Angela Ruch

Angela Ruch
Ruch in 2011
Born	Angela Christine Cope (1983-08-18) August 18, 1983 Puyallup, Washington, U.S.
Height	5 ft 3 in (1.60 m)
Weight	100 lb (45 kg)
Achievements	1995 Tri-Cities Gold Cup Yamaha Class champion 1998 PSGKA Gold Cup Junior Piston Port winner 2002 Lucas Oil Can-Am 150 (Sun Valley Speedway) winner
NASCAR Xfinity Series career
14 races run over 4 years
2018 position	68th
Best finish	55th (2011)
First race	2011 Iowa John Deere Dealers 250 (Iowa)
Last race	2018 Ford EcoBoost 300 (Homestead)
Wins Top tens Poles 0 0 0
NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series career
18 races run over 3 years
2020 position	42nd
Best finish	31st (2019)
First race	2010 Kroger 200 (Martinsville)
Last race	2020 Vankor 350 (Texas)
Wins Top tens Poles 0 1 0
Statistics current as of November 11, 2020.

Angela Christine Ruch (/rək/RUHK, née Cope, born August 18, 1983) is an American professional stock car racing driver. She is the niece of Derrike Cope and the sister of Amber Cope. She last competed in the NASCAR Gander RV & Outdoors Truck Series, driving the No. 00 Chevrolet Silverado/Toyota Tundra for Reaume Brothers Racing.

Racing career

Angela and Amber Cope became the third generation of Copes to enter into the world of racing. They started racing go-karts in the Greater Puget Sound area after their parents gave them a go-kart for Christmas at age 9. In their seven years of driving go-karts in the Pacific Northwest, Angela and her sister earned 50 wins and 20 pole positions combined. Angela also set new track records at five of six tracks in the same region.

At age 15, both Angela and Amber progressed to racing late models. In 2000, they were featured on The Early Show with host Bryant Gumbel during their career in late models.

As Angela and Amber became more experienced behind the wheel, they knew that in order to advance their careers and have the chance at driving in NASCAR, they would have to leave Washington, so they moved across the country to the Charlotte metropolitan area, where most of the race teams are located. Putting their focus into learning the in and outs of professional racing, the twins traveled with their uncle Derrike to every Cup race that he was competing in.

In 2006, the twins split seat time in the ARCA Re/Max Series at Berlin, Gateway, Chicagoland, Milwaukee and Toledo. Angela's starts were at Berlin in the No. 1 for Andy Belmont and Milwaukee in the No. 72 for Mario Gosselin. After not making any ARCA starts in 2007, Angela returned for one race in the series in 2008 at Kentucky Speedway. Driving the No. 68 Dodge for Rick Markle, she qualified eighth and finished 29th. Amber was also in this race, qualifying 15th and finishing 38th in the No. 70 car for her uncle's team.

In 2011, Angela competed in four Nationwide Series races. In 2012, she was announced to share the No. 24 SR2 Motorsports Toyota in the series with her twin sister and Benny Gordon on a part-time schedule.

Five years later, she made her return to NASCAR's Xfinity Series at Kentucky Speedway, now going by Angela Ruch after getting married during her time without a ride. She drove the No. 78 B. J. McLeod Motorsports Chevrolet.

In 2019, Ruch returned to the Gander Outdoors Truck Series with NEMCO Motorsports. She finished a NASCAR career-best 8th at Daytona, her first lead lap finish and the second-highest ever for a female in the Truck Series. In March, Ruch and Niece Motorsports announced she would be tapped to race 12 events in the Gander Outdoors Truck Series starting at Texas Motor Speedway.

It was announced on January 29, 2020 that Ruch would run a full-time Truck schedule in 2020, driving the No. 00 Chevrolet/Toyota for Reaume Brothers Racing with an alliance with Niece Motorsports, who she drove for in 2019. After running the first five races, Ruch missed the Pocono Raceway event due to sponsorship issues and was replaced by team owner Josh Reaume in the No. 00.

Motorsports career results

NASCAR

(key) (Bold – Pole position awarded by qualifying time. Italics – Pole position earned by points standings or practice time. * – Most laps led.)

