Coca-Cola 600

May 24, 1998
Concord, NC

Derrike qualified in 25th for the Sunday night race.

Prior to the race we learned that the team had some new team members on the pit crew. This will probably affect the speed and quality of the pit stops for awhile.

No TV report is available, but here is a live report of the race as it happened in person.

Derrike started 25th among the 43 cars. This is where he was during the race:

• 28th position - lap 35 of 400 (caution out - car is tight, will pull a rubber out of the left rear and change 4 tires)
• 24th - lap 51 (car better but still tight)
• 18th - lap 62
• 16th - lap 72
• 19th - lap 97
• @lap 112 (green flag pit stop, timed at 32 seconds - put 1 lap down)
• lap 129 (have to do something to get the grip back - put 2 rounds of bite back in next stop)
• lap 157 (only way to get back on lead lap is fuel mileage, Derrike having trouble hearing on the radio)
• lap 172 (2 laps down)
• lap 185 (green flag pit stop, timed at 22 seconds. While the car was in the pits, a caution came out. Heard "we just can't catch a break.")
• 27th - lap 235 (3 laps down)
• lap 277 (Jerry Nadeau cut down in front of Derrike causing the Gumout Pontiac to touch him but Derrike was able to get by safely)
• lap 279 (pit stop - no changes to car, felt really good - 26 seconds)
• lap 323 (pit stop - 27 seconds)
• lap 324 (will lose 2 spots but come in and top off gas)
• lap 337 (wreck happened right in front of Derrike and he said he couldn't do anything about it. First words from Derrike, "Can you believe this?" Caused damage to left rear fender. Car kept coming in during the caution and taping up the fender. Watched videotape of race and was shocked that TBS never stated that others were invovled in the Earnhardt/Lejoie crash, when in fact three other cars were.)
• 30th - lap 351

Derrike finished the race in 33rd position.

(May 24, 1998) -- Gumout Pontiac driver Derrike Cope was swept up into a late-race crash in Sunday night's Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway, ruining a run that had become encouraging.

Cope was running one lap down but was enjoying his best green flag run of the night when he was swept up into a crash when the cars of Randy LaJoie and Dale Earnhardt got together on lap 338 of the 400-lap race. At the time, Cope was posting lap times comparable to that of leader Bobby Labonte.

Cope's Pontiac received some body damage to the right side, but crew chief Doug Hewitt and the Bahari' Racing crew made swift repairs in order to get Cope back on the track. He finished 33rd, five laps down to winner Jeff Gordon. Cope collected $31,615 after running as high as fourth in the race. He is 39th in the point standings.

"We had a good run going, and unfortunately, we got caught up in another crash," Cope said. "Our only luck is all bad right now. This team continues to amaze me. They just won't give up, and I won't either. We kept adjusting on the Gumout Pontiac and really had a good car in the late stages of the race before the accident. One of these days all that hard work is going to pay off."

Chuck Rider's Gumout Pontiac Racing team returns to action Sunday in the MBNA 400 at Dover Downs International Speedway. Cope won a 500-mile race at Dover in 1990.

A live report of the race is above. Jeff Cope provided a live report of the week. Jeff's Report Carol Dignazio provided the minutes from the inaugural Derrike Cope Fan Club meeting.