By Rick Houston
The last lap of the 1990 Daytona 500 featured one of the most iconic moments in NASCAR.
Whether fans loved him or hated him … there was NO in between … Dale Earnhardt was about to taste victory for the first time in the sport’s biggest race. He’d won everything else up to that point, up to and including at that point three Winston Cup championships. So far, however, the Daytona 500 had eluded him.
And it was about to do so again, and in dramatic fashion.
As a cut tire forced Earnhardt to slide up the track between turns one and two, Derrike Cope slid under him to take the lead … and a few seconds later, the victory. He’d never before finished in the top five of a Winston Cup race, much less won a race. It was, for all intents and purposes, the greatest upset in NASCAR history to that point.
This is Cope’s story.
Join hosts Rick Houston and Steve Waid each week on The Scene Vault Podcast Presented by Q Ware as they take a look back at the extraordinary people, places and events woven into the rich tapestry that is our sport.
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