Aaron's 499

April 25, 2004
Talladega, AL

Derrike will be piloting the #50 Arnold Motorsports Dodge in the Aaron’s 499 Cup Race Sunday at Talladega. Derrike is shared his thoughts regarding this high bank speedway race. "We will be driving a new car at Talladega in the cup race and it looks great. I am excited to get behind the wheel. We are looking forward to a strong showing, both in qualifying and in Sunday’s race."

In the first practice, Derrike was 42nd fastest with a time of 51.671 and speed of 185.326.

Qualifying is Friday at 4:10pm EST. Derrike was scheduled to go out 2nd to try and qualify but the first car withdrew so Derrike was the first to qualify and thus, he sat on the pole for a brief time. His best lap was a time of 51.197 and speed of 187.042. At the end of the round, the team had to take a provisional so Derrike will be starting in the 41st position.

In the second practice, Derrike was 32nd fastest with a time of 49.555 and speed of 193.240.

In Happy Hour, Derrike was 14th fastest with a time of 49.511 and speed of 193.412.

Derrike started the race in 42nd position and finished in 38th after Tony Stewart takes out 10 cars in a multi-car crash. Photos of the crash are on Picture Gallery 109.

"Yesterday we fielded a really strong Cup car at Talladega. Our qualifying suffered as we only ran a couple of practice laps prior to qualifying. We are planning to devote more time and effort to improve our qualifying. However, at race time we were ready to race. In the race the car sucked up extremely well in the draft. It seemed to prefer the middle and high groves in race setup. It was a tick tight on the inside groove. We were doing well, not being too aggressive, when the trouble occurred and we just got caught up in it. We had major damage to the car. As a result we will be putting a new body on it for Daytona. Mike and the crew put together a really competitive ride for me to drive at Talladega. The car had great tendencies and was a pleasure to drive. I can’t say enough about the Fitz-Bradshaw boys and the great pit stops they pulled off. These groups of guys always have a great attitude and are real competitors."