Pocono 500 Live Report by Mike Puckett

Friday
Well you probably already know how Derrike did in first round qualifing today at Pocono. If you do not, DC was 44th of the 45 cars that took a qualifying lap today.

Today started out pretty early, we left our house at 7:00am so we could get to the track, purchase tickets, apparel and get our seats in time for the first Winston Cup practice. Pocono offers a three day pre-race pit pass for $30. That pass gets you on pit road all day Friday, Saturday & up to an hour before the start of the race on Sunday. I don't know if any other tracks offer this pass, but I would recommend buying one if it is offered. It is well worth the money.

Now on to practice and qualifying. We spent the first two hours of WC practice on pit road, which offered many excellent photo opportunities. Apparently the trend in WC is to put soft springs in the car, which lowers the front airdam lessening the effect the NASCAR's "5 and 5 Rule". So, due to the soft springs in the front of the Gumout Pontiac, Derrike and the Bahari' Racing team were fighting a problem with the front crossmember (chassis) bottoming out while entering turn one at end of the 200 mph front straightaway.

DC & Doug Hewitt discussed what changes could be made (stiffer front anti-roll bar and stiffer front springs) and engine builder Ron Puryear suggested an engine, transmission, and rear gear change to help bring the Gumout Pontiac up to speed. Their efforts came up short and they will have to hope to fair better in second round qualifying on Saturday.

Also, for anyone who may be planning a trip to Pocono in the future, be prepared to leave before qualifying or the race is over or you will sit in traffic for awhile. I started to write this shortly after I got home (8:10 PM, qualifying ended around 5:00pm) and I only live 45 minutes away from the track. That alone doesn't make me look forward to Sunday. Until then, let's hope DC runs better in second round, so I'll have something to report on from Sunday.

Sunday
Well my day started rather early again on Sunday, 4 o'clock to be exact. After a stop at Denny's for breakfast, we were on our way to the Pocono. If you've never been to Pocono, the later you get to the track, the further away from the entrance you park. I am not talking a few rows, it's probably closer to a few miles and without the luxury of a shuttle bus makes for a really long walk before and after the race. After getting our parking spot, about 100 yards from the main gate, we waited a few minutes for the gates to open. After the gates opened, we were on our way through the tunnel under the front straightaway to get to pit road.

We headed first to the Gumout pit, where they had already begun to set up. We sat on the wall behind the pit stall and began to chat with a crewman whom we later found out was the jackman on the over the wall gang. He told us he had only been with Bahari' only a matter of weeks and joined Bahari' after the Diamond Ridge #29 closed their doors. He also didn't have any good things to say about Pocono. He said from the traffic to the poor garage area, all the Winston Cup teams hate coming to Pocono.

We decided to take a walk down to the other end of pit road and even caught a glimpse of the Gumout Pontiac and DC talking to Doug Hewitt. Just about then we noticed how crowded pit road had gotten and decided to walk back through the tunnel and out to our car to get a bite to eat before driver intros and the race started.

Finally after all the anticipation the most famous four words in racing were heard and the field of 43 of the fastest stock cars in the world had come to life. After only one pace lap, the cars were off into turn one at full speed. It didn't take long though for the first caution as the #3 spun the #33 out. Doug Hewitt and the crew decided to bring DC in to top off the tank with fuel and did so again on lap 11 during a caution and gained positions on the cars that had changed tires. Figuring the position they were running (near the back, wouldn't lose many, if any positions) they could take advantage of excellent fuel mileage to gain positions later in the race.

There was another caution on lap 34 and DC once again pitted, this time they changed four tires, added fuel and made a chassis adjustment to tighten the car up. THE stop was rather slow though (25 seconds on my clock) and he had to come back in because they only got 4 lug nuts on the right rear. The next caution came at lap 55. DC pitted again for tires and fuel. The lap 55 caution was extended a little bit because of a rabbit on the backstretch which none of the track officals could catch. Doug Hewitt suggested "Tom (pit crew member I guess) should go out and get it so they could have lunch".

During the extended caution, the skies opened up and race was red flagged for 73 minutes. During the red flag Derrike must have gotten out of the car and talked to the engine builder about how much slower he was after he had shifted into 4th gear just past the the start/finish line. After Derrike got back it the car after the rain delay, Ron Puryear asked him where he was shifting and recommended shifting much later or not even at all. He also pitted just before the green came back out to top off and was told they would be able to run to halfway.

On lap 58 all the strategy went out the window as out of the corner of my eye, I saw the Gumout and Skittles Pontiac's spinning down pit road. DC only had to back up a little bit to get to his pit stall and the crew changed four tires (left front was flat). Derrike went back out but the car was extremely loose and pitted again. The hood went up and they noticed that the lower left front A frame was twisted and the tow-in was knocked out of whack. It took 5 laps to reset the tow-in and Derrike went back out. The car was decent after the incident and only lost one more lap on the track.

The next caution was at lap 83 or 84 for the #36 car (oh darn!) who had burned up his clutch trying to get out of the pits and come to a stop on the track. During that caution Doug Hewitt commented on how well the stategy would have worked and that DC would be 3rd due to others making pit stops. Because Derrike was running 6 laps down and it started to rain again, we left at lap 125. We figured we would beat the traffic and watch the end of the race from home.

It was refreshing to see a new winner instead of the usual 4 or 5 and pleasing to see Derrike despite problems, finish somewhat decent considering the circumstances. Hopefully the team can carry some momentum from this finish on to build towards better finishes the rest of the year.