Park and Earnhardt Jr test at VIR: Just a day after surviving a horrific cash in the Pennsylvania 500 at Pocono, both Dale Earnhardt Jr. and teammate Steve Park were back at work today, testing their road-racing cars at VIRginia International Raceway. Despite the accident, and despite being admittedly sore and bruised, both were lapping the 2.225-mile North Course at VIR today in searing heat, as temperatures hovered around the 100F degree mark. Many of the Winston Cup teams have discovered VIR as an ideal place to refine their road-racing set-ups for the races at Infineon Raceway in Sonoma, CA, and Watkins Glen, NY. “We can learn a lot about road-course racing at this track,” said Earnhardt. “When you dont have a lot of road-racing experience, like me, every lap on a road course counts for something. Were testing and learning a lot of new things.” He said the proximity of VIR to the team’ home base in Mooresville, N.C., is an important factor. It’ only a two-hour drive from the Dale Earnhardt, Inc., headquarters. Park, whose first-ever Winston Cup win came at Watkins Glen in 2000, was here trying to put things into place for a repeat performance.(VIR PR)(7-29-2002)
