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Winston 500May 10, 1997
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| When asked about the upcoming race
which was supposed to take place on April 27th, Derrike said, "I've run well at the
superspeedway, the luck just hasn't fallen our way at the end of the races. Hopefully we
can keep ourselves out of harm's way and give the SKITTLES® Pontiac a very good run
there, which I think is capable of happening if we have as good a car as we did at
Daytona. We ran productively the last few years but we haven't been able to get a good
finish on a superspeedway. In both races last year I was running seventh late in the race
when I got involved in other drivers' accidents." Derrike continued about Talladega, "Talladega is a horsepower and aerodynamic track. It's a thinking man's race track. It all comes down to the draft and being patient. Hopefully we'll have a good run and make something exciting happen late in the race." In first round qualifying, Derrike was the second car out and quickly grabbed the pole position, until the seventh car of Dale Earnhardt took the top spot. The car being used is an old Jeff Gordon Chevrolet with a Pontiac body. At the end of qualifying, the SKITTLES® Pontiac had dropped to 12th position for the team's best starting position of the year.
On Monday, rain was still falling so the race was postponed until Saturday, May 10. Derrike will still retain the 12th starting position. "Since we unloaded the SKITTLES® Pontiac on Friday, it has been pretty good," said Derrike. "The car is handling well and I'm not getting manipulated by other drivers. I'm able to hold my own on the track. With the car running well, you go into the race with a lot of confidence but you still have to remember to patient. We've got a good race car and need to keep it up front and out of harm's way." Before the race on May 10th, Derrike was asked if the team had changed the car since the qualifying run two weeks ago. Derrike replied, "No, we didn't touch it. We came back here the way it was because I felt like we had a good race car in the SKITTLES® Pontiac. Yesterday we did make one small adjustment in the car." Derrike started in 12th position and in driving
most of the race taking the high line, this is where he was:
Derrike finished the race in 13th position for the team's best finish of the season and first top-15 finish. The good finish moved Derrike up two spots in the point standings to 34th. "All in all it was a good effort for the SKITTLES® Pontiac," said Derrike. "We needed some more help with the draft later in the race. I'm real happy with the way this team is coming together and can't wait to head to Charlotte for the Winston Open."
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During the "Happy Hour" practice on Saturday,
Derrike was 10th fastest. On Sunday, the race was delayed for over two hours because of
rain. During the delay, ESPN crews interviewed drivers including Derrike. It was then
decided by NASCAR that the race would be postponed until Monday at 12pm EST.
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