1990: Inherit the win

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. -- Let's face it. With one turn to go in the 32nd annual Daytona 500, Derrike Cope was racing for second place.

Even though his Chevrolet was directly behind race leader Dale Earnhardt, Cope pretty much knew he had no chance to pull off a last-lap pass. You just don't pass The Intimidator at Daytona.

KNOW YOUR NASCAR  •  1990 Season Recap  •  50 Greatest Drivers  •  More NASCAR History    1990 Daytona 500 Top 10  1. Derrike Cope  2. Terry Labonte  3. Bill Elliott  4. Ricky Rudd  5. Dale Earnhardt  6. Bobby Hillin  7. Rusty Wallace  8. Michael Waltrip  9. Geoff Bodine  10. Morgan Shepherd

In fact, Cope was just trying to hold his position, since the Spanaway, Wash., native had never finished better than sixth in his short Winston Cup career and hadn't cracked the top 20 in two previous Daytona 500 starts.

"It really was amazing, because I had told myself I was really fighting to hold on to second place," Cope said. "My car was very loose."

But what Cope couldn't predict -- and Earnhardt didn't see until it was too late -- was a piece of debris that punctured Earnhardt's right rear tire, sending the No. 3 Chevrolet fish-tailing up the banking as Cope and the rest of the lead pack ducked underneath.

"When I saw what was happening to Dale, I just turned that baby left," Cope said. "I saw a hole and had my foot on the floor. I knew at that point we had the thing won.

"I wasn't going to let anybody beat me, even if I had to block the track all the way to the checkers."

Cope outran Terry Labonte and Bill Elliott to the line as Earnhardt fell back to fifth.

Earnhardt had led 155 laps and appeared to be on his way to exorcising his Daytona jinx. At one point, his lead was 39 seconds. But old nemesis Geoff Bodine spun with eight laps to go, bringing out the caution and bunching up the field for an five-lap trophy dash.

Earnhardt pitted for left-side tires while Cope stayed on the track. When the race resumed, Earnhardt quickly shot back in front.

"Nobody was going to catch me until that caution came out," Earnhardt said. "Even after that, I had no trouble driving by Derrike on the restart. The race was still mine."

Until the final turn, when disaster struck.

"It went (flat) right in front of the chicken-bone grandstands on the backstretch," he said. "I heard it hit the bottom of the car, and then it hit the tire and the tire went."

Earnhardt said there was no time to react, even if he had seen the debris.

"If I had known that debris was back there ... well, there ain't nothing you can do," he said. "You can't see everything on the race track. After that happened, I just drove to the top of the track, trying to stay out of their way.

"We knew who to beat, the cars that were left. They couldn't get by me. Derrike wins the race, but we beat them all day. They didn't outrun us, they just lucked into it."

Earnhardt, who had won every other event at Daytona in which he had entered, was philosophical about the whole thing.

"This has been the biggest buildup and biggest letdown I've ever had in racing," he said. "There's nothing you can do about it, either.

"You can't kick the car and cry and pout and lay down and squall and bawl. You've got to take it and walk on. We just ran short of luck today."

Pole-sitter Ken Schrader was sidelined early by engine problems. Richard Petty's day was adventurous, after he blew all four tires following a spin. He finished 34th, 12 laps off the pace.

Jimmy Spencer led four laps and finished 15th in his first Daytona 500 while Hut Stricklin was 33rd.

NOTE: This is one in a series of articles counting down to the 2003 Daytona 500.