Arnold Team to Replace Cope
The writtings on the wall when your sitting 34th in the point standings.Team owner Don Arnold of Naples said late Tuesday afternoon that he will replace driver Derrike Cope with Mike Wallace for Sunday’s MNBA 400 at the Dover International Speedway in Dover, Del.
Team owner Don Arnold
“I think you know where I’m going with this,” said Arnold, whose Nextel Cup Series team has struggled to find consistent corporate sponsorship since it debuted last summer in a Brick yard 400 qualifying attempt in Indianapolis.“We’ve decided not to use Derrike at this point,” Arnold went on. “We may go back to him, but right now we’re going to try some options on drivers. Derrike has done an awful lot to help us progress and bring our group forward. He brought the program a long way.”
Derrike Cope
“Certainly I am not pleased. This wasn’t something I anticipated,” a disappointed Cope said Tuesday night. “I haven’t talked to Don yet. He wasn’t the one who told me. So it’s difficult to comment. He owns the race team and he has to do what he thinks is best for his team. That’s just the way this sport goes sometimes.“There are no hard feelings,” Cope added. “Some things happen for a reason. I’ll talk to Don and go pick up a couple of my racecars I have in his shop.”
It looks like Cope got fired by remote control. If your boss doesn’t care enough to tell you in person you know a Arnold-Cope sequel is a not likely.
Source: Naples Daily News
