Bashas’ Supermarkets 200 - Derrike Cope Notes

Say what you want about the racing
NASCAR teams are first about business

INDIAN TRAIL, N.C. – Professional sports might very well be a lot of grown men and women playing children’s games but make no mistake – they are big business.

“It’s a lot easier, and a lot more fun, to pay attention to the competitive side of NASCAR racing,” said Derrike Cope, driver of the #49 Advil Ford for Jay Robinson Racing in the Busch Series.

“If you don’t handle the business side first, though, there is no competitive side to pay attention to,” he added.

Cope nodded towards owner Jay Robinson, who fields his car along with two others in the Busch Series.

“Jay understands there has to be a foundation before there is a team in place. If you don’t have a firm financial foundation, there is no way you can compete in this series or any other,” Cope said. “This stuff is expensive. Whether you are a top Cup team with a $15 million budget or a Hooters Cup team with a $100,000 budget, you have to have the money to make things work.

“We all want to win. We all want to run well,” he added. “But it still comes down to how much money you have to do the things you have to do to win consistently. Testing, wind tunnel time, new tires every pit stop, top engine programs, salaries for top people, engineers, and everything else – all of that costs money.”

An owner, like Robinson, who can make a smaller budget work well is a major plus.

“How many times have you seen new owners come in and burn out quickly?” Cope said. “They come in and say, ‘I’ll fund this out of my own pocket and we’ll run so well sponsors will be crawling all over us, begging to put their name on our car.’ And they spend money – for about three months – and the returns aren’t what they thought, and the sponsors they thought would come begging for space on the car are in the middle of budgets and can’t commit until next year and, next thing you know, they are locking the doors.

“A lot of car owners come into NASCAR racing with unlimited budgets – and still go over it,” he laughed.

“I think one of the reasons Jay has been successful is the fact that he does understand the basics of ownership. These cars are racing vehicles but they are marketing vehicles too. A car owner who looks at his teams as being both is the one who is going to be successful. A great racing team with no sponsor is not going to be successful for long. A racing team successful from the marketing side needs success on the track as well. Many times, success in one area can lead to success in the other,” Cope said.

“That’s where Jay has done well. To be solid as a race team, you have to be solid on the business side as well. And he has built a strong foundation for Jay Robinson Racing and for the future. Things haven’t always progressed as quickly as we would like but they have progressed. Jay has his eye on the future, and the direction of this race team has always been forward. We’re already putting more good things together for next season, and we’re talking with more potential sponsors as associates and as potential primaries on Jay’s other cars.”

Cope, a native of Spanaway, Wash., is a former winner of the Daytona 500 and a two-time NASCAR Nextel Cup race winner. A top athlete whose professional baseball career was cut short by a knee injury in college, Cope 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: Cope’s #49 Advil Ford and the #39 Yahoo! Ford, which Cope is helping mentor.