At 62, [Derrike Cope] qualified for and raced in the 2021 Daytona 500, making him one of the few drivers in NASCAR history to have competed in five different decades. At the end of last season, Cope and wife Elyshia sold their interest in StarCom Racing and are looking at new projects.

“We‘ve just been contemplating what do we want to do, what‘s next?” Cope said. “At this point in time, it really has been more of a fact-finding mission for us. Do I want to retire, semi-retire, play more golf, go to the beach house, what do we want to do?

Even at 63, much like his buddy Morgan Shepherd who raced into his late 70s, Cope isn‘t completely ready to hang up his fire suit for good. He‘s also eyeing doing a partial race schedule if he can get the right situation and sponsors together.

“Honestly, I don‘t know,” said Cope, who lives with his wife north of Charlotte. “I think it‘s really kind of something that I still would like to kind of piddle around with.”

And while he isn‘t shutting the door totally on an occasional Cup or Xfinity start, Cope is also quite interested in doing other forms of car racing.

“I‘ve contemplated maybe getting a Ferrari Challenge car, in addition to doing something with Nick‘s TA2 program,” Cope said.

NASCAR.com

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