Is Yates back?
From the sound of things, we might as well give Robert Yates the Daytona 500 trophy and just call it a day. (Here's Dustin's story, in case you missed it.)
No doubt that David Gilliland is a great story. A year ago, he was like the rest of us - some slob on the couch watching the race. But he turned a thrilling Busch win in June into a full-time Cup ride two months later, and here he is sitting on the pole for the Daytona-freakin'-500. Wow.
But I don't think Yates' woes are over, mostly because there are 35 more races after this one. As for this race, Gilliland did win the pole at Talladega last fall (nothing seems to be wrong with the Yates plate program), then slid back through the field to finish 15th. He had two other top-10 starts in the six races that followed, but his best finish was 15th. Gilliland showed some guts to get back to the front and finish second in Saturday night's Shootout, but I would have liked to have seen him have to hold off the field on the final lap.
Maybe Gilliland wins. He probably won't - Daytona 500 pole-sitters over the past 20 or so years to win the race include guys like Gordon, Elliott (twice), Dale Jarrett and Yarborough, and he's not them. Then again, no one gave Derrick Cope much of a chance, either.
DAYTONA 500 UPSET NO. 1: DERRIKE COPE IN 1990
Earnhardt’s Tire Went Down And Relative Unknown Went Around, On 500’s Last Lap
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (Feb. 12, 2007) – Seventeen years later, it still seems hard to believe what transpired on Feb. 18, 1990 in the 32nd annual Daytona 500.
By then, the long-running 500 frustration of NASCAR’s preeminent driver Dale Earnhardt had become a yearly refrain. Starting the 1990 season, Earnhardt had won three of his eventual seven NASCAR NEXTEL Cup championships. On the other hand, he had yet to win even one Daytona 500.
As in other years, Earnhardt’s black No. 3 GM Goodwrench Chevrolet soon established itself as the dominant entry, as the Daytona 500 approached. Earnhardt qualified second. He won one of the Twin 125 qualifying races. Surely this would finally be the year, many thought. But it wasn’t to be. The frustration would continue and a late-blooming 32-year-old from Spanaway, Wash. would end up benefiting. Truth was indeed stranger than fiction, when Derrike Cope became a Daytona 500 champion.
Daytona 500 Upset No. 1: Derrike Cope, 1990
* The Favorites: Dale Earnhardt, Dale Earnhardt, Dale Earnhardt.
* The Intangible: A last-lap tire problem for race-leader Earnhardt that ruined his chances.
* The Winner’s Stats: Started 12th; led 5 laps; average speed 165.761 mph; $188,150 in prize money.
* The Rundown: Cope had started two previous 500s but had failed to finish either one. But the No. 10 Purolator Chevrolet ride he landed for 1990 was a good one and crew chief Buddy Parrott was a great one. … Earnhardt dominated the race, leading an incredible 155 of 200 laps. But throughout, Cope lurked. Earnhardt had a huge lead when on Lap 193, Geoffrey Bodine’s spin caused a caution. Everyone pitted – except Cope. After that, Cope ran flat-out despite used-up tires. Earnhardt took the lead from Cope on the restart with five laps remaining and appeared headed toward the elusive 500 victory. But on the last lap, Earnhardt ran over a piece of debris from another car’s engine. Suddenly, his right rear tire shredded. Entering Turn 3, Earnhardt had to throttle down and concentrate on keeping his car from crashing. As he slowed, Cope raced by on the inside – en route to the biggest upset victory in the history of the Daytona 500.
* The Follow-Up: Cope won one more race that season, at Dover. He hasn’t won since. He ran full NASCAR NEXTEL Cup seasons through 1998, and finished a career-best 15th in the final series points in 1995. … This year, he is attempting to make the Daytona 500 field for the 15th time.
Comments (6)
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I've always like Yates Racing even though I'm not a Blue Oval fan so I would like to think they're back but I know better. Has anyone ever heard of Ramo Stott who I believe won a pole in the early 70's. Or for you younger fans does anyone remember Loy Allen?
The counter to this arguement would be does anyone remember Pete Hamilton? He won this race by coming from nowhere out of New England back in the early 70's; plus a Talledega race or two.
Posted on February 12, 2007 8:13 PM
Mark (or anyone else who stops by): Does the video clip work when you click on Derrick Cope's name above? It does for me because I'm cookied into NASCAR's super off-limits media site, but I think this little piece of streaming video might actually be for public consumption.
Posted on February 12, 2007 9:25 PM
John, When I clicked on the link I got an error message. Is there any other way?
Lets talk about Gilliand! We watched this guy race at Irwindale for years when he was in the NASCAR West Series, and he was a very nice person too! Always spent time with the fans, showed his car, took pictures and so on! Now, like a lot of us knew would happen, he is in the big show...and it is no mistake that he got there! He has talent, and much like a young rookie last year who drove that 11 car, he was watching from the Grandstands like the rest of us. Now look where he is...on the Pole of the Holy Grail of Motor Sports!
I sure would have liked to see him get past Tony on that last lap though...man that would have been something if Tony lost two years in a row to a rookie driver who had never put any laps down at Daytona until now! Ohhhh, makes the hair stand up on the back of my neck just thinking about it!
Posted on February 12, 2007 11:43 PM
Darnit. I wasn't sure it was going to work. But, because you can find anything on the Internet, here ya go. (The version I had cut back to an obviously crying Teresa Earnhardt. Her and Dale's daughter is crying, too, because momma's in tears. Heartbreaking, especially in hindsight.)
And, as a late night bonus, one of the greatest finishes of any sporting event ever.
Posted on February 13, 2007 12:38 AM
Now those were the days at Daytona when one car could pass the other car for the lead on the backstretch and then get re-passed in the 3rd and 4th turns. Perhaps what NASCAR needs is a CAR OF YESTERDAY, rather than a Car of Tomorrow.
Posted on February 13, 2007 7:01 PM
Mark,
GIT ER DONE!!! That has to be one of the best ideas I have heard in a long time! Can you imagine how the NASCAR of today would react to a last lap beatin and banging door to door, spin out before the start/finish line race happened now? Oh the oval office would be full that day!!
Posted on February 14, 2007 12:23 AM