NASCAR Cup Series

Countdown to Daytona: Remembering highlights for the No. 10

Published Feb. 16, 2017 10:01 a.m. ET

Tom Jensen

We’ve hit a milestone in our Daytona 500 countdown: Just 10 days left until the Great American Race, which takes place Feb. 26 at 2 p.m., live on FOX.

And to celebrate reaching the 10-day mark, we remember two of the most significant Daytona 500 moments involving the No. 10.

The first came in 1990, when Dale Earnhardt and the black No. 3 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet dominated the Daytona 500, leading 155 of the first 199 laps.

But on Lap 200, Earnhardt ran over a piece of Ricky Rudd’s bellhousing heading into Turn 3. That allowed Derrike Cope, who was in second place, to take the lead on the final lap and score one of the most improbable Daytona 500 victories of all time.

It was the first victory for Cope in what is now known as the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series and it came in the No. 10 Chevrolet owned by Bob Whitcomb, with legendary crew chief Biddy Parrott atop the pit box.

Later that year, Cope would win again at Dover International Speedway. But that would be his final career Cup victory.

In 409 starts, Cope posted those two victories and just six top five and 32 top-10 finishes. Those numbers show that his Daytona 500 win really was a huge upset.

Speaking of huge upsets, Danica Patrick shocked the NASCAR world in 2013, when she became the first woman to win the pole for a Cup race, taking the Daytona 500 pole in just her 11th career start in the No. 10 Stewart-Haas Racing Chevrolet. It was Patrick’s first and so far, only, pole.

Patrick ran an excellent race, too. She was third heading to the white flag and finished a respectable eighth, her first of six top-10 finishes in 154 Cup starts.