3M Performance 400

June 18, 2006
Brooklyn, MI

Before the weekend Derrike told us, "I am ready to get back to Michigan. I spoke to Wiz, the crew chief, to go over the setup for the car and everything sounds good! We will be bringing the same car that we had at Pocono. I always look forward to going to Michigan. It is one of my favorite tracks to race at. This is a very high speed track with great transitions to the banking, but handling is at a premium with big sweeping corners, along with needing as much horsepower as you can get. I have a lot of success there and feel like I know what my needs are there to find the necessary speed to get the car qualified. We have been running very well as of late so I am hoping to have a great weekend starting with Friday’s qualifying. This will be our last race for a couple of weeks. We will not be going to Infineon (the road course) or Daytona which is a restrictor plate race. I will provide an update after qualifying to fill you in on how practice and qualifying went."

In the first practice, Derrike was 33rd fastest with a time of 40.068 and speed of 179.695.

In Qualifying, Derrike posted a time of 39.964 with speed of 180.162. At the end of the round the #74 Howes Lubricator/Royal Administration Dodge was in 38th position where Derrike will start the race.

After qualifying, Derrike had this to say: "I am very pleased with this weekend's effort. We were a decent race car off the truck and that allowed us to make good decisions the whole practice. We picked up speed throughout the session fighting a loose race car most of the time. When it came to the qualifying lap I got through turn one and two pretty well but got pretty loose in three and lost quite a bit of time there. Still the lap was faster than our practice qualifying laps and was good enough to get the job done.

"In Saturday morning's practice sessions the car responded well. We did not put a lot of tires on but I feel like the car is pretty decent.

"I am pleased at our progress. Other than last week, we are making good decisions and the crew is preparing some great cars for me to drive. Just another great weekend. Our battles are obviously on Friday and there is stiff competition. I really look forward to each week. I will update you on Sunday after the race."

Derrike started the race in 38th position and finished in 43rd position. The race was shortened to a heavy downpour of rain.

After the race, Derrike said, "I was definitely pleased with our car at the start of the race. I was a little loose in the middle of the corner but felt like it would come to me the more laps that we would run. Right before the first caution for rain it just started to show signs of being very competitive. We pulled in shortly after that to avoid putting any more laps on that engine. We did not have any sponsorship for this race but do have it for Chicagoland, so we need this engine to run the race there provided we can get qualified. It is always difficult to not race but hopefully we will get some more sponsorship and we can do more of it. The plan was to give up this race so we can go to Chicagoland, and go to test at Indy right after that to hopefully further the understanding of our new cars, and try some chassis combinations that some of the other teams have worked out. So hang in there."