Circuit City 250 presented by Funai

May 4, 2007
Richmond, VA

Derrike will be driving the #28 Checkers/Rally’s Chevrolet for Jay Robinson Racing at Richmond this weekend. He said, "I am very excited about it! They have been running quite well and I look forward to getting back on the track. Jay Robinson, Steve Platenberger, and the entire crew have worked very hard this year and their finishes show it. I went to Richmond to help the rookie driver Robert Richardson a few weeks back and made some laps while I was there, so I am ready to get up there and get started. I got fitted in the car today, and the car looks very good. The engine is fresh from DEI, so Friday cannot come soon enough for me!"

MONROE, NC - (May 3, 2007) - Jay Robinson Racing announced today that Derrike Cope will be driving the #28 Checkers/Rally's Chevy in the NASCAR Busch Series Circuit City 250 at Richmond tomorrow night. This will be Derrike's first entry into a NASCAR Busch Series race in the 2007 season.

"I am really excited about getting back on the race track and having some fun" said Derrike Cope. "With the Teams’ new program, engines, and cars in place Jay Robinson Racing has been running strong this year. I am looking forward to working with Steve Plattenberger, Jay, the whole JRR team and putting forth a productive effort for Checkers / Rally’s on race day."

Derrike has been doing some consulting work with the Team in 2007 serving as a coach to Robert Richardson, a rookie driver for Car 28 this year.

Team owner Jay Robinson said, "We're really excited to have Derrike behind the wheel this week. We are in a points battle for the lock in position. We absolutely have to finish this race and we also have to be very fast. I feel Derrike is up for the challenge."

This week joining Car 28 as Associate Sponsors will be Acredale Coffee & Vending Service of Richmond, Virginia, The Comfort Inn Conference Center located on West Broad Street in Richmond, Virginia and CMO Music which is Nationwide but based in Atlanta, Georgia.

The NASCAR Busch Series Circuit City 250 race at Richmond is the fourth race out of a total eleven races that Checkers/Rally's will be the primary on the #28 Chevy in 2007.

In the first practice, Derrike was 39th fastest with a time of 22.004 and speed of 122.705. In the second practice, he was 28th fastest with a time of 21.852 and speed of 123.558.

In qualifying, Derrike produced his fastest lap of 21.860 with speed of 123.513. This was good enough for 38th position where Derrike will start the race.

Derrike started the race in 38th position and finished in 29th position.

After the race, Derrike updated us. He said, "It was great to be back at the race track! I had a great time on Friday, although I was not totally satisfied with the end result. But I was pleased with the overall effort. I enjoyed working with Steve Platenberger and the entire crew. We worked very hard in practice and ended up 28th fastest and the car was tight when we made our mock qualifying run. We made some changes for qualifying and went a bit too far the other way. With the race track sitting and our adjustments we were very loose in qualifying and ended up not qualifying very well.

"I was optimistic for the race, but we were just too tight all night long and the cautions fell at times that were detrimental to our final finishing position. We needed to be about a tenth and half to two tenths faster to have been where we could have raced a bit more competitively. The potential to really run well is certainly there. I am so happy for Jay Robinson. He has a good team and some good equipment to build on.

"There were a number of great people from several of their sponsors at the event and I was able to spend some time with some of them which was very nice. This team is putting some great sponsorship packages together with some wonderful companies and I only see good things for them.

"I really appreciated the opportunity to drive the Checker/Rally Chevrolet this weekend. It felt great to get behind the wheel again. I am ready for more. Hopefully our plans will materialize quickly and I along with my nieces will get back to the track on a more consistent basis."