46 Facts About Derrike Cope

Derrike Wayne Cope was born on November 3,1958 and is an American professional stock car racing driver and team owner.

Derrike Cope is best known for his surprise win in the 1990 Daytona 500.

Derrike Cope last competed in the NASCAR Cup Series, driving the No 15 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 for Rick Ware Racing in an alliance with his own StarCom Racing.

Derrike Cope was a catcher on the Bethel High School baseball team, and later played college baseball at Whitman College.

Derrike Cope progressed through the short-track ranks in the Northwest, and later made his Winston Cup Series debut at Riverside International Raceway in 1982.

Derrike Cope ran part-time in the Winston Cup Series after that, making an attempt at Rookie of the Year in 1987.

Derrike Cope became an overnight sensation as a result of the win, appearing on Late Night with David Letterman that week.

At Dover later in the 1990 season, Derrike Cope rallied for another win after running out of fuel and falling off the lead lap.

Derrike Cope had eight Top 10 finishes, and garnered a 15th-place finish in points.

Derrike Cope returned to Bahari in 1999 with Sara Lee sponsorship.

Derrike Cope made sporadic appearances for LJ Racing and Larry Hedrick Motorsports, and later signed on to drive the No 15 Ford Taurus owned by Fenley-Moore Motorsports.

Derrike Cope became unhappy when the team only ran a part-time schedule, and quit after a few races.

In 2001, Derrike Cope announced the formation of Quest Motor Racing, a team he would co-own with drag racer Warren Johnson.

Derrike Cope ran four races in the Busch Series in the No 94 owned by Fred Bickford, posting a best finish of 21st at Bristol Motor Speedway.

Derrike Cope ran 30 races in the No 49 Advil-sponsored Ford for Jay Robinson in the Busch Series that season.

Derrike Cope was later given the team's full-time ride in the No 00, as requested by the sponsor.

In 2006, Derrike Cope intended to run a full schedule for McGlynn with No 74 car, but soon cut back to part-time.

Derrike Cope intended to run more races with McGlynn in 2007, but the team suspended operations after only attempting one race.

Derrike Cope spent the season driving part-time schedules for Robinson and Xpress Motorsports.

Later in the season, Derrike Cope began entering his own trucks and cars in the Craftsman Truck Series and Nationwide Series.

Derrike Cope began the season as the driver of the No 41 Metal Jeans Chevrolet Impala for Rick Ware Racing in the Nationwide Series, but was released after three races, and moved to his own team.

Derrike Cope has fielded trucks part-time for himself, Larry Foyt, and Jennifer Jo Cobb.

Derrike Cope has fielded the No 78 car for one race in nationwide.

Derrike Cope has fielded the No 73 for most of the races.

In 2009, Derrike Cope attempted six races with his self-owned team; he failed to qualify for any of them.

At the October Martinsville race, Derrike Cope successfully attempted his first Sprint Cup race since 2006 while driving for Larry Gunselman.

In 2010, Derrike Cope teamed up with Dale Clemons as co-owners of new racing venture Stratus Racing Group.

Derrike Cope returned to Jay Robinson Inc for 2011 in the No 28 Chevrolet.

Derrike Cope finished 13th in the Budweiser Shootout driving for Gunselman.

Derrike Cope has decided to field his cup car in select races with manufacturing backing from Chevrolet instead of Dodge.

Derrike Cope finished 20th in Nationwide Series standings, competing in all but one event.

Derrike Cope returned to the Nationwide Series in 2012, competing in the No 73 Chevrolet for his own CFK Motorsports.

Derrike Cope announced that he would run a part-time schedule in 2013.

Derrike Cope made his first attempt at Darlington, resulting in a DNQ.

In 2014, Derrike Cope's team bought the equipment from the defunct ML Motorsports.

In January 2015, Derrike Cope announced that he would return to the Xfinity Series for the part-time 2015 season with Charlie's Soap as the sponsor.

Several crew members, including Derrike Cope's wife, were stuck inside the hauler.

Derrike Cope attempted 29 races, with Matt Frahm, Matt Waltz and Garrett Smithley running the remaining four.

Derrike Cope returned in 2016, with him driving 28 races, Timmy Hill driving 2 races and Dexter Stacey driving the last three races of season.

Derrike Cope missed the race at Daytona after issues in qualifying, but qualified the following week in Atlanta.

In January 2017, Derrike Cope closed down his Xfinity Series team after 16 years of competition.

Derrike Cope did make his first start with StarCom at the Hollywood Casino 400 at Kansas, starting 39th and finishing last after mechanical problems plagued the car.

Derrike Cope started last due to not making a qualifying run after an engine problem appeared on his No 00, but spent most of the race charging through the field to place 32nd due to late-race crashes.

Derrike Cope announced that they would hopefully run his No 99 car at Texas Motor Speedway, though the team did not attempt to make that race.

Derrike Cope would run Darlington with sponsorship from Bojangles, who sponsored Derrike Cope in 1993, for the annual Throwback Weekend.

Derrike Cope has been active in the GT America Series.