Auto Club 500

May 2, 2004
Fontana, CA

Sunday Derrike will be behind the wheel of the #49 Arnold Motorsports Dodge in Sunday’s running of the Auto Club 500. Regarding Sunday, Derrike indicated, "We are taking the same car to California that we ran at Texas and Darlington. It’s a strong car and one that I like to drive."

Bennett Lane Winery, a boutique wine maker that produces classic wines in Napa Valley, California will sponsor the #50 Arnold Motorsports Dodge for this Sunday’s Auto Club 500. Later this season they will again be sponsoring the team at the Dodge/Save Mart 350. Discussing the two race sponsorship deal Derrike said, "I’m pleased to be associated with Randy and Lisa Lynch, the owners of Bennett Lane Winery. Our goal is to represent them well in their home state of California. Actually, P.J. Jones brought the sponsorship deal to us. He’s a great talent and a friend of mine. I will be driving at Fontana this weekend and P.J. will drive at Sonoma."

Pictures of the #50 Bennett Lane Winery car can be seen in Picture Gallery 110.

In the first practice, Derrike was 36th fastest with a time of 39.980 and speed of 180.090.

In Qualifying, Derrike's first lap was 39.577 with a speed of 181.924. His second lap was slower at 40.252 with speed of 178.87. At the end of the round the #50 Bennett Lane Winery was left in 36 position where Derrike will start the race.

In the second practice, Derrike was 38th fastest with a time of 40.895 and speed of 176.061.

In Happy Hour, Derrike was 35th fastest with a time of 41.291 and speed of 174.372.

Derrike started the race in 36th position and finished in 31st. He was running in 26th position with 8 laps to go but had to take a green flag pit stop to get some gas.

Photo by Milt Pyle

From his office, Derrike commented on the past weekend’s races in California. "Our Cup car was decent off of the truck. In practice we broke the motor and as a result we weren’t able to do a bonsai run prior to qualifying. Nevertheless, we qualified for the race on speed. In race trim during practice we were tight. However, on race day we were really loose to start the race. The team responded well in addressing handling issues throughout the race. We were constantly adjusting as the heat made us really loose during the race. They made the right adjustments enabling us to stay on the lead lap until late in the race when we had to stop for gas under green. That cost us several positions. We just didn’t have the outcome that we had hoped for. We were really pleased to have the folks at Bennett Lane Winery as our sponsor. They are a great group and we are looking forward to representing them again at Sonoma with P.J. behind the wheel."