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Derrick Finley
Team
Sponsor | Caterpillar
Owner | Bill Davis
Driver | Scott Wimmer
Team | Bill Davis Racing
Car
Manufacturer | Dodge
 
Derrick Finley has worked in NASCAR for almost 10 years; but even before that, racing was part of his life.

Finleyıs road into racing began when he watched his dad, Dana, race on dirt tracks and in sprint cars around the southwest.

Finley graduated from the University of New Mexico in Mechanical Engineering in 1996. He had a cousin -- Garth Finley -- who worked in NASCAR. Garth put Derrick in touch with Dale Earnhardt, who was looking for an engineer to help his new NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series and Busch Series teams and to also help get the No. 1 Cup car ready to run in 1997.

Finley was the first engineer hired by the legendary racer. He moved from New Mexico to North Carolina to work at Dale Earnhardt, Inc. Finleyıs first win in NASCAR shortly followed and was close to his hometown, as Ron Hornaday won the 1997 Craftsman Truck race at Tucson Raceway Park. Another win followed less than one month later with Steve Park in a Busch Series race at Nashville Speedway.

The wins continued from there. During Finleyıs tenure at DEI, he was part of a total of 23 wins, nine poles, 57 top-five finishes and 83 top-10 finishes in all three series. He also shared in the glory of three championships, including Hornadayıs 1996 and 1998 Craftsman Truck Series championships and Dale Earnhardt Jr.ıs 1998 Busch Series championship. It also was at DEI that he first worked with Philippe Lopez and Darrell Waltrip.

In May 1999, Derrick left DEI to work with Waltrip at Travis Carter Racing. While at Travis Carter, Finley worked with Waltrip, Jimmy Spencer, Joe Nemechek, Todd Bodine and crew chief Donnie Wingo

In 2003, Finley climbed atop the pit box to make the calls for the first official time as a NASCAR Nextel Cup crew chief. He worked with Bodine and raced with a newly-formed team -- BelCar Racing. Midway through the season, Finley received a call from Lopez, who was working at Bill Davis Racing and wanted Finley to join him there. Finley accepted the invitation and moved over to BDR.

Toward the end of the 2004 season, Finley was asked to take over crew chief responsibilities for the No. 22 team with driver Scott Wimmer.

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