Pontiac Excitement 400 Live Report by Dean Zimmer

Well we started out on Friday morning and arrived at Richmond about 1:30pm. I was big-time thrilled to see the track! We had already gotten our tickets in the mail so we walked right in and at just that time they started to gather for Winston Cup qualifying.

Derrike slipped coming out of turn 2 which hurt him and had to try it again Saturday. Well, after that we got a little wet just before the Busch boys hit the track, but stuck it out and saw a pretty good race even if DC wasn't in the race.

Saturday we did some shopping for DC stuff. It wasn't easy because of a very limited selection. We got to our seats about 6:30 pm. When I noticed the drivers were going to take a parade lap, I rushed to the fence to snap some shots Derrike, and are hoping they turn out.

At the start of the race DC was doing pretty well with a car that seemed to lose quite a bit coming out of the turns on the bottom. Up high is where he made most of his gains. He stayed on the lead lap for the first 100 or so laps but could do no more. He needed a caution and it never came for us.

After a pit stop he looked awfully tight and fell back and lost another lap. Towards the end of the race it got pretty crazy out there. One of the mix ups was between Rusty Wallace and Jeff Gordon. Gordon was all over the back end of Rusty for a couple of laps. He hit Rusty several times and Rusty stayed with it and then bumped Jeff once and, well you know what happen. Chad lost an engine and put a couple of cars and DC into the wall. I didn't see Derrike after that. He finished 34th.

All in all I had a great time. I wish Derrike had a better race but at least I got to see him.

P.S. If you buy souvenirs for Derrike, make sure it's from an authorized dealer. This ensures that the money goes to Derrike and the team. There are a lot of scams out there.