This Week In NASCAR Interview

Allen: "When you got out in the lead, it's the first time you've led all season long, at that point, what did that do for the team when you get back home at the end of the day and got to reviewing your weekend? What did running up front do for the team and for Derrike Cope?"

Derrike: "Well, I think obviously it motivated everybody. Everybody was very excited. There was a lot of optimism going in obviously with the new car. But to run that well up front, and to swap the lead with those guys that have been up front every week, I think it showed the enormous potential in the car and what the team can look forward to. They're excited even though we had a problem there, they went home all excited on the airplane."

Allen: "This new car, how long has this project been in the works, when did this all start?"

Derrike: "It's been an ongoing process for about five months. It's a neat deal to happen in house, to watch it grow, to see the car start from scratch, and all of a sudden become a race car."

Allen: What does running up front two weeks in a row mean to the team?

Derrike: "It reinforces what we always believed, obviously that we were capable of being there. We just didn't have the right set of circumstances to do it with and the right resources. With Badcock Home Furnishing Centers coming on board and Pilot Travel Centers, and Mane 'n Tail still being supportive, it's helped us regroup and to get us going, and to keep us going, and that's helped immensely. By running that good, it reinforces your own beliefs in what you can do, it motivates people, and obviously when you believe, and you know the car's going to stick, you go out there and you're more productive because you just have that much more of a confidence factor."

Allen: Okay, so what's the problem been? We've talked about how you have been running so well, but you have had some troubles and haven't been around at the finish of these races. Any one thing in common through some of these weeks?

Derrike: "The majority of it has been motor related. But I wrecked the car there at Pocono. But as of late in Michigan and this past week in Loudon, it's been motor problems, but not the same thing. It's just fatigue or just part failure, quality control of certain products."

(Editor's Note: A funny story was told that the team was in the hotel parking lot, like the old days of NASCAR, trying to get the second car of the new design done. They were taking the motor out of the car they drove last weekend and making structural changes they wanted to make for this coming weekend. The team was just having a good time in the parking lot with everybody watching.)

Allen: Tell me something about Jimmy Fennig.

Derrike: "I'll tell you what, probably one of the most underrated crew chiefs out there. This guy's incredible. I have enormous amount of faith in him, and Keith both. They've been here a long time, and they haven't gone anywhere. They've been offered a lot of money to leave. I'm just tickled to be a part of that and hopefully I can stay there and be a part of that thing too for a long time to come."

Allen: When five or six drivers have dominated the season like this year, is that strictly because of the resources with the financial base and testing base, or have those six guys just found something?

Derrike: "You can't take anything away from the drivers, the cars, the crews. There's so many variables involved and all of those things have to work flawlessly to be that productive week in and week out. Obviously there's certain teams that don't have those kinds of resources or numbers to work with, but still can be productive every week also, but maybe not quite at that level. It just takes a lot of things to happen, and you just got to be focused, and continue to try to get better each week."

Phone call: Are your motor problems solved after the last three races?

Derrike: "We'd like to hope so. You just never know. We've gone there with good pieces and the motors have been running very well. You just don't know when something's going to break. It's just part of sports. Sometimes the monkey's on your back and you can't shake him loose, then all of a sudden it will turn for us. And that's what we just keep feeling like. We just go out there and run hard each week, try to run up front, try to qualify up front, and race as hard as we can, and hopefully good things happen to us and we can turn it around."