Auto Club 500

February 26, 2006
Fontana, CA

Derrike will be driving the #74 Dodge in California. He said, "Yes we are going to California for the Cup race. I am excited about our sponsors and their commitments to our team and feel we can get this program on solid ground in a short period of time. I am looking forward to California and Las Vegas in two weeks."

In the first practice, Derrike was 48th fastest with a time of 41.026 and speed of 175.498.

In qualifying, Derrike's first lap was 40.283 with a speed of 178.735. His second lap was a little slower with a time of 40.90 seconds and speed of 176.06. At the end of the round, the #74 Dodge was sitting in 45th position. Unfortunately this was not fast enough to make the race.

After qualifying, Derrike said, "The Cup car was off the pace. We had some problems that took time away from us. We picked up a lot in qualifying but still not enough. We will get better with a little more time to prepare. The guys did good with so little time to get ready. It is tough here and we just need to get better!"