We were listening to the whole race on the scanner and it told of nothing but problems for the 37 K&N Filters Pontiac. With a 21st place start it was on lap 8 Derrike told the crew he needed to save his tires and would run the outside line to save the car from trouble. By lap 10, he was receiving good encouragement from the crew as he had worked his way up a few positions. Lap 12 saw the first caution. Derrike reported that the car was pushing and he couldn't move it down the track. He took 4 tires and they raised the track bar.

At the restart, Derrike had some help but by lap 21 he told the crew he was stuck in traffic and couldn't maneuver through. Laps 27-19 saw him headed to the top 15 and then he started moving backwards. Johnny Benson brushed the 2nd turn wall and that caution may have been the beginning of the end in our opinions.

The decision was made not to pit and that, perhaps, was not the wisest. From that restart in second position, he slipped back to around 20th and told the crew the car wouldn't turn for him...and with 10 laps to go, he told the crew he had no tires left. At the final caution, he took 4 more tires and a clean windshield as his only hope. And the rest is history!

The 18th place finish will not be sufficient to place him in the 500, having no points on which to fall back. On a positive note, the car looks spectacular on the track and Derrike drove his heart out. He just didn't have the handling he needed and there will always be the torment of Joey Knuckles not bringing him in. Yes, we are disappointed but we will hang in there and hopefully wait for the next attempt to qualify that gorgeous car!

And there is always our chance to cheer tomorrow for the #86 National Wild Turkey Federation Ford!

Wish our report could be happier!

Carolyn White and Carola Farb