Las Vegas 400

March 1, 1998
Las Vegas, NV

Derrike Cope took the track at the new 1.5 mile superspeedway among 50 cars and produced a time of 32.527 and speed of 166.016 which was 6th fastest at that time. At the end of qualifying, Derrike had only slipped to 9th where he will start the race. 

After qualifying, Bill Weber spoke to Derrike.

WEBER: "And an impressive qualifying lap. You'll start 9th and I don't think on those practice shoots you were that fast, were you?"

DERRIKE: "No, we weren't. We struggled yesterday quite a bit, but I gotta give it to these guys, they put on a steller effort today for the whole Gumout crew because they worked hard this morning, gave me a combination that I needed to get around the race track. We just kinda kept staying quiet and just kinda kept working. You know, I think we were around 12th or 15th, something like that, that last deal. I knew if I could stuff her in there, we could get a shot at them. A great effort today, we were tickled."

WEBER: "You drove it a little harder, you made some changes, or a combination of both?"

DERRIKE: "We made a few small changes and then I knew that on the sticker tires, the car really likes tape. I knew we lost downforce with this new rule, but the moment we put tape on this thing, we taped it up even more, it really turned the nose good, I hustled it and I got her chattering in the right front a little bit, 'cause I really put the wheel to it. We're really tickled. We've got all the Sara Lee folks here and it's an exciting day for us, so hopefully we'll get a good run going here on Sunday for Degree and Suave, and all the guys."

Note: Thanks to Patty Leizear for the interview.

Derrike started in 9th and this is where he was during the race among the 43 cars:

• 18th position - lap 17
• 25th - lap 23
• 34th - lap 46
• 40th - lap 72 (1 lap down)
• 34th - lap 122
• 36th - lap 169 (2 laps down)
• 34rd - lap 249

Derrike finished the race in 31st position, 3 laps down.

LAS VEGAS (March 1, 1998) -- Continuing his battle against NASCAR’s uneven rules, Gumout Pontiac driver Derrike Cope fought the good fight at Las Vegas Motor Speedway Sunday, but like every GM driver, couldn't overcome Ford's overwhelming superiority.

Cope qualified superbly in the Gumout Pontiac on Friday, posting the ninth-fastest speed. But in Sunday’s Las Vegas 400, the Fords were too much to overcome. Fords swept the first seven positions and 13 of the top 14 spots. Cope raced hard throughout the day, and the Bahari' Racing crew led by Doug Hewitt make improvements to the car, but Cope still finished 31st, three laps down to race winner Mark Martin.

Since NASCAR's new rules took effect at Rockingham, N.C. last week, raising the front air dams and lowering the rear spoilers on all cars in an effort to slow them down, the GM cars have struggled. Fords have earned 15 of a possible 20 top-10 finishes in the last two races.

"Maybe if they had stopped the race halfway and we could have gotten a rule change, we might have been more competitive," Cope said as he wiped sweat from his brow after his hard day's work. "NASCAR needs to do something before Atlanta because we're going to a place that's too fast and too dangerous. We're out there hung out. We can go out there and get one lap. Anybody can. Right now it’s an unlevel playing field, and they better do something about it. It's ridiculous."

Cope was encouraged by the never-say-die attitude of his team throughout the weekend.

"If you rate a team on heart, determination, and relentlessness, I'd say we're about a nine-and-a-half on a scale of 10," Cope said. "I really believe our guys have the heart and desire to get it done. You're going to win some races with that kind of attitude."

Cope is 31st in the NASCAR Winston Cup point standings, but still only 100 points out of 15th.

Next up for owner Chuck Rider's Gumout Pontiac team is the Primestar 500 at Atlanta Motor Speedway on Sunday.

Bruce Bates and Carol Dignazio were at the race and provided live reports. Bruce's Live Report, Carol's Live Report