Target House 300

September 4, 2004
Fontana, CA

Derrike Cope and the Advil Ford team head to the fast two-mile California Speedway this week for Saturday’s Target House 300 NASCAR Busch Series race. Cope, a 45-year-old winning veteran of NASCAR racing, will be among that group of drivers running both the NASCAR Busch Series and NASCAR Nextel Cup Series event at California this weekend.

Jay Robinson Racing, in its fourth season of operation, is one of the fastest-growing teams in NASCAR. Robinson, a Charlotte, N.C., native who is a successful businessman, founded the team as a high-value endeavor that offers high-end equipment and efforts, while proving to be one of the most cost-efficient teams in the sport. Robinson fields two sponsored cars fulltime on the Busch Series: Cope’s #49 Advil Ford and the #39 Yahoo! Ford of rookie Andy Ponstein, whom Cope is helping mentor.

The thoughts of #49 Advil Ford driver Derrike Cope heading into California: "When you are sitting back, being nostalgic and remembering the ‘good ol’ days,’ yeah, Darlington is a pretty special place. The history, the tradition . . . everything about Darlington was really cool. The place is a time machine. But with the economy the way it is these days, with a lot of teams working to build sponsorships, well, California is ‘back to the future.’ We need to be in these major markets, and we need to be there in a big way. This is an important market for Advil, but also for every sponsor and potential sponsor in the sport.

"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 throughout the sport, 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.

"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 150,000 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.

"A good run at California 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 California, 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 this week, and we’re excited about getting there."

In the first practice, Derrike was 36th fastest with a time of 41.005 and speed of 175.588.

In Qualifying, Derrike produced a lap of 41.189 and speed of 174.804. At the end of the round, this was fast enough for 38th position so the team did not have to take a provisional.

The team did not participate in Happy Hour.

Derrike started the race in 38th position and finished in 32nd.

Looking back on last week's California races, Derrike shared the following during a conversation earlier today. "Needless to say, it was a difficult weekend all the way around. We were able to qualify the Advil #49 Ford on speed in spite of running on only seven cylinders. We changed the engine for the race and missed Happy Hour practice. As a result we guessed at our race setup. We improved the handling of the car as the race progressed. Unfortunately, we had a spark plug wire come off and didn't get a caution where we could fix it under yellow. To make matters worse I got burned from the extreme heat in the seat during the race."