Back on the NASCAR Gander RV & Outdoors Truck Series (NGROTS) scene after a brief sabbatical, Codie Rohrbaugh and his CR7 Motorsports team take their respectable Darlington (S.C.) Raceway finish and look for an impressive outing in Thursday night’s ToyotaCare 250 at Richmond (Va.) Raceway.
It’s no secret that the 2020 NASCAR Gander RV & Outdoors Truck Series season has had its ups and downs for the Rohrbaugh and his family-owned team but approaching the final race of the regular season – the team is hoping that hard work over the past month and a relentless effort from Rohrbaugh behind the wheel will showcase with on-track results.
“Darlington went OK,” said Rohrbaugh. “It was good for our team mojo to come back to the race track and have a clean and respectable race.
“Yeah, we would have wanted a little better finish – but we still made some gains from the start to the checkered flag. Now, we just have to keep going in the right direction.”
Thursday night’s race marks the final race of the regular season and while the focus of the race will shined around those that are contending for a Playoff spot, Rohrbaugh hopes his No. 9 CR7 Motorsports team is able to put themselves in position to be in the spotlight. “Richmond is like a hometown race for us,” he said. “It’s three hours south from home, but its one of those races we had circled on our schedule that we are looking forward too.”
As for the ToyotaCare 250, Rohrbaugh has never tacked the 0.875-mile track, but is looking forward to leaning on the experience of his crew chief Doug George and spotter Tim Fedewa for some Richmond guidance.
“I’ve never been to Richmond but neither has most of the drivers in the series, that helps, I think,” added Rohrbaugh. “There’s a couple of the veterans that have laps at Richmond – but not many. I think Stage 1 is going to be important to get a good read for what our truck is doing – then we can make changes from there.
“I really want to come out of Richmond with a top-20 finish then we go to Bristol next week for one of my favorite races and look to do even better. It’s hard to believe that the season is slowly coming to a close, but these next eight weeks will really go by quick and we need to do everything we can to make sure we’re set to end the season on a high note and prepare for 2021.”
For their ninth consecutive race, CR7 Motorsports and their partner Grant County Mulch has again given up their space this weekend race for Joshua Shirk.
The No. 9 Chevrolet Silverado has been designed with a western-theme scheme, personally selected by Shirk.
The hood carries a special touch with Shirk displaying a message of his own that he wrote before the accident, “I am a child of God. He saves me. I talk to he.”
On May 17, 2020, eight-year-old Joshua Shirk was kayaking with family in rural West Virginia.
While on the water, the kayak capsized and Shirk became trapped under the water in debris.
When the family was finally able to pull him to safety, the young boy had no pulse. Quick work by medical workers at a local hospital was able to revive him but he remained in critical condition.
Shirk was later transported to WVU hospital in Morganton, West Virginia where he has made vast improvements but still needs the love, prayer and support of many.
Over the last two months, Shirk has been able to come off a breathing machine and has started intense physical rehabilitation with a focus on working his muscles and standing up with assistance. His progress lately has been exceptional, as his muscles continue to strengthen – but a long road still remains.
With prayer, love and support working, Rohrbaugh hopes others will now pledge their support alongside his CR7 Motorsports team uniting strength in numbers and the power of prayer.
“Our mission continues to be really important to me,” said Rohrbaugh. “The prayers from everyone are working and I’m so happy that Joshua is making huge strides towards his recovery. I continue to plead when asking the NASCAR community to please support him by offering their thoughts and prayers to Josh and his family. It really means a lot to me.” After 15 races, Rohrbaugh is 22nd in the championship standings.
CR7 Motorsports has 24 NGOTS starts to their credit with a career-best finish of third at Daytona (Fla.) International Speedway (February 2020). Additionally, the team owns another top-10 finish at Martinsville (Va.) Speedway in October 2019. An 11th place qualifying effort at Talladega (Ala.) Superspeedway (Oct. 2019) is the team’s best time trials effort to date.
In 20 career ARCA starts, Rohrbaugh has a best finish of seventh twice at Pocono (Pa.) Raceway (July 2018 and Daytona (Fla.) International Speedway (February 2019). He has qualified a career-best fourth on four different occasions most recently at Kansas Speedway (Oct. 2018).
Marketing partnership(s) opportunities are available for the No. 97 Grant County Mulch Chevrolet and No. 9 Grant County Mulch Chevrolet for the 2020 ARCA Menards Series and NASCAR Gander RV & Outdoors Truck Series seasons and beyond. Interested inquiries are encouraged to contact at [email protected] or 304.257.8783.
The ToyotaCare 250 (250 laps| 187.5 miles) is the 16th of 23 NASCAR Gander RV & Outdoors Truck Series races on the 2020 schedule. The 35-truck field will take the green flag on Thurs. Sept. 10, 2020, shortly after 8:00 p.m. with live coverage on FOX Sports 1 (FS1), the Motor Racing Network (Radio) and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio (Satellite Radio, Channel 90). All times are local (Eastern).
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