62-year-old former Daytona 500 winner Derrike Cope plans to compete in NASCAR's 2021 opener

NASCAR driver Derrike Cope is returning to the track for what his team is calling his final Daytona 500 start. And he's doing it at 62 years old.

Cope will drive the No. 15 Chevrolet for Rick Ware Racing in the Feb. 14 season opener and is guaranteed a spot in the race. He won the 1990 Daytona 500, and the only other checkered flag in his 427 Cup Series races was the 1990 spring race at Dover International Speedway.

However, this will be his first race at Daytona International Speedway since 2004 and his first start overall since the 2018 Southern 500 at Darlington Raceway, where he finished 33rd - a high among the three races he ran that season.

"I have known Rick and his family for a long time and I am excited to have the opportunity to go to Daytona and race for another win!" Cope - who's also the team manager for current Cup Series team StarCom Racing - said via a team release, adding that he "could not be more excited" to return to the iconic track.

A 62-year-old athlete competing as a professional is rare, it's not totally unheard of in NASCAR. But to put this into context compared with Cope's current Daytona 500 competitors, he's 17 years older than Kevin Harvick - who's now the oldest full-time Cup Series driver - and nearly 40 years older than the Cup Series' reigning champion, Chase Elliott.

Speaking to SiriusXM NASCAR Radio on Tuesday, Cope explained his mentality heading into the Daytona 500.

"I'm not your average 62-year-old," he said. "I think I'm pretty young at heart. I'm in pretty good shape. Obviously, I've lost about 20 pounds over the winter working out, so I feel good about going to Daytona. I think Daytona really is a thinking-man's race. I think you really have to stay within yourself and know what you have for a race car. And one thing you have to know is you have to understand the air and how to be manipulating people and getting people to do what you want them to do.

"So I feel very confident in regard to that, so I'll go down there and drive within myself and my capabilities, and hopefully, I'll find the patience necessary to get myself to run all 200 laps. And if that transpires, then I think I can be in a position to go out there and do battle at the end, and it won't be easy for anybody if I get to that point."

The season-opening 2021 Daytona 500 is scheduled for Sunday, Feb. 14, at 2:30 p.m. ET on Fox.