MBNA America 200 - Derrike Cope Notes

‘Travel races’ begin with Dover Saturday
Friday could be key to entire season, Cope says

CHARLOTTE, N.C. – A key string of races in the NASCAR Busch Series begins with Friday’s qualifying sessions at the one-mile Dover (Del.) International Speedway, and #49 Advil Ford driver Derrike Cope said that single day could set the tone for an entire season.

“We have six pretty key races coming up, all one right after another, and all in different places in the country. We break for a week after that, and go into another long string of races. But how well you do in these six races can play a big factor in how you do in that next string, so your whole season could be affected by the month of June,” Cope said.

“Dover plays a major role in what happens in these next six races. We just finished Charlotte but Dover is the first of the six ‘traveling’ races,” he added. “Then you go one further – pole qualifying at Dover, where you start in that race, plays a major role in how you run and how you finish.

“So it’s relatively safe to say two laps at Dover on Friday could play a major role in the rest of your season,” he said.

The former Daytona 500 winner and one of a few drivers in NASCAR history with multiple Cup race victories, Cope knows the importance of track position.

“Every track is pretty much a ‘track position’ track. You want to be as close to the front as you can get all the time,” Cope said. “But as the cars have gotten more and more equal, and with the aerodynamics of the bodies the way they are now, it’s a lot harder to pass. You can catch a guy, you can run somebody down, but it’s difficult to pass even a car that is slower than you are.

“That’s what makes qualifying so important. If you qualify 10th instead of 20th, that’s 10 cars you don’t have to worry about passing once the green flag drops,” he said. “Everybody is looking for the same thing – the best finish they can possibly have. Again, it sets the tone for the summer.”

For Cope and his Jay Robinson-owned Advil Ford team, there is added incentive. Wyeth, which markets Advil products, is headquartered in Madison, N.J., not far from the Dover speedway. The proximity of the sponsor and the fact Dover is the second race in three weeks close to their headquarters (including Nazareth, Pa., two weeks ago), increases the value.

“A lot of folks from Wyeth and affiliated with Advil will be at Dover this week, and you always want to perform well in your sponsor’s backyard,” Cope said. “Getting off to a good start, in front of the Advil people and in the first race of this stretch of ‘travel races,’ will be really important for our race team.”

Cope, a native of Spanaway, Wash., is a two-time NASCAR Nextel Cup race winner. A top athlete whose professional baseball career was cut short by a knee injury in college, he has become one of the top athletes in NASCAR racing, and has become one of the top public spokesmen for the sport.

Jay Robinson Racing, in its fourth season of operation, is one of the fastest-growing teams in NASCAR. Robinson, a Charlotte, N.C., native who is a successful businessman, founded the team as a high-value endeavor that offers high-end equipment and efforts, while proving to be one of the most cost-efficient teams in the sport. Robinson fields two sponsored cars fulltime on the Busch Series: the #49 Advil Ford and the #39 Yahoo! Ford, and runs a third car in most Busch Series events.