NAPA Auto Parts 300

February 13, 1999
Daytona Beach, FL

Various Photos from Daytona are here: Photos 1, Photos 2

Derrike Cope and Dave Fuge both look forward to revisiting some Daytona magic

(Feb. 3, 1999) -- Derrike Cope and Dave Fuge have some fond memories of the 2.5-mile Daytona (Fla.) International Speedway. The historic track hosts the NAPA 300 on Feb. 13, the first race of the 1999 NASCAR Busch Series, Grand National Division season.

The duo will join forces starting in Daytona for a limited-schedule of Busch Series, Grand National Division races in 1999. Cope will drive the No. 61 IWX Motor Freight Pontiac lead by crew chief Fuge.

Cope Wins 500

The 1990 Daytona 500 is Cope's biggest victory in his NASCAR Winston Cup Series career thus far. He spent the entire day in contention for the win and when leader Dale Earnhardt cut a tire on the final circuit Cope was in the perfect spot. The victory established the Spanaway, Wash. native as one of an elite group of drivers to win NASCAR's most prestigious event.

"I always believed the given the right equipment, I could compete with the best in NASCAR," said Cope of that Daytona win. "I had a good enough car to stay up front and take advantage of someone's misfortune. It was really unbelievable. It's such a historic race, and I feel like I'm a real part of NASCAR history because I've won the Daytona 500."

Fuge Car Wins Pole

Qualifying for the Daytona 500 is a race in itself. Qualifying is done eight days prior to the event, so winning the pole puts a great amount of attention on a team and driver.

In 1994, Loy Allen qualified a Tri-Star Racing car to the pole position in "The Great American Race". Crew chief, and part owner of that team, was Dave Fuge.

"I take a lot of pride in winning that pole at Daytona," said Fuge. "It is a track where everything has to be perfect. The engine has to perform, the chassis has to be tuned properly, and the car has to aerodynamically be sound. If these things all happen then a crew chief and his team have done a very good job."

Putting It All Together

While Cope and Fuge look back at past success at Daytona with pride, they realize the most important event at the historic speedway is their next race - the NAPA 300.

"I love returning to Daytona, it is such a special place for me," said Cope. "But, we have to be looking at this years races there. What my past success and what Dave's past success mean is we are capable of running well there.

"We need to work hard," he continued. "We need to take what I'm feeling in the car and transfer that information to Dave so he can make the car perform better. If we can successfully do that, we should be able to have a strong run to start our season."

Fuge echoes that initiative.

"We've tested at Talladega (Ala.) and Daytona already this month," said Fuge. "We have two cars that we've been testing. We have another test scheduled for Talladega and I believe everything here is in place for us to be competitive.

"I know that Derrike can get the job done, and I have a lot of confidence in the information he is getting back to me," he continued. "We are really close to hitting the right combination of engine, chassis and aerodynamics. I think we are capable of a great run at Daytona.

"I don't know if winning a NAPA 300 will top the Daytona 500 win for Derrike, but I do know that it will become my Daytona highlight," concluded Fuge.

The NAPA 300 is the first of 32 events on the NASCAR Busch Series, Grand National Division tour this season. NASCAR and Anheuser-Busch have announced a program to greatly enhance the Busch Series, Grand National Division in 1999. The program includes a new series logo, a complete marketing platform including Busch Series advertising and an increase in the point fund from $650,000 in 1998 to $1.5 million in 1999.

IWX Motor Freight will sponsor the team throughout the 1999 season. IWX Motor Freight is a Springfield, Mo. based trucking firm with a fleet of over 400 trucks. IWX serves 48 states and annually the trucks will log over 100 million miles. The company also has terminals in Columbus, Ind. and Kingman, Ariz.

Monday, February 8

Derrike Cope, driver of the No. 61 IWX Motor Freight Pontiac, practiced on Monday for Saturday's NAPA 300 NASCAR Busch Series, Grand National Division event at Daytona Intenational Speedway.

The Xpress Motorsports team struggled a bit on Monday only able to post the 30th-fastest time of the 65 cars entered for Saturday's event.

Cope had a lap of 48.140 seconds for an average speed of 186.955 miles per hour. That compares to the fastest speed posted on Monday by Randy LaJoie (47.281 seconds, 190.351 miles per hour). The top five were LaJoie, Dave Blaney, Casey Atwood, Wayne Grubb and Ken Schrader.

