GM Goodwrench Service Plus 400

February 22, 1998
Rockingham, NC

Before first round qualifying, Derrike was interviewed and was asked how things were going in Rockingham. "Not too bad," replied Derrike. "We were kind of around 20th or so in the last practice but everybody stepped it up here and the weather's coming around a little bit. We've got the Gumout Pontiac running pretty well so hopefully I can get a good lap in here and get a top 25 starting spot."

Derrike produced a time of 23.831 and speed of 153.632 which was only good enough for 33rd position. The team decided to stand on their time and will start the race in 35th position.

Derrike started the race in 35th position. This is where he was during the race among the 43 drivers:

• 38th position - lap 20 of 393
• 31st - lap 85 (1 lap down)
• 24th - lap 121
• 21st - lap 182
• 23rd - lap 237
• 18th - lap 288 (1 lap down)
• 14th - lap 345

Derrike finished the race in 15th position, 1 lap down.

Gumout Pontiac driver Derrike Cope overcame NASCAR's frustrating new rules to salvage a hard-earned 15th-place finish in Sunday's GM Goodwrench Service Plus 400 at North Carolina Speedway.

In an effort to slow cars on the track, NASCAR raised the front air dams and lowered the rear spoilers on all makes of cars. However, Pontiac lost an eighth-of-an-inch more following the last race at Atlanta last year, giving an advantage to the Chevrolets and Fords. That showed Sunday with Chevy's Jeff Gordon winning the race and six Fords finishing in the top-10. No Pontiac driver finished in the top-10.

Like most of the GM cards, Cope's Gumout Pontiac struggled with the new rule configurations, but crew chief Doug Hewitt and his crew kept making adjustments and Cope showed improvement. He rose as high as 13th and was on the lead lap before having to settle for 15th, one lap down. Cope lost the lap when a caution came out on a green flag pit stop. Other than that, he was able to maintain his position with the leaders throughout the race.

"We just didn't have the handle on things from the start, like all the other GM cars," Cope said. "We were too tight on our first run. We adjusted the car on our first pit stop and then we were too loose. We just couldn't achieve the proper balance on the car with these new rules. We still were managing a respectable run, but then when we pitted one time under green the caution came out and we lost a lap. It was really frustrating."

Cope's run still enabled him to rise from 37th to 29th in the point standings.

The Bahari' Racing team returns to action Sunday in the inaugural Las Vegas 400 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.