Crew Chief
No. 2 American Commercial Lines (ACL) Chevrolet
Ernie Cope will
lead three-time Truck Series champion Jack Sprague and the No. 2
American Commercial Lines (ACL) Chevrolet as crew chief for the
2008 NASCAR Truck Series season.
Cope, the cousin of NASCAR driver Derrick Cope, was born in
Tacoma, Wash. He began his racing career competing in BMX races,
at one point winning 26 races in a row.
At the age of 19, Cope began his career in stock car racing. He
joined the NASCAR Northwest Tour Series in 1988. After five years
of honing his skills, Cope finished the 1993 season fifth overall.
The following year was an even bigger success as he rounded out
the year third, a career best finish.
In 1995 Cope moved up to the Winston West Series with sponsorship
from Straight Arrow Products. In his first year, he finished
second in points, won two races and claimed Rookie of the Year
honors.
Cope made the decision to move to North Carolina in 1996. He
raced four times that year before deciding to hang up his helmet
and join Geoff Bodine Racing as crew chief for the No. 7 Truck
team.
In 1998 Cope moved on to work as crew chief for Gloy-Rahl racing
for their NASCAR Truck Series entry with driver Dave Rezendes.
Following an up and down season in the Truck Series, Cope took
another opportunity to go back to stock cars assuming duties as
car chief for Bahari/EEL River Racing working alongside his cousin
Derrick.
After three years, Cope moved to the No. 9 Dodge in the NASCAR
Sprint Cup Series as car chief for veteran driver Bill Elliott.
The following year Cope returned to work in the Sprint Cup Series
for cousin Derrick and Quest Motorsports.
Cope then joined Sadler Motorsports as crew chief in 2004 to work
with driver Hermie Sadler in the NASCAR Nationwide Series. With
sponsorship lacking, Cope decided to move to Robert Yates Racing (RYR)
in 2005. At RYR he served in multiple capacities, as car chief on
the No. 90 Nationwide entry, as well as chassis specialist on Dale
Jarrett’s No. 88 NASCAR Sprint Cup UPS Ford.
Upon narrowly making the Chase for the Sprint Cup with Jarrett,
Cope was given the opportunity to once again assume crew chief
duties joining the famed Wood Brothers/JTG team and the No. 59
Kingsford Ford driven by Stacy Compton in the NASCAR Nationwide
Series. Halfway through the season, Cope was promoted to handle
duties on the Cup side of the operation. He finished out the
season working alongside veteran Crew Chief Michael McSwain, atop
the pit box of the No. 21 Little Debbie Ford Fusion.
In 2007 Cope assumed crew chief duties on the No. 59 Kingsford
Ford in the NASCAR Nationwide Series with newcomer Marcus Ambrose.
Nearing season’s end, Cope made the decision to move to Kevin
Harvick Inc. (KHI) to take on crew chief duties for the No. 2 ACL
Chevrolet Silverado driven by three-time Truck Series champion
Jack Sprague.
Cope, already a fixture throughout the NASCAR garage area, is
excited about his new opportunity to work with Sprague and KHI in
2008.
“I’ve known Sprague since 1996, but never had the opportunity to
work with him as closely as I will this year,” said Cope.
“Sprague is a good guy and drives hard. With his focus and KHI’s
equipment, I think we will be one of the most competitive truck
teams on the circuit. We should definitely be contenders for wins
week in and week out and we hope to be right in the thick of the
championship hunt when we get to Miami,” added Cope. |
