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2010 Nationwide Series

 

Derrike Cope and co-owner Dale Clemons announced the launch of the new motorsports company Stratus Racing Group, Inc. The full service company with racing facilities in Mooresville NC is equipped for participation in the ARCA, NASCAR Camping World Truck, Nationwide and Sprint Cup series. With major sponsorship already secured the company will campaign a full schedule in 2010 with the Nationwide and Camping World Truck series.

#73 Dodge

 
Stratus Racing Group
Year Races Wins Top 10 Points Standing Winnings
2010 14     709 47 $206,450
Date Event Car # Driver Sponsor Start Finish Status Money
Won		 Laps Laps
Led		 Race
Points		 Standing
Feb. 13 Drive4COPD 300
Daytona, FL		 #73 Derrike Cope Asset Protect /
Strutmasterspro.com		     DNQ          
20 Stater Bros. 300
Fontana, CA		 #73 Derrike Cope Asset Protect 33 36 Running $18,095 147/152   55 46
27 Sam's Town 300
Las Vegas, NV		 #73 Derrike Cope Asset Protect     DNQ          
Mar. 20 Scotts Turf Builder 300
Bristol, TN		 #73 Derrike Cope Stratus Racing Group 43 28 Running $22,425 259/300   79 47
Apr. 3 Nashville 300
Nashville, TN		 #73 Derrike Cope Asset Protect /
Charter		 30 26 Running $13,125 222/225   85 39
9 Bashas' Supermarkets 200
Phoenix, AZ		 #73 Derrike Cope Charter / Dean Guitars 25 37 Accident $13,140 134/200   52 39
17 O'Reilly 300
Fort Worth, TX		 #73 Derrike Cope Charter / Dean Guitars     DNQ          
24 Aaron's 312
Talladega, AL		 #73 Derrike Cope "Ride for Dime"     DNQ          
30 Bubba Burger 250
Richmond, VA		 #73 Derrike Cope Charter / CourtesyRX.com 35 42 Brakes $15,535 16/250   37 42
May 7 Royal Purple 200
Darlington, SC		 #73 Derrike Cope Charter 30 42 Brakes $12,935 22/147   37 46
15 Heluva Good! 200
Dover, DE		 #73 Johnny Chapman "Ride for Dime" / CourtesyRX.com 35 39 Brakes $15,075 27/205   46  
29 Tech-Net Auto Service 300
Concord, NC		 #73 Derrike Cope Charter     DNQ          
Jun 5 Federated Auto Parts 300
Nashville, TN		 #73 Derrike Cope Charter 43 41 Brakes $12,725 15/225   40 47
12 Meijer 300
Sparta, KY		 #73 Derrike Cope Becker Law 43 26 Running $14,880 197/200   85 47
Jul 2 Subway Jalapeno 250
Daytona, FL		 #73 Derrike Cope HELLYEAH / Charter 33 38 Vibration $17,885 77/102   49 45
17 Missouri-Illinois Dodge Dealers 250
Madison, IL		 #73 Derrike Cope Odyssey Extreme Batteries     DNQ          
Aug 14 Carfax 250
Brooklyn, MI		 #73 Derrike Cope Odyssey Extreme Batteries 32 39 Ignition $14,140 10/125   46 49
20 Food City 250
Bristol, TN		 #73 Derrike Cope Charter 22 39 Brakes $20,530 30/250   46 50
Sep. 10 Richmond 250
Richmond, VA		 #73 Derrike Cope Charter 43 42 Brakes $15,795 14/250   37 52
25 Dover 200
Dover, DE		 #73 Derrike Cope RagingBid.com / Charter 35 34 Accident $15,240 108/200   61 47

 

 

Kansas
September 28, 2010 - Derrike updated us with the following, "As of right now it looks like we will have to withdraw from Kansas. After wrecking the car this past weekend it leaves us without a car to go with. We will continue to work to ready the trucks for Martinsville with Angela and Amber.

"Dover was an enjoyable weekend for the most part. We were fast off the truck and I expected to qualify well, but we got the car too tight making some adjustments for the set of tires that we had to use. So I was unhappy with the car in qualifying but still had a decent lap.

"It was great to race with RagingBid.com on the car and spend some time with all of them before and after the race. Obviously we had a problem in the race. We had a problem in the right front of the car coming off turn two and the car slammed into the outside retaining wall and then the inside wall as well. I am still sore from the crash but all is well. The car is not so lucky. It is a total loss so we will have to regroup and look at what the future will hold for us for the remaining races of the year."

 
Latest Update
August 25, 2010 - Derrike provided his latest update. He said, "We are taking the weekend off and not go to Montreal. Next up is a Truck race at Kentucky Speedway. We will have a sponsor on the #74 Dodge Ram truck that had helped us at the Nationwide race earlier this year. The Becker Law Firm will be our primary sponsor. We are pleased and excited to have our friends back with us. We really had an enjoyable time with them at the Nationwide race. The twins and I will be shooting a commercial spot for them for some additional advertising prior to and after the race next weekend. It has been a while since we have had the chance to really go out and race a truck, so we are obviously really looking forward to it!

