Chevy American Revolution 400

May 15, 2004
Richmond, VA

After a rough weekend in St. Louis in the Busch Series, Derrike will be behind the wheel of the #49 Arnold Motorsports Dodge in Saturday night's running of the Chevy American Revolution 400. Chesapeake Mobile Home Sales was the sponsor.

In the first practice, Derrike was 41st fastest with a time of 21.273 and speed of 126.921.

In Qualifying, Derrike produced a fastest lap of 21.674 and speed of 124.573. This wasn't fast enough for the top 38 so the team took a provisional and Derrike will be starting in 41st position.

In Happy Hour, Derrike remained consistent at 41st fastest with a time of 21.924 and speed of 123.153.

Derrike started the race in 41st position and finished in 29th position.

We spoke with Derrike regarding the Nextel Cup race this past weekend. "Unfortunately, we had limited practice to prepare for Saturday night’s Cup race due to a couple of issues. First, we experienced brake problems similar to what we encountered at Martinsville. In Happy Hour we had a problem with the left front tire coming off of the track surface when accelerating. It seemed like the car was bound up. Mike and our crew worked hard and successfully to address this problem for the race. However, the lack of practice really hurt us considering that the track had been resurfaced and that the track characteristics had radically changed. In qualifying the car was extremely loose and as a result we had to take a provisional. In the race the car started off tight. Mike and the crew kept adjusting throughout the race to improve our handling. Once again, the Fitz Bradshaw boys did excellent work in the pits. We got caught in the pits during an early caution which hurt us considerably in terms of our finish. I am really proud of our team, their commitment, and the professional manner that they handle adversity. All things considered, we had a productive night with our finish. Personally, I’m still working hard on sponsorship for our team. I continue to regularly talk to companies to raise money to elevate the quality of our program. Our team has the heart and motivation and with additional resources we know what we can accomplish."