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Pepsi 400October 17, 1998
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(Oct. 13, 1998) -- Coming off his two best finishes of the season, Gumout Pontiac driver Derrike Cope's once dark season is looking brighter and he aims to continue that trend under the lights Saturday in the Pepsi 400 at Daytona International Speedway. Since capturing his first career pole two weeks ago for the UAW-GM Quality 500 at Charlotte, Cope has finished on the lead lap in each of his last two starts. He was 14th at Charlotte and followed that up with an 11th-place run in last Sunday's Winston 500 at Talladega Superspeedway after leading six laps. "I typically race well at Daytona and I know what my needs are," Cope said. "I like Daytona. We tested for two nights at Daytona two weeks ago, and after some initial setbacks, we really picked it up in the final two hours. We were one of the fastest cars." Cope has had his most competitive runs at Daytona and Talladega this season. He was running second to Dale Earnhardt in the season-opening Daytona 500 when he was swept into a freak pit road accident that ruined his victory aspirations. And they were serious aspirations. "I feel like we had the car to beat at Daytona," Cope said. "I honestly felt we were better than Earnhardt. Circumstances didn't give us a chance to prove it. I think running on the speedways is one of my strongest suits, and I'm confident we'll be good again at Daytona." Crew chief Doug Hewitt says it's no mystery to him why owner Chuck Rider's Bahari' Racing team is finally meeting with some success this season. One obvious factor is Cope's health. He's finally recovered from two broken ribs and various nagging injuries sustained in a violent crash in the March 9 Primestar 500 at Atlanta. "We've been working a lot of hours and the guys have been working real hard to try and get better," Hewitt said. "We've struggled this season. We had some wrecks and Derrike got hurt. It's just taken some time to get back. It takes a little luck, and it's just got to work out a little bit more for Daytona. Getting through Talladega was a big plus for us. We were able to go home, clean up the Gumout Pontiac, paint the nose and take the same Grand Prix back to Daytona. We learned some stuff about our car at Talladega, so hopefully, that will make us better at Daytona."
(June 30, 1998) -- Despite a difficult season, Gumout Pontiac driver Derrike Cope is all smiles as he heads for Daytona International Speedway. That's because if there's a race for underdogs on the NASCAR Winston Cup tour, Saturday night's Pepsi 400 is certainly it. NASCAR's traditional midseason turning point has had its share of surprise winners. Greg Sacks heads the list of shockers with his victory in the 1985 event. Jimmy Spencer captured his first career victory in the race in 1994. John Andretti followed suit last year. And Cope, despite his 37th-place standing in the point standings, has the tools to pull off an upset. He won the 1990 Daytona 500, and in his first season with owner Chuck Rider's Bahari' Racing, has had solid runs in both restrictor plate races this season. He was running second to Dale Earnhardt in the Daytona 500 before a freak accident on pit road ended his chances. In April's DieHard 500 at Talladega, Cope ran as high as fourth before getting collecting in a 20-car wreck 47 laps from the finish. "I think all of us are looking forward to going to Daytona," Cope said. "The last few weeks qualifying-wise have been pretty tough for us. Hopefully, we'll go to Daytona and get over the hump and have a productive run. We need to stay out of other people's mistakes and hope we don't make any. We want to be in a position like we were in the 500. That's running up front." Cope missed making the field for the Miller Lite 400 at Michigan, and has had to rely on provisional spots to make the last two races at Pocono and Sears Point. Accidents in each of those races curtailed competitive runs. Cope ran as high as 11th at Sears Point before a crash broke his Grand Prix's rear end 22 laps from the finish. "You talk about confidence, but I think right now we're searching for answers from a qualifying standpoint," Cope said. "We haven't raced that bad. We're just a little out of sync. Our qualifying has been the most alarming thing for us. But with as well as we ran at Daytona and Talladega, we can come into this race with more confidence." Cope qualified sixth at Daytona and seventh at Talladega. He hopes to start pulling the surprises a couple of days early by winning the pole for the race on Thursday night.
Because of fires in Florida, the race was postponed until Oct. 17th.
The team was one of 9 teams who tested in Daytona on October 5th and 6th in preparation for the Pepsi 400. Over the two days, Derrike was fourth fastest with a time of 47.68 and speed of 188.758. 1990 Daytona 500 champion Derrike Cope is looking forward to the inaugural nighttime running of the Pepsi 400 and finishing a disappointing 1998 season on a high note. "I'm excited about the first night race," said Cope. "This will be the largest place we've ever run at night, so it will definitely be unique. Even though we're running here in October rather than July, the weather will be cooler and the drivers will be more comfortable in the cars. I think everyone enjoys running at night, but to do it at Daytona will be special. "We felt like we had the car to beat at Daytona in February (during the Daytona 500) and if it wasn't for an accident I think we could have given Dale (Earnhardt) a run for his money. We qualified seventh and hopefully we can do that again or at least qualify somewhere in the top ten. To win the Pepsi 400 would be outstanding, but to win anytime at Daytona is an incredible accomplishment. There's a lot of prestige with that first night race, to add it to my Daytona 500 victory would be very, very special."
