Winn-Dixie 250 presented by PepsiCo

July 2, 2004
Daytona, FL

Nobody knows the thrill of success at Daytona (Fla.) International Speedway better than Derrike Cope, who will drive the #49 Advil Ford in Friday night’s Winn-Dixie 250 NASCAR Busch Series race at the famed 2.5-mile speedway. "There is nothing that tops winning the Daytona 500," said Cope, who won the famed event in 1990. "Winning any race is great but there was absolutely something special about the Daytona 500. It’s one of those wins where your entire racing career flashes before your eyes – in a good way – and you realize why you worked so hard and so many hours all those years."

Cope is driving the Advil Ford prepared by Jay Robinson Racing, a group known for its work ethic as well. "You might beat us but nobody is going to out-work us," said owner Jay Robinson. "Every single person I have on these race teams work as hard as they can, day in and day out, to make these cars as good as they can be and as competitive as they can be. Our people take a whole lot of pride in what they do."

Because of that ethic, which certainly starts at the top with Robinson himself, the organization has been able to consistently offer sponsors a bargain as far as return on their investment. Though running with less sponsorship support than a lot of teams, some see Robinson’s cars and outfit and think they are getting greater support than they are.

"My feeling all along is if somebody gives me a dollar, I want him to look like he got two dollars in return," Robinson said. "That’s just always been my work ethic. We’re fortunate to have two primary sponsors in Advil and Yahoo! who are good to work with and who are supportive of what we are doing. It’s our obligation to do everything we can to give them as much back as we can. This should be a very positive experience for them."

Said Cope, "If every team operated that way, this sport would be a lot better off. Jay just insists that everything be as good as it can be, that everything represent the sponsor as well as it can, and that our effort on the track be the best we can give it. He doesn’t know of another way to run the race teams, and I really admire that."

The Advil Ford team moves into Daytona International Speedway this week with optimism for a good weekend. "We had a good race car there in February," said Cope, who started 41st but roared back to finish 20th. He finished 13th in the Advil Ford in February, 2003. "Jay’s plate cars have been pretty good cars. His Talladega stuff has always been great, and he has had some super runs there but he has been pretty strong at Daytona too," Cope added. "We think we could do some pretty good things Friday night with this Advil Ford."

In the first practice Derrike was 33rd fastest with a time of 50.063 and speed of 179.773.

In Happy Hour, Derrike was 25th fastest with a time of 49.572 and speed of 181.554.

In Qualifying, Derrike produced a lap of 51.799 and speed of 173.749. This was not fast enough for the top 38 so the team had to take a provisional and Derrike will be starting in 40th position.

Derrike started the race in 40th position and finished in 35th position.

Derrike gave this recap of Friday night’s Busch race at Daytona. "Due to the rule changes for Daytona we concentrated on race setup. As a result, in qualifying we took a provisional. In the race we were riding along in the early going. We got into the thick of things on a restart. Traffic backed up in front of us and we were caught up in an accident. As a result we had extensive damage to the car. We were able to make enough repairs to allow us to come back on the track for a few point laps prior to going behind the wall for the finish of the race. That effort improved our finish by a couple of positions. We clearly had a top twenty car had we not been caught up in the accident."