On Tuesday morning the teams will practice from 8:30a.m. EST to 10:00a.m. First round of qualifying will be at 12:30pm on Tuesday. The top-25 spots will be locked in after Monday's qualifying session.

Tuesday, February 9

In first round qualifying, Derrike left the round as the 12th fastest of 65 drivers with a time of 47.805 and speed of 188.265. However, after a post-qualifying inspection, it was determined that the #61 IWX Motor Freight Chevrolet had an "unapproved part in the shock system".

Wednesday, February 10

Before second round qualifying, Dave Fuge had these comments about the illegal shock, "It was really an honest mistake on the part of the Ohlins Shock representative. He put shocks together for us and we put them on our car and they work real well. We're pretty happy with the way they performed initially in the test. We took them off before we went through tech (inspection) the other day, pulled the shaft out, checked all the shaft, and made sure everything was in specs, the pistons and everything was legal. We put them on the car and found something else that worked better in the back. We weren't even running those in the back. We had them in the front and they checked after tech. They pulled the body apart and there's an unapproved part for Busch racing in the body of the shock that doesn't affect anything to do with holding the car down and and ironically enough, nobody knew about it. The manufacturer didn't know about it, the representative didn't know about it, and we surely didn't know about it, and it was just an oversight and it wasn't even in the back where it would have made a difference if it did affect the car."

In second round qualifying, Derrike pulled off a time of 48.157 and speed of 186.889. At the end of the round he was in 40th position but since the team is new and doesn't have any provisionals, other teams that did have provisionals pushed him back to the 46th position. Thus, the team missed the race by three spots.

The Tale of Two Shocks

Mooresville, NC - (Feb. 12, 1999) - Xpress Motorsports, the team which fields the No. 61 IWX Motor Freight Pontiac driven by Derrike Cope on the NASCAR Busch Series, Grand National Division, failed to qualify for the season opening NAPA 300 at Daytona (Fla.) International Speedway. The team suffered two different and unrelated shock problems in each of the two rounds of qualifying for the event.

In Tuesday's first round of qualifying, Cope posted a lap of 47.805 seconds (188.265 miles per hour) which was 12th-fastest of the session. During a post-race inspections, NASCAR officials discovered a base valve in the right front shock on the car and disallowed the run.

"Our front shocks were manufactured for us by Ohlins USA, Inc.," said crew chief Dave Fuge. "While we tested the shocks on our shock dynomometer, we did not take them apart and look at the pieces used to manufacture the shock. Unfortunately, they used a part that was not allowed by NASCAR.

"The base valve is not a performance enhancing element of the shock," continued Fuge. "We discussed that with NASCAR following their discovery. They agreed that it did nothing to enhance the performance, but it's not an approved part. NASCAR has a new zero-tolerance rule on these things and while we lobbied for a fine, as would have been the case any other year, they disallowed our run."

On Wednesday morning, the team posted a lap of 47.590 in a practice session and felt comfortable in qualifying with the second round later in the day. The lap of 48.157 seconds posted in the second round of qualifying was .034 off the pace needed to qualify for the race. During the lap, Cope realized that something was not right in the handling of the car and after the session, the team discovered a broken shim stack in the right rear shock.

"To have this good of a car and not qualify is very disappointing," said Fuge. "The worst part is the way this all looks. We were not even aware of the base valve in the shock and yet Derrike and our team are the ones penalized for it. Then to have the second shock break just makes it look worse for us."

"I guess it just must not have meant to be," he concluded. "We are home and regrouping to make up for this at Rockingham and in the next few races. This is a great racing team and while I don't understand why things happen like they did in Daytona, I realize that we will have better results in the upcoming races.

"Derrike, IWX Motor Freight, Xpress Motorsports and everyone involved with this team are determined to go forward and put this all behind us. We just wish Rockingham was starting today and not next week," he said.

The ALLTEL 200 NASCAR Busch Series race will be held on Saturday, Feb. 20 at the North Carolina Speedway in Rockingham. NASCAR and Anheuser-Busch have announced a program to greatly enhance the Busch Series, Grand National Division in 1999. The program includes a new series logo, a complete marketing platform including Busch Series advertising and an increase in the point fund from $650,000 in 1998 to $1.5 million in 1999.

IWX Motor Freight will sponsor the team throughout the 1999 season. IWX Motor Freight is a Springfield, Mo. based trucking firm with a fleet of over 400 trucks. IWX serves 48 states and annually the trucks will log over 100 million miles. The company also has terminals in Columbus, Ind. and Kingman, Ariz.