Derrike Cope and the #49 Advil Ford team head
to the .750-mile Memphis (Tenn.) Motorsports Park this week for Saturday’s
Sam’s Town 250 NASCAR Busch Series race.
The thoughts of #49 Advil Ford driver Derrike Cope heading into Memphis:
"This is an interesting weekend for NASCAR. The Cup guys are in
Martinsville, and the Busch guys are a state-and-a-half away in Memphis.
"This is one of the top 40 or so markets in the country. That, in itself,
makes it a pretty big race for each team in the series, or at least, each
team with national corporations as sponsor. Advil sells everywhere we go,
and it sells in Martinsville as well as Memphis. But the numbers of people
in Memphis and the potential audience is much greater in Memphis. It’s an
important race from that standpoint.
"I think one of the reasons Jay (Robinson, team owner) has been successful
is the fact that he understands that. These cars are racing vehicles but
they are marketing vehicles too. A car owner who looks at his teams as being
both is the one who is going to be successful. A great racing team with no
sponsor is not going to be successful for long. A racing team successful
from the marketing side needs success on the track as well. Many times,
success in one area can lead to success in the other. That’s where Jay has
done well. To be solid as a race team, you have to be solid on the business
side as well. And he has built a strong foundation for Jay Robinson Racing
and for the future. Things haven’t always progressed as quickly as we would
like but they have progressed. Jay has his eye on the future, and the
direction of this race team has always been forward. We’re already putting
more good things together for next season, and we’re talking with more
potential sponsors as associates and as potential primaries on Jay’s other
cars.
"All of that said, Memphis becomes a big race for us. There are a lot of
companies and corporations based in that area, and there is a good bit of
attention paid to the Busch race there. As far as stock car racing is
concerned, this is the biggest thing happening in the Memphis area. If they
don’t pay attention to anything else all year long, race fans in the Memphis
area are going to be watching this race.
"The guys on this race team work hard. With the budget constraints we have,
I’d say they do a pretty good job. This isn’t one of those $4 or $5 million
teams but every bit of sponsorship that comes in goes into the racing
effort. The thing about Jay Robinson is if you put $1 million worth of
sponsorship into his team, he’ll make it look like $2 million and you will
see more than that in return.
"This point of the year everyone tends to really focus on the championship
and the points. Those things obviously are important. But a big story this
time of year too is the financial side. A lot of teams are setting up
sponsorship arrangements for 2005 and beyond, a lot of people are talking.
The championship for 2005 is being determined in corporate boardrooms right
now.
"That’s one of the reasons we are so excited about getting this Advil Ford
to a market like Memphis, and giving this #49 a good ride."
In the first practice, Derrike was 49th fastest
with a time of 23.875 and speed of 113.089.
In Qualifying, Derrike produced a lap of 23.478 with
a speed of 115.001. This was not fast enough for the top 38 so the team took
a provisional and Derrike will be starting in 42nd position.
Derrike started the race in 42nd position
and finished in 32nd position.
| Start |
Finish |
Status |
Money
Won |
Laps |
Laps
Led |
Race
Points |
Standing |
| 42 |
32 |
Engine |
$19,570 |
199/255 |
|
67 |
26 |
Derrike updated us with the following
information concerning this past weekend's race. He said, "We had a number
of problems with the car leading up to and throughout practice which led to
minimal practice time. Our qualifying effort was less than I had hoped for.
We decided to skip Happy Hour practice to go through the Advil Ford to see
if we could find any problems.
"When the race started we were not too bad, a
little tight in the middle of the corner, and a little loose off. We made a
few changes and were able to stay on the lead lap while doing so. We later
got into an altercation with a chain reaction crash when a car ahead of me
hit another and a car hit me from behind when I slowed which tore up the
front end of the car. We battled with fixing the car so as not to overheat.
The crew guys did a great job keeping us on the lead lap and keeping the car
competitive. But, we had an engine problem later that ended our day. I
assume it was the same thing that has hurt us the last few races, a rocker
arm and then a valve problem.
"Atlanta is next on the agenda. I am looking
forward to going there as it is one of the places I really like."
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