Derrike Cope (VPS Motorimages)

Derrike Cope has driven in NASCAR's top three divisions on and off for 24 different seasons, and that experience showed signs of paying off in dividends for the No. 40 Key Motorsports entry in Saturday's John Deere 250, NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series race, the first ever truck series event held at the mammoth and very fast, 2.66-mile high-banked Talladega tri-oval.

Running eighth on the 94th and final lap of the race and headed to an apparent top 10 finish in his first run ever for Key Motorsports, Cope fell victim to some over-aggressive driving by a pair of Toyota drivers.

Cope had the white No. 40 Key Motorsports Chevrolet tucked tightly behind the Toyota machine of Mike Skinner heading through the second turn. That is when Skinner tapped the Chevrolet driven by Mike Wallace directly in front of him while the charging Toyota driven by Series' point leader Todd Bodine hit Cope's Chevrolet in the rear. The almost simultaneous incidents sent the two Chevrolet trucks spinning and hard into the outside retaining wall initiating a multi-truck incident.

The Key Motorsports machine hit so hard that it got airborne, pirouetted around while in the air and finally came to rest in the grass below the apron of the backstretch. Cope hit so hard that it broke his Hans device, the head and neck restraint mandated by NASCAR for drivers ever since the death of the late Dale Earnhardt in Daytona in 2001, and bent the steering wheel. Fortunately, Cope walked away from the incident with just some bumps.

"I really don't know what happened out there," Cope said. "I may have squeezed Bodine, who was really making a charge, a bit but I was in line and tucked right behind Skinner when someone hit me from behind. I saw a yellow truck drive under me when the truck spun around.

"I'm OK, but I just feel so bad for Barry (Crew Chief Dodson) and this race team because they worked so hard to put me in the position to be near the front at the end of the race. Who knows where I would have actually finished, but I know it was going to be in the top 10, and that is what we were shooting for to help get this team into the top 30 in owner points," Cope explained.

Key Motorsports is chasing the No. 98 machine of Evernham Motorsports for that sacred 30th position in owner points, one that guarantees teams starting berths in all the races….including the first four races of the 2007 season.

Cope was ultimately credited with a 27th place finish, losing ground to not only the #98 driven by Erin Crocker (who finished 20th) but also to the #50 machine from Roush Racing, driven by rookie David Ragan, who took advantage of that last lap crash to finish seventh and actually moved ahead of the #40. Ragan's Roush Racing teammate, Mark Martin, was the race winner under caution.

The trucks of Skinner and Bodine showed no ill effects of the accident and went on to finish second and fourth, respectively. Bodine made up 24 positions over the final four laps after being penalized on lap 84 for running under the yellow line on the backstretch while chasing down Martin and restarting the race after a caution in the 28th position.

After 20 of the 2006 season's 25 scheduled races, Curtis Key is now 32nd in the standings, 23 behind the now new 31st place holder, Roush Racing, and 187 behind the #98.

Cope's race truck had been strong in the draft all weekend, and no one was concerned about the 32nd place starting berth Cope earned in the No. 40 after Friday afternoon's qualifying session.

"I knew that we wouldn't qualify very well, but when running in the draft, this truck would suck up really well and I would go right to the front," Cope said before the race. His comments were proven just a few laps after the start of the race when the No. 40 forged to fifth place in the running order in just four laps.

Unfortunately, the engine in Cope's race truck started running hot and Cope, again using his vast experience, dropped back to the rear of the field to cool it off.

On lap 24, Cope cut down his left rear tire, beating up the left rear fender and forcing him to pit. Fortunately, the debris that came off of the No. 40 machine forced a caution flag to be waved, enabling Cope to pit several times under yellow to change the tire and get repairs made to the fender without losing a lap.

Over the next 30 laps, Cope continued to run near the back of the field but remained on the lead lap, using all of the subsequent pit stops he made to have the repairs to the left rear wheel well and fenders improved and to give him the opportunity of again charging towards the front.

That finally happened by lap 61 when Cope was posted 12th after a caution. He remained in the top 10, again using the draft and his experience in it to his advantage. He was a serious contender, getting as high as seventh with 16 laps remaining, but all that was wiped out by the white flag lap incident.

Key Motorsports will continue to use veteran drivers in its race trucks in its desperate attempt to earn that 30th position in owner points and will make an announcement soon on who will drive its truck at Martinsville in two weeks. Cope is also expected to be asked to drive the No. 40 again before the season closes in Homestead, FL in mid-November.