Chuck Rider's Thoughts on 1998

On Derrike Cope

"Derrike is a winner, and he proved that by winning the 1990 Daytona 500 and at Dover. He has gone through various teams since then that I don't feel are as strong as this Gumout team. You will see Derrike show how talented he is this year. The other thing is that he is excellent with the fans, and he knows the importance of corporate relations and marketing. He can speak the language of the fan on Sunday and the corporate CEO on Monday. In the sport today, you have to look at the total package, and I think he's the total package."

On the 1998 chassis program

"Bahari' Racing began an in-house chassis program this year under the direction of Steve Leavitt and our crew chief Doug Hewitt. The first chassis should be ready for Martinsville. This will cost about $500,000 more a year, but it enables Bahari' Racing to do everything we need to do all under our own roof, and we will know that everything we do on the car will meet our exacting standards. This is what has made teams like Hendrick and Penske the successes they are. You could say this is a growing trend to the degree that you can only go so far as the quality of your people. You have to have highly trained people to run the equipment and the required computer software. We have high expectations. Derrike has driven Steve's chassis before when he drove for Bobby Allison and had some really strong runs. He believes in the chassis and believes in the direction we are taking."

On the state of the sport

"I think NASCAR is the most healthy sport in America today and that is because of fan and corporate support. This is a great marketing tool for any company that wants to market its product. We have many new tracks and teams coming in to participate, and television seems to be exploding."

"The reason for the growth of this sport is because of corporate participation, which puts millions of dollars in this sport. So, I think we owe some sort of guarantee that whenever they are entertaining or working a promotion around a race that they will have a car in that race. I still favor some type of a franchise program that would assure those race teams that have participated over the years and helped NASCAR become what it is today a guarantee their sponsor will be involved. If we start having top sponsors missing races, I think you will see the curve of the sport shift downward."

On the 33-race schedule

"We know we have to go into more markets because that is what the sponsors want. We are hiring three new people for next year because of the additional race in Las Vegas. It means more cars, people, hotel rooms, and a lot of time on a tight schedule that is crowding out a personal life."