Derrike Cope starts Cope Family Racing Xfinity Series team, drivers announced

Here is a blast from the past. Derrike Cope and his family are starting Cope Family Racing. They will compete in the NASCAR Xfinity Series. A fresh new team with two young, eager drivers sharing the wheel for 2025.

Cope Family Racing is the newest addition to the Xfinity Series. The team plans to drive the No. 70 with Leland Honeyman Jr and Thomas Annunziata splitting the driver duties.

The No. 70 car returns. Derrike Cope last raced in the Xfinity Series under his own team in 2014-2016. He raced the No. 70 Chevy during that time. Now the number returns.

Cope has tapped two 19-year-olds to race his car. However, Honeyman and Annunziata have the talent. There are a lot of eyes on how these two develop over the next couple of years.

Annunziata comes from the Trans-Am ranks. He posted an impressive top-5 finish at Mid-Ohio in the ARCA Menards Series. If it wasn’t for some…unnecessary contact, he may have won that race.

As for Honeyman, he is coming off of his first full-time season in the Xfinity Series. He competed for Young’s Motorsports, managing a pair of top-10s on the year, including a season-best P4 at Talladega.

Derrike Cope, 1990 Daytona 500 champion, has been around the sport for decades. He has competed in NASCAR across five decades. The 1980s, 1990s, 2000s, 2010s, and 2020s. Now he is back as a team owner with a young core.

Derrike Cope returns to NASCAR as team owner

Three are a lot of great drivers and good teams in the Xfinity Series. I do not expect Cope Family Racing to have an easy time adjusting in 2025. With that said, we know that Honeyman can hold his own. I’d argue he more than overperformed with Young’s in 2024.

On top of that, Annunziata might be one of the best-kept secrets in racing right now. A bit of a late bloomer as far as racers go nowadays, Annunziata has cut his teeth in whatever car he can get behind the wheel of. From karting to Trans Am and now the Xfinity Series.

Annunziata grew up and developed in the same class as Connor Zilisch and was an even younger driver like Brent Crews. Last year when I spoke to Annunziata, he told me his plans were to mirror the path those other guys were taking. He’s well on his way now, albeit for smaller teams.

The more the merrier. Cope Family Racing and Derrike Cope are the new additions to the Xfinity Series. What are you expectations or the fledgling group and their pair of 19-year-old drivers?