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Dura Lube/Kmart 500October 24, 1998
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The team will be using their own engines for Phoenix weekend. In the first practice prior to qualifying, Derrike was 33rd fastest with a time of 28.250 and speed of 127.433. In the second practice, he was 36th fastest with a time of 28.075 and speed of 128.227. An interesting note is that the Gumout Pontiac had red numbers again on the side of the car instead of the white numbers that have recently been used. In first round qualifying, Derrike was the 12th driver on the track among the 46 drivers and posted a time of 27.966 and speed of 128.728. This was only good enough for 11th position at that point. At the end of the round, the Gumout Pontiac had slid to 36th position. The team decided to stand on their time in the second round and stayed in 36th position where they will start the race. In the first practice on Saturday, Derrike was the fastest driver with a time of 28.279 and speed of 127.302. Happy Hour was marred by a pair of mishaps. Derrike Cope was the big loser after he tangled with Darrell Waltrip's #35 Tabasco Pontiac on the backstretch. Cope's Gumout Pontiac slammed the outside wall and slid to the infield grass, where it needed a roll-back to return to the garage area. Waltrip drove back to the garage area. Crew chief Doug Hewitt said Derrike's backup had last been used for the Las Vegas 400, where it qualified ninth and finished 31st. Derrike was especially upset to lose his primary car in Happy Hour as he was fastest in the Saturday morning NASCAR Winston Cup practice with a lap at 127.303 mph. Even at that, Cope's speed would have been next-to-last in qualifying Friday as the track slowed down from the Bud Pole Qualifying session. That explained why only four cars attempted to re-qualify.
The rain got harder so NASCAR called the race. Derrike thus finished the race in 32nd position, 4 laps down.
(Oct. 25, 1998) -- Gumout Pontiac driver Derrike Cope started 36th and rose to 25th midway through Sunday's Dura-Lube 500, but his backup car eventually slowed and finished 33rd in a rain-shortened Dura-Lube 500 at Phoenix International Raceway. Cope's primary car was shelved after a practice accident with Darrell Waltrip damaged the Gumout Pontiac beyond immediate repair. The team had no time to practice the backup car before Sunday's race. That didn't show early as Cope passed cars with regularity. But eventually his handling went away with the changing cloud cover. To make matters worse, winner Rusty Wallace set a torrid pace most cars couldn't maintain. "It took us awhile to get the backup Gumout Pontiac sorted out," Cope said. "We finally made some changes after a caution and got back in the mix. We were able to pass some cars. But Rusty was real strong and that put us a lap down. We had a loose set of tires and we made a wrong adjustment and the car went dead loose. I just couldn't hang onto it. That's what the difference was." Cope and the Bahari' Racing team return to action Sunday in the ACDelco 400 at North Carolina Motor Speedway.
Chuck McCoy and Chester Peek were at the race and provided live reports. Chester's Live Report, Chuck's Live Report |
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Derrike started the race in 36th position. Actually with
having to go to the backup car because of the crash in Happy Hour, he was starting at the
rear of the field with a few cars behind him. The Gumout Pontiac carried an in-car camera.
This is where he was during the race among the 43 drivers:
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