Copp Motorsports was an American professional stock car racing team that competed in the

NASCAR Gander Outdoors Truck Series The NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series is a pickup truck racing series owned and operated by the National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing, and is the only series in NASCAR to race production pickup truck based stock cars. The series is one of t ...

. The team was owned by D. J. Copp. The team fielded the No. 63

Chevrolet Silverado The Chevrolet Silverado is a range of trucks manufactured by General Motors under the Chevrolet brand. Introduced for the 1999 model year, the Silverado is the successor to the long running Chevrolet C/K model line. Taking its name from th ...

part-time for

Bobby Gerhart Robert Gerhart Jr. (born July 21, 1958) is an American retired professional stock car racing driver. He last competed in the ARCA Menards Series, driving Chevrolet SS for Gerhart Racing and the No. 63 Chevy Silverado for his own team in a joint ...

Timmy Hill Timothy G. Hill (born February 25, 1993) is an American professional stock car racing driver and team owner. He competes full-time in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series, driving the No. 56 Toyota Tundra for his own team, Hill Motorsports and pa ...

and Scott Stenzel. Copp purchased the assets of

Contreras Motorsports Contreras Motorsports was a Mexican professional stock car racing team that competed in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series. The team was owned by Carlos Contreras and his nephew Enrique. The team fielded the No. 71 Chevrolet Silverado full-tim ...

in early 2017 to make the team.

History

During the early part of 2017, D. J. Copp bought the assets of the race team an acquaintance of his, Carlos Contreras, owned. Copp renumbered the trucks from the Contreras No. 71 to the traditional Copp family number, No. 83. In the beginning of the 2017 season, Copp and his wife were the only two full-time employees of the team. On August 6, 2019, Copp announced that the future of the team is uncertain, commenting that "some people make it hard to love the sanctioning body."

Gander Outdoors Truck Series

Truck No. 36 history

To complete the 32-truck field, Copp Motorsports field a second truck No. 36 in partnership with

MB Motorsports MB Motorsports was an American professional stock car racing team that competed in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series. The team was based in Foristell, Missouri, and was owned by Mike Mittler until his death in 2019. The team was one of few to ...

for

Camden Murphy Camden Murphy (born July 23, 1996) is an American professional stock car racing driver. He last competed in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series, driving the No. 30 Toyota Tundra for On Point Motorsports, and in Monster Jam, driving the Bakugan ...

Kansas Kansas () is a state in the Midwestern United States. Its capital is Topeka, and its largest city is Wichita. Kansas is a landlocked state bordered by Nebraska to the north; Missouri to the east; Oklahoma to the south; and Colorado to ...

. The truck returned at

Dover Dover () is a town and major ferry port in Kent, South East England. It faces France across the Strait of Dover, the narrowest part of the English Channel at from Cap Gris Nez in France. It lies south-east of Canterbury and east of Maidstone ...

with

J. J. Yeley Christopher Beltram Hernandez "J. J." Yeley (born October 5, 1976) is an American professional stock car racing driver. He last competed part-time in the NASCAR Xfinity Series, driving the Nos. 13 and 66 cars for MBM Motorsports and part-time in ...

behind the wheel.

Truck No. 63 history

In 2019, the team decided to run the No. 63 for the whole season in memory of Mike Mittler, who died on May 10, 2019.

Truck No. 83 history

In 2017 D. J. Copp, a former dirt racer-turned-tire changer and crew chief, bought

and renumbered the No. 71 to the No. 83. Copp's family racing history was the driving force behind changing the number to 83. They made their first start with

Todd Peck Todd Michael Peck (born January 29, 1986) is an American professional stock car racing driver. He competes part-time in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series, driving the No. 96 Toyota Tundra for Peck Motorsports. He has also raced in the NASCAR Xfin ...

driving at

Daytona International Speedway Daytona International Speedway is a race track in Daytona Beach, Florida, United States. Since opening in 1959, it has been the home of the Daytona 500, the most prestigious race in NASCAR as well as its season opening event. In addition to NASC ...

in the

NextEra Energy Resources 250 The NextEra Energy 250 is the first race of the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series season at Daytona International Speedway and as of 2004 has been held under the lights. It is the Truck Series event of Speedweeks – the series of races leading ...

. In their first start, they finished 18th. Peck stayed with the team for the next race, but retired early with overheating issues.

Donnie Levister Donnie Levister (born April 19, 1976) is an American professional stock car racing driver. Racing career Early years Levister began his racing career on dirt tracks near his hometown of Winnsboro, South Carolina. Camping World Truck Serie ...

then made his first

Camping World Truck Series The NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series is a pickup truck racing series owned and operated by the National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing, and is the only series in NASCAR to race production pickup truck based stock cars. The series is one of ...

race with the team at martinsville, but again the truck fell victim to mechanical issues. Due to lack of sponsorship, the team started and parked in most of the races. On March 15, 2017, it was announced that former drag racer

Salvatore Iovino Salvatore Iovino (born July 15, 1983) is an American professional stock car racing driver. He is also a team owner for Holleran-Iovino Racing (HIR) in the K&N Pro Series East, competing under the Patriot Motorsports Group banner. Prior to compet ...

would pilot the Copp Motorsports entry full-time in 2018, though the truck number may not be 83, however, the deal fell through and Scott Stenzel, Bayley Currey, and Kyle Donahue now drive the 83.

Partnerships

Early in the

2017 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series The 2017 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series was the 23rd season of the third highest stock car racing series sanctioned by NASCAR in North America. The season began with the NextEra Energy Resources 250 at Daytona International Speedway on ...

season, Copp formed a partnership with

, fielding the No. 36 for

with MB owner Mike Mittler as crew chief. The following week, Murphy was shuffled out of MB's No. 63 at Charlotte to make room for

, who ran what appeared to be the Daytona truck renumbered to 63 and still under the MB banner in owner points.

References

External links

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{{Chevrolet in NASCAR Stock car racing American auto racing teams Defunct NASCAR teams 2017 establishments in North Carolina