O'Reilly 300

April 3, 2004
Fort Worth, TX

Derrike and the Advil Ford team head to the fast 1.5-mile Texas Motor Speedway this week for Saturday’s O’Reilly 300 NASCAR Busch Series race.

Derrike had some various thoughts heading into Texas:

"The Texas races are big for everybody. Because of the attention on the races there – from the fans, the media, sponsors – you can feel a little extra pressure to run well. The Dallas-Fort Worth area is a major market for anybody doing anything, so it’s obviously very important to the race teams. The best way to get that positive attention is running up front or near the front. We know by doing that, more people are going to see Advil than just about anything else we do. Some 200,000 people in the grandstands, another couple of million watching on national television, all of that is important to our sponsors.

"The neat thing is our goals are pretty much the same. We want to do well for Advil but we want to do well because that’s why we’re in this business. We are here to compete. Jay Robinson, Derrike Cope, the guys on our race team, we’re here to run hard and to run well. But we know by doing that, it helps Advil too. Hey, for us nothing cures a headache faster than running well. For better relief for everybody else – and us when we are not racing – it’s Advil.

"Sponsorship is what makes this whole business go. We are here to race and to compete but we know, too, that we’re rolling marketing machines. We want to expose the products for our sponsors and encourage people to buy them. Advil wants us to run well because we are marketing partners and they like us, but it all boils down to how much product they can sell through motorsports. I think some teams, all through motorsports, have lost track of that. Sponsorship isn’t determined by how many races you win; it’s determined by how well you help market the sponsor’s product.

"That’s one of the reasons I believe Jay (Robinson) has been successful. He is a businessman. He’s a racer, sure, but he is a businessman, and he keeps that businessman’s hat on when dealing with Advil or Yahoo! or Western Outlaw or Ford or whoever. He knows what it takes to make their programs successful and by utilizing that knowledge with his race teams, he has been able to make things work for everybody. This isn’t the highest-funded team out here by any means but Jay is one of the very few owners in NASCAR who can take a little and make a lot out of it. We aren’t as highly-funded as some of these teams out here but he makes sure we look like we are. We’ve run in front of a lot of multi-million dollar teams, and everything we bring to the track is top-notch. He’s pleased with the support from the sponsors but he knows how to make things first-class.

"A good run at Texas would add to that, and this team is certainly capable. We have a solid engine program and good people as far as chassis and aero work is concerned. You have to be fast at Texas, and I believe we can be fast. You have to have good racing luck too, and if life is fair, Jay Robinson and this Advil Ford team should have some good luck coming. I think we can run pretty well at Texas, and we’re excited about getting there."

Waiting in line for inspection on Thursday

In the first practice, Derrike was 39th fastest with a time of 29.847 and speed of 180.923.

In qualifying, Derrike produced a lap of 29.412 and speed of 183.598. At the end of the round the #49 Taurus was in 36th place where Derrike will start the race.

In the second practice, Derrike was 38th fastest with a time of 30.147 and speed of 179.122.

Derrike started the race in 36th position and finished in 31st.

We spoke with Derrike and got his perspective on this past weekend’s Busch race. "In Saturday’s Busch race we were a little down on power. Texas, as you know, is a really fast track and we lacked the horses to really battle. Looking back, we had too much right rear spring in the car and as a result we were loose throughout the race. We hung on and did the best we could to finish the race. I am looking forward to a good effort for Advil in Nashville."