NASCAR Cup
Derrike Cope Looking Forward to Rockingham
Cope to debut Bryan Pontiac at The Rock ROCKINGHAM, N.C. (Feb. 17, 1999) After two pressure packed weeks at Daytona, there will be a more relaxed Derrike Cope at North Carolina Speedway this weekend when the 1990 Daytona 500 champion makes his ...
Edited: May 8, 2001, 12:19 PM
Copy link
Share on Viber
Cope to debut Bryan Pontiac at The Rock
ROCKINGHAM, N.C. (Feb. 17, 1999) After two pressure packed weeks at Daytona, there will be a more relaxed Derrike Cope at North Carolina Speedway this weekend when the 1990 Daytona 500 champion makes his debut in the Bryan Pontiac for Sunday's Dura-Lube/Big Kmart 400 at "The Rock."
Bryan Foods is one of four Sara Lee companies rotating as primary sponsors of Chuck Rider's Bahari' Racing team. The other companies are Jimmy Dean, State Fair and Rudy's Farm.
Cope struggled in qualifying and was in danger of missing the Daytona 500 until he drove a masterful Gatorade 125-Mile Qualifying Race, finishing 10th. In the 500, he was running 14th on the lead lap when a tire blew. Cope skillfully avoided the wall, but lost a lap while his Dan Glauz-led crew applied fresh rubber.
Over the final 375 miles, Cope ran with the leaders, however, a lap down. At one point he came within passing two cars of regaining his lap, but couldn't get any closer. He finished 18th, but was heartened by the performance.
"It was a good effort," Cope said. "It's unfortunate we had that flat, otherwise, we would have had a top-10 car. Closer to the end of the race we got out of the way of the leaders and let those guys race. We didn't want to cause them any misfortune."
Two of Cope's 32 career top-10 finishes have come in this race. He finished eighth in the 1995 500-mile version of this event and eighth in the shorter 400-mile race in 1996. Cope says drivers have a more relaxed attitude following the two intense, exhaustive weeks at Daytona.
"You go to Daytona with such anticipation," Cope said. "Depending on how you perform, it can become really pressure packed. As much as I like racing there, it's nice to get it over with and get back to racing like normal. Everybody is on edge at Daytona. Rockingham kind of marks the start of the rest of the season where everyone looks at it like we're back to business as usual."
Cope, who finished 15th in this race last year, is ranked 18th in the NASCAR Winston Cup Series point standings. After only one race, that surpasses his peak in the driver standings last season.
"I'm planning to continue that trend in the Bryan Pontiac," Cope said.
Source: NASCAR Online
We want your opinion!
What would you like to see on Motorsport.com?
Take our 5 minute survey.
- The Motorsport.com Team
Read and post comments
Read also :
Share Or Save This Story
Copy link
Share on Viber
Previous article Bobby Hamilton Charlotte Test 99-05-07
Next article Richmond Jimmy Dean Racing Preview
Top Comments
There are no comments at the moment. Would you like to write one?
View More & Comment
More from
Derrike Cope
Truex criticizes late caution, declares "tonight sucked" after wreck
NASCAR Cup
NASCAR Cup
Richmond II
Truex criticizes late caution, declares "tonight sucked" after wreck
Austin Dillon on pole for XFINITY season-opener at Daytona
NASCAR O'Reilly
NASCAR O'Reilly
Daytona
Austin Dillon on pole for XFINITY season-opener at Daytona
Hornish earns Nationwide pole in JGR 1-2-3
NASCAR O'Reilly
NASCAR O'Reilly
Hornish earns Nationwide pole in JGR 1-2-3
Latest news
Audi F1 power unit division brings back CEO role
Formula 1
F1 Formula 1 40 min
Audi F1 power unit division brings back CEO role
FIA partners with AWS to help drive future F1 regulations
Formula 1
F1 Formula 1
United States GP
1 h
FIA partners with AWS to help drive future F1 regulations
Chevrolet's 1st through 6th sweep at Talladega was its first since 2013
NASCAR Cup
NAS NASCAR Cup
Talladega II
4 h
Chevrolet's 1st through 6th sweep at Talladega was its first since 2013
NASCAR warned nearly the full field at Talladega for minimum speed violations
NASCAR Cup
NAS NASCAR Cup
Talladega II
7 h
NASCAR warned nearly the full field at Talladega for minimum speed violations
Subscribe and access Motorsport.com with your ad-blocker.
From Formula 1 to MotoGP we report straight from the paddock because we love our sport, just like you. In order to keep delivering our expert journalism, our website uses advertising. Still, we want to give you the opportunity to enjoy an ad-free and tracker-free website and to continue using your adblocker.
You have 2 options:
- Become a subscriber.
- Disable your adblocker.
Subscribe now Already subscribed? Sign in here
Already disabled your adblocker?
Reload page
Manage Alerts
Subscribe