Xfinity Series

NASCAR Xfinity Series results
Year	Team	No.	Make	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	21	22	23	24	25	26	27	28	29	30	31	32	33	34	NXSC	Pts	Ref
2011	TriStar Motorsports	44	Chevy	DAY	PHO	LVS	BRI	CAL	TEX	TAL	NSH	RCH	DAR	DOV	IOW 28	CLT	CHI	MCH	ROA	DAY	KEN	NHA 25	NSH	IRP	IOW	GLN	CGV	BRI	ATL	RCH	CHI DNQ	DOV						55th	56
		23																															KAN 32
		70																																CLT 35	TEX	PHO	HOM
2012	SR² Motorsports	00	Chevy	DAY	PHO	LVS	BRI	CAL	TEX	RCH	TAL	DAR	IOW	CLT 36	DOV																							76th	25
		24														MCH 28	ROA	KEN	DAY	NHA	CHI	IND	IOW	GLN	CGV	BRI	ATL	RCH	CHI	KEN	DOV
		00	Toyota																													CLT 43	KAN	TEX	PHO	HOM
2017	B. J. McLeod Motorsports	78	Chevy	DAY	ATL	LVS	PHO	CAL	TEX	BRI	RCH	TAL	CLT	DOV	POC	MCH	IOW	DAY	KEN 30	NHA	IND	IOW	GLN	MOH	BRI	ROA	DAR	RCH	CHI	KEN 32	DOV	CLT 35	KAN	TEX 38	PHO	HOM		66th	14
2018		8		DAY	ATL	LVS	PHO	CAL	TEX	BRI	RCH	TAL	DOV	CLT	POC	MCH	IOW	CHI	DAY	KEN	NHA 30	IOW	GLN	MOH	BRI	ROA	DAR	IND	LVS	RCH	CLT	DOV						68th	16
		38																															KAN 29	TEX	PHO
	RSS Racing	39	Chevy																																	HOM 37

Gander RV & Outdoors Truck Series

NASCAR Gander RV & Outdoors Truck Series results
Year	Team	No.	Make	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	21	22	23	24	25	NGTC	Pts	Ref
2010	Daisy Ramirez Motorsports	01	Dodge	DAY	ATL	MAR	NSH	KAN	DOV	CLT	TEX	MCH	IOW	GTY	IRP	POC	NSH	DAR	BRI	CHI	KEN	NHA	LVS	MAR 30	TAL	TEX	PHO	HOM	111th	73
2019	NEMCO Motorsports	8	Chevy	DAY 8	ATL	LVS 16	MAR																						31st	139
	Niece Motorsports	44	Chevy					TEX 30	DOV	KAN 16	CLT 23	TEX 29	IOW	GTW	CHI	KEN	POC	ELD	MCH	BRI 30	MSP	LVS 22	TAL 28	MAR	PHO	HOM 29
2020	Reaume Brothers Racing	00	Chevy	DAY 28																									42nd	84
			Toyota		LVS 24	CLT 23	ATL 28	HOM 24	POC	KEN 25	TEX 23	KAN	KAN	MCH	DAY	DOV	GTW	DAR	RCH	BRI	LVS	TAL	KAN	TEX	MAR	PHO

ARCA Re/Max Series

(key) (Bold – Pole position awarded by qualifying time. Italics – Pole position earned by points standings or practice time. * – Most laps led.)

ARCA Re/Max Series results
Year	Team	No.	Make	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	21	22	23	ARMC	Pts	Ref
2006	Andy Belmont Racing	1	Ford	DAY	NSH	SLM	WIN	KEN	TOL	POC	MCH	KAN	KEN	BLN 22	POC	GTW	NSH	MCH	ISF								110th	190
	DGM Racing	72	Chevy																	MIL 32	TOL	DSF	CHI	SLM	TAL	IOW
2008	Rick Markle Racing	68	Dodge	DAY	SLM	IOW	KAN	CAR	KEN	TOL	POC	MCH	CAY	KEN 29	BLN	POC	NSH	ISF	DSF	CHI	SLM	NJE	TAL	TOL			136th	85

^* Season still in progress
¹ Ineligible for series points

External links

• Official website
• Angela Ruch driver statistics at Racing-Reference
• Cope twins hope to mix fashion, fierce racing in NASCAR. Sports Illustrated, February 8, 2011.
• Truck Series is about to get a double injection of style. NASCAR. January 15, 2010.