Derrike Cope Fan Club
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1996

Miller 400

September 7, 1996
Richmond, VA

 Miller 400
The first day of qualifying was canceled due to rain from Hurricane Fran. In the only round of qualifying on the second day, Derrike Cope and the team pulled out a second consecutive top 20 starting position of 18th. Derrike had good practice times before the race so the ESPN broadcast crew was expecting good things from him in the race. Fortunately, Derrike did not let them down.

This is where Derrike was during the race:

  • 13th position - lap 6 of 400
  • 12th - lap 31
  • on lap 37, the first caution came out. There were problems in the pit stop as Derrike came out around 19th position.
  • 17th - lap 50
  • 16th - lap 90
  • green flag pit stops occurred around lap 137. This pit stop must have been faster than the previous one as Derrike was 15th in lap 160.
  • 13th - lap 200
  • 12th - lap 221
  • green flag pit stops around lap 230
  • 12th - lap 257
  • Derrike was the last car on the lead lap with Jeff Gordon trying to put him a lap down, but Derrike was able to hold him off. Fortunately on lap 281, there was a caution so Derrike avoided going a lap down. He went into the pit stop in 11th, the last car on the lead lap.
  • 10th - lap 298
  • 9th - lap 300
  • 8th - lap 305
  • 7th - lap 325
  • a caution happened around lap 370. Derrike went into the pits in 7th position and came out of the pits in 8th.
  • 9th - lap 383

Derrike finished the race in 8th position, an impressive showing compared to the results from past races, and is the team's third top ten finish of the year. The team must have found something to improve the car recently as last week's race was also good until the leaders and Derrike, who was in 5th position, hit the wall.

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