WATKINS GLEN – Derrike Cope experienced a mechanical issue late in Saturday afternoon’s Zippo 200 at Watkins Glen International, but seconds later his car unexpectedly exploded without warning.
Cope running inside the top-25 inside the final 30 laps of the first road course race of the season took the escape route from the inner loop after his No. 70 E-hydrate / Sammi’s Best Chevrolet Camaro experienced a brake caliper failure.
Moments later, when Cope’s car was briefly stopped, the heat and pressure caused the right front tire to explode and cause extensive damage to the Chevrolet Camaro. Cope climbed from his car uninjured, but baffled.
“In my 35 years of racing, I’ve never experienced anything like that,” said Cope after being evaluated and released from the infield care center. “It blew up in my face.”
Cope finished 31st after starting 40th.
“I lost the brake pedal going into turn 1, and I knew something happened to a piston or whatever so I just went easy down there and started coming to a stop, and the whole thing just blew the hood off. I don’t know really what it was,” Cope told NBC Sports. “The shocks were all intact and the tires were up, so I don’t know what exploded.”
NASCAR initially impounded the car, but after an inspection, the car was released to the team said crew chief Jason Houghtaling. NASCAR confirmed to CATCHFENCE.com that the car had been returned to the team post-race.
“Derrike is OK and that’s most important,” said Houghtaling. “It was a very strange deal that is like nothing I have ever seen before in NASCAR. An on-track incident caused us to lose brakes and as Derrike slowed down the car down safely, the heat and the pressure caused the right front tire to explode.
“I hate it for E-Hydrate, Sammi’s Best, Glenn Mountain Bakery and Ice Frost. The team worked hard and we turned a rough weekend into a good weekend. We’ll be back at Mid-Ohio.”
Never seen a car blow up like this.
Glad to see @DCopeRacing out and alright at #XFINITYSeries pic.twitter.com/dFXc6BBONj
— XFINITY Racing (@XFINITYRacing) August 6, 2016
Follow Chris Knight on Twitter @Knighter01.