In first round qualifying, Derrike took the track as the 36th of 49 cars. In the first lap with the car bottoming out in turn 3, he produced a time of 47.374 and speed of 189.978. The final lap was a time of 47.097 and speed of 191.095. This put the Gumout Pontiac in 12th position at that time. At the end of the round, Derrike was left in 13th position where he will start the race. After his qualifying time, Derrike said, "It was a good lap for us. I'm happy for Gumout, Jimmy Dean, Bryan because we need a good effort here. They're all coming in to view this race. To get that kind of lap tonight even though we bottomed out pretty hard, I'm looking for good things. Now we can concentrate on the race setup." Derrike continued, "This car is the same car we ran here in February and we were a factor. We could have won that race very easily. If it will do that here on Saturday night we could be a factor." Derrike finished by saying, "Hi, Dad!" In Happy Hour, Derrike was 9th fastest with a time of 47.232 and speed of 190.548.
Derrike commented before the race about the track with the new lights. "I'm wondering if it's a little dark off turn two. It's OK, but it has some spots where I want to see what it looks like when we get all the cars together. The mirrors shine off pretty good because they feel like they're pretty close to the race track. You get that glare off your shield. You also get some distortion between your shield and the windshield with the tear offs. You're going so fast. We're just going to have to get out there. The tough thing about qualifying was you ran all during the daytime and then were thrust into running one lap at night. You don't adjust as well. If you can have a transition where you start out in daytime and then move into nighttime, or you're just flat out running at night, then you get acclimated and it will come to us a little bit better. "Charlotte's 600 starts out at daytime, then it gets to dusk and then to darkness. There's a transition where your eyes can adjust. Whereas if you're just thrown out there and you're in the dark from the start, the speed feels faster and it feels like your eyes don't adjust as quickly. It takes you a few more laps to get acclimated. We're going to jump out there at night, the car is going to feel fast and rapid and things are going to be a bit more, not blurred, but things are going to react a lot quicker. It's going to take a little time for your eyes to adjust to all the cars and reflections. You're going faster here for an extended period of time as compared to Charlotte. There's more area to light and the lights are closer, it feels like, to the race track so you get a lot more of the mirrored reflection off the mirrors. I get a lot more things off my face shield. We're going to have to see what kind of reflections we're going to have to deal with. "There's shadows. With the lighting the way it is and trying to light such a large area, until we get all the cars out there together we won't know how many shadows are cast. This is a far different race track than Talladega. You really do have to handle better here and you really have to get the car set up to where you can't be manipulated. Unlike Talladega where you can stand on the throttle the whole time and hang on to about anything, here, if the car is off a bit and free in, if somebody's tucked up behind you they can get you loose in and manipulate you. It's a much more different setup. It's much more crucial. I think it will be more like a 500 here than a 400. Typically, handling comes into such a major way for this race where you have to get out of the throttle when the car is pushing off. You have to give up a little throttle in the middle and the guy that can run on the bottom and not have to would win the race. It's going to be a different scenario. "We'd like to think this race is coming at the perfect time for us, coming off our two best finishes of the year and me having won here before. But this is one of those races where you can't really bank on anything."
Derrike started the race in 13th position. This is where he was during the race among the 43 cars:
Derrike finished the race in 38th position, 93 laps down.
(Oct. 17, 1998) -- Gumout Pontiac driver Derrike Cope showcased his usual strength in restrictor plate races before a tangle with the turn four wall relegated him to a 38th-place finish Saturday night in the Pepsi 400 at Daytona International Speedway. Cope, who qualified 13th, moved up to sixth-place just three laps into the event. Soon after that, he cracked the top-five. Cope fell back after his first pit stop following a big crash on lap 32. He was working himself back to the front when misfortune occurred on lap 67 on the 160-lap race. Running 14th, Cope's car slid into the turn four wall, severely damaging the rear end. Because this particular Gumout Pontiac has performed so well this season, the team elected to park it to avoid damaging it further. Cope finished 38th. He retained 37th-place in the point standings. "We had a car capable of challenging for the win tonight," Cope said. "We were right on top of it from the start and I was able to pass a bunch of cars to get to the top-five. I kind of got shuffled and fell back a little when the caution came out. Later we were coming out of turn four and a car moved up on me. I moved up just a touch, but a touch can get you in the wall here. The rear slid into the wall and it really tore it up. We know this Gumout Pontiac will be one great piece when we bring it back to Daytona in February." Next up for owner Chuck Rider's Bahari' Racing team is Sunday's DuraLube 500 at Phoenix International Raceway.
The Woods and Helen Cope were at the race and provided live reports. Bob Cope was at Happy Hour and provided a live report. Bob's Report, Helen's Report, The Wood's Report |
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In the afternoon practice before first round qualifying,
the Gumout Pontiac was 13th fastest with a time of 47.275 and speed of 190.375.
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