RPM 2Night Interview

John Kernan: "Derrike, knowing that you have a ride now for the next three seasons has to be a big relief to you."

Derrike Cope: "Well it is, I think you always want to have something consummated about this time of the year. To get something of this magnitude I feel very fortunate."

John Kernan: "Did it catch you off guard when the SKITTLES® team told you that Ernie Irvan was going to take over that ride.?"

Derrike Cope: "Well, I think initially a little bit, but we had talked a bit about it and obviously I don't think either one of us were very happy with the way things were going and there was a lot of underlying things that I thought made that happen. But you know, it's just the way things go and actually I'm very pleased that Ernie stepped up to take that ride so I could look for something different."

John Kernan: "Now chassis builder Steve Leavitt is also coming over. You worked with him at Bobby Allison Motorsports and that should be a pretty good combination. He puts together some pretty good chassis's, doesn't he?"

Derrike Cope: "Well I think so, I think that you've seen Jeremy Mayfield running very well with those cars and we were very productive at Bobby Allison Motorsports with Steve's cars with Jimmy Fennig and Keith Almond, so I think that we are looking forward to getting that involved. Doug Hewitt and Ron Puryear are very excited about the opportunity and we're very fortunate that Chuck Rider looked at the whole program and felt like it was something that he thought could be an enhancement to his race team, so we're very excited."

John Kernan: "Plus it's an established team so you don't have to go in and start from scratch."

Derrike Cope: (laughs) "Yes, that's a novelty for me. It seems like as of late, starting over, starting out with new things, new teams, it's always very difficult, but to get a team of this magnitude that has been in for a long period of time, have been very successful, they're a top-15, top-10 race car, and hopefully with some things with the chassis and working real hard this winter, we can come out and be very productive the first of next year."

John Kernan: "Let's talk about this year a little bit. As I mentioned, a brand new team this year, best finish eighth place, overall not too bad a year. It's probably what's expected for a new team."

Derrike Cope: "Well I think we only missed one race and we really shouldn't have missed that, we made a mistake. But all in all, we made all the races and I think we've probably raced better than we've qualified, but are still in a learning process with a lot of young people over there. But it was just a situation where I don't really feel like there was a lot of mutual respect on both sides and just was not really working. I think Jay (Frye) and the guys decided that they were looking for a change. Really I think it was the best thing for my career also."

John asked Derrike what he thought he thought about Dover this weekend. Derrike replied that the team is "a lot better the second time around" referring to revisiting tracks from earlier in the year and knowing what to expect the next time.

John Kernan: "Well congratulations and glad to see you're feeling better. And check out the threads, (Derrike laughs) that's nice, but that's not allowed here. Next time you can wear a tie. Thanks a lot."

Note: Thanks to Angela Walker for providing the story.