Pop Secret 500

September 5, 2004
Fontana, CA

Derrike will be driving the #96 Ford owned by Chris Edwards and Larry Gunselman in Sunday's Pop Secret 500. The car is sponsored by Mach One Inc. The plan was to drive the car as #98 as they have been doing but Bill Elliot decided to enter the race and he took number 98.

In the first practice, Derrike was 45th fastest with a time of 40.659 and speed of 177.083.

During qualifying, the car spun exiting turn 4 and got into the wall before Derrike could complete his first lap. Hence, there was no qualifying time, but the team was able to take a provisional so Derrike will be starting in 43rd position.

The team did not participate in the second practice.

In Happy Hour, Derrike was 42nd fastest with a time of 42.023 and speed of 171.335.

Derrike started the race in 43rd position and finished in 40th after hitting the wall.

Looking back on last week's California race, Derrike shared the following during a conversation earlier today. "Our bad luck continued for Saturday's Cup race. We had a problem qualifying. The lead was loose in the frame rail which hit the left front of the car causing considerable damage. At the beginning of the race, our car shut off exiting pit road. What we found was that a wire had come off of the ignition switch. That took several laps to fix putting us double digit laps down at the start of the race. We were held up in the pits when we had a fire, which I think was ignited by a spark from a lug nut. Thinks were improving for us on the track when we blew a left rear tire in turn one putting us into the wall. We hit really hard. I have had problems with my left knee from previous accidents. The shot that I took hitting the wall aggravated it again. The good thing is that last weekend is behind us. We are looking forward to turning things around this weekend in Richmond."

Bruce Bates was at the race and provided a live report. Bruce's Live Report