Pennzoil Freedom 400

November 11, 2001
Homestead, FL

Commenting on Sunday’s race Derrike said, "We are looking forward to this weekend. We will be driving a new CLR Taurus. Therefore, it will be important for us to use our practice time to identify needs and to make the necessary adjustments to achieve maximum performance. Robert Yates has built us a great qualifying motor. We are planning for a good effort this weekend that will give us positive momentum going into next year."

Bob Cope was at Friday morning practice and provided the following:

"Fresh from the practice and this is what I know. The first time out he had no power so he quickly came back in and got that fixed. He then went out about four more times and continued to have problems getting it to turn. It wouldn't roll into the corner and it was pushing so bad that when he had to turn the wheel he would have to get off the gas. This is what they struggled with all day by changing the track bar, springs, and shocks. It seemed like Derrike had the final say in all the changes and made many of the suggestions."

Derrike finished the first practice 45th fastest with a time of 36.464 and speed of 148.091.

In qualifying, Derrike was the 7th car to take the track and produced a lap with time of 35.923 and speed of 150.322. This time was not good enough to make the show so the team will miss the race.