Missouri-Illinois Dodge Dealers 250

July 18, 2009
Madison, IL

Derrike will be bringing two cars to Gateway for the race, the #73 driven by Derrike and the #78 driven by another driver.

In the first practice, Derrike was 25th fastest with a time of 34.107 and speed of 131.938. Kevin Lepage was 41st with a time of 34.531 and speed of 130.318. In the second practice, Derrike was 28th fastest with a time of 33.936 and speed of 132.603. Kevin was 38th fastest with a time of 34.271 and speed of 131.306.

In Qualifying, Derrike ran his first lap at 34.137. His second lap was faster at 33.941 with a speed of 132.583mph. At the end of the round, he was in 34th position where he will start the race. Kevin ran his fastest lap at 34.022 with a speed of 132.267. This put him 43rd position where he will start the race.

Derrike started the race in 34th position and finished in 38th. Kevin started in 43rd position and finished in 37th position.

After the race Derrike said, "This weekend went fairly well for us getting both the #73 and the #78 car in the race. Although without sponsorship we parked both cars early. We did however struggle a bit with the handling of the cars. We are not qualifying as well as we are capable of. We will have to address a few things and move in a different direction with the chassis setups to find some speed. The competition is very tough and we have to step up each week. I am confident we will continue to make improvements.

"We will take a weekend off from the NNS to make an attempt in the Sprint Cup Series at the Brickyard and then Pocono the following week. The entire team is excited to go. A number of our young crew members are from the Indiana area so this will be a special opportunity for them. This will be a tough race to make, but I look forward to the challenge!"