Actually Cope was fast in the 1990 Daytona 500, Earhardt was by far the class on the feild that day, But Cope was easily 2nd best. Cope also won a race at Dover again the same year.
And, when Cope won it, he did need 3 quarters of the feild wrecked out to do it. Not taking anything away from Trevor, but when Clint Bowyer, Ryan Newman, and Regan Smith get all wreckd among others, makes you wonder what might have happened and who might have actually won.
Daytona 500s in the last 5 or 6 years CANT go without green white checkers, they never finnish without piles of twisted metal in the last 25 laps......back in the day they had a little more class.
I'll disagree with you on the comparison between Cope and Bayne. I agree that this year's and Cope's Daytona 500 were full of accidents and probably did "help" Cope's chances of winning. Cope however didn't have to deal drafting like today's race (especially in tandems).
Trevor Bayne in comparison, was fast all week. Fast in the Dual's and was the car to be with all day long in the 500 because he pushed and pushed - 15 different cars throughout the day and lead them to the front every time. Bayne drove a smart race and was never outside of the top 15 all day.
Bayne's youthfulness also helped him, he had no bad habits to reference how to bump draft, he simply knew what he wanted to do and kept at it. He never wanted to be the lead car, always the pusher. When it got three wide in the latter stages of the race, he would back off from pushing if he thought it was dicey, saving the car and giving him options. Once safely through the turns (particularly turns 3 and 4) he's move back up and start pushing again.
Bayne was patient, stayed out of trouble, listened to his crew chief and spotters and drove a hell of a race.
Not to take anything away from Cope's run, but Bayne EARNED the Daytona 500 win, in every way imaginable - at least in my opinion.
Woops, I meant Cope DIDNT need 3 quarters of the feild wrecked out in his win. Bayne lost alot of good competition by the last 10 laps, but hey, he was still in it, so he deserves it.
There are no easy wins, just some harder then others.
A win is a win and luck plays a part in it but he did drive a smart race as he was just one of a few drivers not to have been hit in any of the wrecks.
We will see in the next few races if he is the real deal. I was hoping for Mark Martin to win it.