Cory Roper scores career-best NCWTS finish at Daytona
What looked to be a Cinderella story in-the-making during Friday night’s NextEra Energy 250 at Daytona came up short for Cory Roper.
Roper passed Sheldon Creed on the frontstretch after pushing him to the lead with one to go. Roper lead coming out of turn four before getting slingshotted by Ben Rhodes for the win and falling behind Jordan Anderson to finish third.
For Roper, the third-place finish is his best career NCWTS finish. His previous best was a ninth-place finish in June 2019 at Texas Motor Speedway, his home track.
As an owner-driver, Roper has run NCWTS part-time since 2018. 2021 is his team’s first full-time season, which was not lost on Roper when thinking about what the third-place finish does for the team.
“It’s huge for us. We’re still trying to build a team, get a shop completed. We’ve got great equipment… The last three years we’ve been trying to build a team, now we’re going to run the full thing if things go well.”
When asked if the third-place finish felt like a win, Roper stated, “Absolutely. Being an owner, I look it as my family’s team, my brother’s team. What a great feeling for them to have such a good feeling.”
Race winner Ben Rhodes also expressed his excitement for Roper’s third-place finish.
“Cory has an awesome thing going,” Rhodes said. “I can’t begin to express how happy I am for him. I don’t think there’s enough guys like him in the series.”
Roper was one of four drivers to earn their best career NCWTS finish in Friday night’s race. Carson Hocevar (fifth), Drew Dollar (10th) and Kris Wright (12th) each earned their best career NCWTS finish, as well.
SOURCES:
NASCAR
Racing-Reference.Info
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Jonathan Fjeld View All
Jonathan Fjeld is the co-owner of the The Racing Experts, LLC. He has been with TRE since 2010.
A Twin Valley, MN, native, Fjeld became a motorsports fan at just three years old (first race was the 2002 Pennsylvania 500). He worked as a contributor and writer for TRE from 2010-18. Since then, he has stepped up and covered 24 NASCAR race weekends and taken on a larger role with TRE. He became the co-owner and managing editor in 2023 and has guided the site to massive growth in that time.
Fjeld has covered a wide array of stories and moments over the years, including Kevin Harvick's final Cup Series season, the first NASCAR national series disqualification in over 50 years, Shane van Gisbergen's stunning win in Chicago and the first Cup Series race at Road America in 66 years – as well as up-and-coming drivers' stories and stories from inside the sport, like the tech it takes for Hendrick Motorsports to remain a top-tier team.
Currently, he resides in Albuquerque, N.M., where he works for KOB 4, an NBC station. He works as a digital producer and does on-air reports. He loves spending time with friends and family, playing and listening to music, exploring new places, being outdoors, reading books and writing among other activities. You can email him at fjeldjonathan@gmail.com