Angela Ruch

Angela Christine Ruch (, 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 fifteenth 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 eighth 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 Pts Ref 2011 TriStar Motorsports 44 Chevy DAY PHO LVS BRI CAL TEX TAL NSH RCH DAR DOV IOW28 CLT CHI MCH ROA DAY KEN NHA25 NSH IRP IOW GLN CGV BRI ATL RCH CHIDNQ DOV 55th 56 23 KAN32 70 CLT35 TEX PHO HOM 2012 SR² Motorsports 00 Chevy DAY PHO LVS BRI CAL TEX RCH TAL DAR IOW CLT36 DOV 76th 25 24 MCH28 ROA KEN DAY NHA CHI IND IOW GLN CGV BRI ATL RCH CHI KEN DOV 00 Toyota CLT43 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 KEN30 NHA IND IOW GLN MOH BRI ROA DAR RCH CHI KEN32 DOV CLT35 KAN TEX38 PHO HOM 66th 14 2018 8 DAY ATL LVS PHO CAL TEX BRI RCH TAL DOV CLT POC MCH IOW CHI DAY KEN NHA30 IOW GLN MOH BRI ROA DAR IND LVS RCH CLT DOV 68th 16 38 KAN29 TEX PHO RSS Racing 39 Chevy HOM37

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 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 MAR30 TAL TEX PHO HOM 111th 73 2019 NEMCO Motorsports 8 Chevy DAY8 ATL LVS16 MAR 31st 139 Niece Motorsports 44 Chevy TEX30 DOV KAN16 CLT23 TEX29 IOW GTW CHI KEN POC ELD MCH BRI30 MSP LVS22 TAL28 MAR PHO HOM29 2020 Reaume Brothers Racing 00 Chevy DAY28 42nd 84 Toyota LVS24 CLT23 ATL28 HOM24 POC KEN25 TEX23 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 Pts Ref 2006 Andy Belmont Racing 1 Ford DAY NSH SLM WIN KEN TOL POC MCH KAN KEN BLN22 POC GTW NSH MCH ISF 110th 190 DGM Racing 72 Chevy MIL32 TOL DSF CHI SLM TAL IOW 2008 Rick Markle Racing 68 Dodge DAY SLM IOW KAN CAR KEN TOL POC MCH CAY KEN29 BLN POC NSH ISF DSF CHI SLM NJE TAL TOL 136th 85

Season still in progress Ineligible for series points