Farm Aid on CMT 300

August 30, 1998
Loudon, NH

In first round qualifying Derrike produced a time of 30.115 and speed of 126.475. This put the Gumout Pontiac in 26th position.

The team decided to requalify in the second round and was only able to turn a time of 30.274 and speed of 125.811. This was not good enough to gain a spot in the top 36 and because the team is out of provisionals was not able to make the race.

(Aug. 31, 1998) -- Gumout Pontiac driver Derrike Cope appeared to be in excellent shape to make the field Friday for Sunday's CMT 300 at New Hampshire International Raceway after qualifying 26th.

But cooler conditions increased speeds in Saturday morning's practice, and Cope and the Bahari' Racing team decided to requalify. Cope has no luxury of provisional spots in order to make starting fields, and because most of the competition was running faster than his 126.475 mph mark on Friday, they decided to requalify.

Cope slowed to 125.811 mph on Saturday -- 39th fastest -- and failed to make the field. Had he elected to stand on his time, he would have squeaked in at 36th. The top 36 qualifiers plus seven provisionals made the field.

"We were just in a very difficult position," Cope said. "Conditions change rapidly here and because we had no safety net as far as provisionals, we felt we had to go again. We just didn't go quite as fast. We were just stuck in the stereotypical 'rock and a hard place' position. We felt the best thing to do was go out and requalify since speeds were up and it just didn't work out."

Cope is 38th in the NASCAR Winston Cup point standings heading to Friday's time trials at Darlington Raceway for Sunday's Southern 500.