits 26th in the NASCAR Busch Series (NBS) drivers' points standings, while team owner Scott Welliver holds the 26th spot in the owners' points standings.

In Parkers previous race (Sam's Town 300), a pit road miscue on the final pit stop of the day for the No. 36 GNC Live Well Racing team turned a possible top-five finish into a 26th-place result at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway. A crewman was unable to remove a tear-away plastic sheet from Parker's windshield during the stop. The crumpled sheet remained at the bottom of Parker's windshield as he exited pit road. Fearing that the sheet would be sucked into the car's air intake, Parker slowly circled the track before coming back in to have the offending plastic removed.

The GNC Live Well team will bring "The Blue Car" to Darlington, but it looks different than its nickname implies. "The Blue Car" is the same machine Parker drove to a runner-up finish at Kansas Speedway last September and to a top-10 the following weekend at Lowe's Motor Speedway in Concord, N.C. The nickname was coined during those two events when the car carried a special light blue paint scheme to promote a new product from GNC Live Well, the NASCAR(R) Kids Multi dietary supplement for children, a race-car shaped fruit punch flavoured children's multivitamin. Crew chief Gary Cogswell asked the paint shop workers at Welliver-Jesel Motorsports to spray the underside of the car's hood blue for the Darlington event as well.

"I love little things like that," Cogswell said. "That car's always going to be known as 'The Blue Car', so I felt like we needed at least part of the car to reflect that. Besides which, it seems like that blue colour brought us some luck, so it never hurts to stay with what works."

Parker's team-mate at Welliver-Jesel Motorsports, Casey Mears, tested with his No. 66 Phillips 66 team at Darlington Raceway on Tuesday and Wednesday, March 5 6. Parker's No. 36 GNC Live Well Racing team will be privy to the information gathered during that session, and will return the favour by sharing data gathered at its March 4-5 Texas Motor Speedway test session.

Q:
How does it feel to be making your 100th career NBS start?

Hank Parker Jr.:
"I guess being in 100 Busch races is a pretty cool accomplishment, but I put it in perspective. I said, 'Hey, I've won one race in 100. That's only a one percent winning average.' When you put it like that, it sure doesn't sound like that big a deal. Then someone else said, 'That same race will be the 600th race in the history of the Busch Series. So really, Hank, you're only one for 600.' That sure shoots my batting average all to heck."

Q:
How will it feel to make $2 million in career winnings:

HP:
"That sounds a lot better than it is. For the first two years, I put all my winnings back into the team that my dad owned, so I didn't see a whole lot of that money. I'm definitely not as well-off as some people might think. I just got married and we're building a new house, so believe me, I'm watching every penny."

Q:
What did you mean by saying "the tracks too tough to tame"?

HP:
"Someone asked me if I've ever gotten a 'Darlington stripe.' I told them that the first time I came here, I thought it was a bad dream. I scraped that wall so often I'm surprised I had any sheet metal left on the right side of my car.

"This track has some tight corners, especially coming off of turn two. Even if you barely slide up and touch the wall, it usually does enough damage to your fenders and aero package to make it a tougher day for you."

"I've had some really strong runs here, so I'm pretty stoked that I can come in here and have a real shot at the win this weekend. The way we've been running the past few weeks, and with the car we're bringing, there's no doubt that we can run up front."

Q:
What are your thought on the bad luck that has plagued the team in 2002?

HP:
"I was about ready to take a long walk off a short pier after the Vegas race. We've been so close to some good finishes, but we haven't put it all together yet."

"The cars have been great. We've had cars capable of finishing in the top-five or top-10 every week. I was running 15th in Daytona before we had a problem, I was ninth in Rockingham before we had a problem, and I was running third in Vegas before we had a problem. We just need to eliminate those problems. I believe in my team, and I know the top-fives are coming. I don't know if a lot of people other than myself and this team believe that, but all the doubters are in for a surprise."

Q:
Do you like the egg-shaped layout of the Darlington Raceway?

HP:
"It's hard to get your car to handle properly in all four turns. It seems like you have to decide what you can deal with. It's a trade-off as far as what end of the track you want to be good on. For me, if I get my car turning properly in turns one and two, I'm going to be loose in three and four. That's OK with me. I would rather be loose. I know other guys who prefer things the other way around. Like I said, it's whatever the driver thinks he can handle."

Q:
Ho do you pick up pointers?

HP:
"I always tried to learn as much as I could whenever I got the chance to race around Mark Martin. In fact, I got a tape of one of the Darlington races from 1999, and it had a lot of footage from inside Mark's car. I studied that tape, watched it over and over. I think it definitely helped me improve my driving line around Darlington. You can always learn from someone with his skill and experience. "