"After that we will prepare the truck for the twins to start testing pretty extensively for their debuts at Martinsville Speedway in October. We will then once again head to Richmond for the third race of the Nationwide COT car where we have had pretty good success. I have felt pretty good about our COT car. It responds well and has run pretty competitively considering how conservative we have been with it."

Latest Update
July 6, 2010 - Derrike gave us his latest update. He said, "We have withdrawn from the Chicagoland race to better prepare for Gateway the next weekend. With all the work on the COT car we have fallen behind on some changes we have made to one of our other cars to try and better our performance."

Latest from Derrike
June 15, 2010 - Derrike gave us an update by saying, "We will be taking the next two weeks off in preparation for Daytona. We do not have a road course car and are working on finishing our first COT car for Daytona.

"We have not qualified or run as competitively as we should for the past few races. It is time to refocus and spend some time looking at our entire program to try and find a way to better our performance. We need to address the engine program a bit. We need some additional torque from the engine to allow the car to come off the corner better. So we are going to try a few things and see what happens from there. Daytona will be our next race and then we will be back for Chicagoland and Gateway.

"We continue to look for funding which would certainly help matters, but we were pleased to have Becker Law Offices on the car this weekend and Steve-O's Italian Restaurant on board which allowed us the opportunity to race."

Heluva Good! 200
May 13, 2010 - Dover is next on the schedule. Derrike updated us on the last race and upcoming plans. He said, "This past weekend at Darlington went pretty well all things considered. We qualified 30th and we over compensated for the heat and got the car way too tight, otherwise I felt like we could have qualified much better. Obviously we did a start and park because of funding. I hated not to race at Darlington but we are still one car short because of the Phoenix wreck, which we have been unable to repair as of yet.

"We are off to Dover. I will take a weekend off and will have Johnny Chapman fill in for me. I am confident he will run well.

"We are working on the #75 Cup car currently for the Showdown at Charlotte. Then the Nationwide race at Charlotte the following weekend.

"Rick and the guys have been going to the pull down rig and are finding a few things that we can improve on with our cars. We are also working on the new COT car which is having the body put on now. That car will debut in Daytona in July."

Derrike's Update
April 28, 2010 - Derrike provided us an update. He said, "We have had a few poor weeks as of late. I certainly have been disappointed with our results, but not with the effort. We had struggled mechanically at Texas and lost valuable practice time which hurt. I put in good laps in qualifying that I was happy with but the nose was up on the car and the speed was not quite there and we missed it by 8 one hundredths of a second. That is how close things are these days.

"At Talladega I thought it would be a better result with the way the car practiced, but when it came to qualifying, the car would not get up to speed. I'm not sure whether the engine temperature was a problem or what but the result was not good enough. Thus we find ourselves in a bit of a hole that we need to climb out of.

"The lack of funding is beginning to really take its toll on us, but we have to press on and try to get back on top of things both with the cars' performance and the financial end as well."

New Alliance On Pace For 2010
December 14, 2009 - Racing veteran Derrike Cope and co-owner Dale Clemons announce the launch of the new motorsports company Stratus Racing Group, Inc. The full service company with racing facilities in Mooresville NC is equipped for participation in the ARCA, NASCAR Camping World Truck, Nationwide and Sprint Cup series. With major sponsorship already secured the company will campaign a full schedule in 2010 with the Nationwide and Camping World Truck series. The company will aggressively support a driver development program through activity in ARCA and will partner with Gary Keller of CKR for select Sprint Cup races in 2010; while setting its sights on more Cup efforts in 2011.

Co-Owner and primary driver Derrike Cope will be behind the wheel of the Nationwide car and Camping World truck while drivers Amber and Angela Cope are slated for ARCA races and limited truck series races. Racing veterans Rick Markle and father Del Markle will oversee team, engineering and pit crew responsibilities; plans to incorporate staff from Derrike Cope Inc. are currently underway. The company will debut its ARCA teams twin female drivers, Angela and Amber Cope at the Daytona ARCA test session this coming weekend. "Both drivers have experienced success in ARCA racing and are very excited to be moving forward to the NASCAR Truck Series with us in 2010," stated Derrike Cope.

"We are excited and pleased to be able to offer our current and potential sponsors a diverse platform of opportunities both on and off of the track in all of the top series creating enormous value. Additionally, utilizing our full service marketing efforts we are able to formulate a dynamic experience for companies in motorsports," stated Clemons. Derrike Cope (derrikecope@stratusracinggroup.com) will direct and oversee racing operations while Dale Clemons (dclemons@stratusracinggroup.com) will manage company administration and marketing. "We are very pleased to have secured the sponsorship required to provide Derrike with the necessary elements to return to full time competitive racing, we will provide sponsorship announcements in the coming weeks," stated Clemons.

Thanks to Stratus Racing Group for the photo