2010 Sprint Cup Season

2010 Sprint Cup Season

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. 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.

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.

#75 in Daytona

Year	Races	Wins	Top 5	Top 10	Points	Standing	Winnings
2010							$69,588

Date	Event	Sponsor	Start	Finish	Status	Money Won	Laps	Laps Led	Race Points	Standing
Feb. 6	Budwieser Shootout Daytona, FL	Asset Protect / StrutmastersPro.com	18	24	Engine	$18,809	15/76		---	---
11	Gatorade Duel 2 Daytona, FL	Asset Protect / StrutmastersPro.com	25	20	Running	$22,145	60/60		103	---
14	Daytona 500 Daytona, FL	Asset Protect / StrutmastersPro.com			DNQ
May 22	Showdown Concord, NC	Charter	28	19	Running	$28,634	40/40		---

Daytona
February 13, 2010 - Derrike said after the weekend, "Speedweeks did not go nowhere near what I had hoped for. All we can do is to press ahead and look to the next race. Weather did not help, but we need to be better prepared and find more speed in our equipment. Some of the funding has come late and some was not paid which hurts the effort. All that said we need more funding and continue to work hard."

Derrike finishes 20th in the Gatorade Duel 2 race which isn't enough to make the Daytona 500.

Earlier, Derrike informed us about the Duel race. He said, "We will use the Shootout car and the 500 engine. We will have to start at the back. The Shootout car drove well Saturday night so I feel good about our chances."

February 8, 2010 - Derrike updated us saying, "The start to Speedweeks has been difficult. We had the upper halves of the noses changed on both Cup cars per the rules. They were not put on correctly, thus we were unable to pass inspection with both cars and unable to get any laps on the Shootout car and only two laps on the 500 car before qualifying.

"As you saw in the Shootout, we were running pretty well until we broke a valve in the engine. It was really disappointing because I felt like we had a competitive car and could have had a good showing.

"We are in a bit of a quandry at this point about the engine in the 500 car now. It is the same type and the same valves were installed in the engine. We only had 4 laps on the Shootout engine, so we are a bit afraid to put many laps on the engine for the Gatorade Duel race. We do not have a backup engine as we only had two at our disposal. So we will see."

In the Budweiser Shootout, Derrike finished in 24th position. He ran 15 of 76 laps before engine problems when they lost the #2 cylinder.

February 3, 2010 - Derrike updated us with the following. He said, "I have been out of pocket, but it has been quite a task to pull off all that we are attempting for Daytona. Here it is is a nutshell. We will be running the #75 Cup car in both the Shootout Saturday night and attempting the 500 through the Gatorade Duels. The sponsors on the car will be a co-primary status consisting of Asset Protect on the hood, StrutmastersPro.com on the the quarterpanels, along with Bubba Tools on the c-pillars, and Charter Communications as a major associate on the lower rear quarter panels. Tony Furr will handle the crew chief duties, Mike Chance will be the car chief, and Tony Santanicola, a personal friend formerly with Ganassi Racing, will take care of the engines for me. I am pleased with the entire effort in getting all the cars ready for all three divisions. It has been quite a process for a small team such as ours."

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.

"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.