HOMESTEAD, Florida (November 17, 2011) – – Randy Hill, one of the newest owners in the NASCAR Nationwide Series (NNS), surprised his driver Casey Roderick with an early Christmas present by informing the rookie Wednesday afternoon that he will attempt to qualify for the season-finale Ford 300 at Homestead-Miami (Fla.) Speedway this weekend.
In an 11th hour deal struck between Hill and Go Green Racing (GGR), Roderick will pilot the No. 04 Randy Hill Racing (RHR) Ford Mustang in the 34th and final Nationwide event of the 2011 season. Originally, Hill had not planned on entering the South Florida contest however; the opportunity arose for Roderick to reunite with GGR under the leadership of NASCAR champion crew chief Paul Andrews and Hill knew it was too good of an opportunity to pass up.
RHR and GGR united for the Zippo 200 at the Glen in August where Roderick qualified and finished the race in his inaugural Nationwide debut.
“Casey’s a magnificent driver,” said Hill, a successful entrepreneur from the Lone Star state. “We (Randy Hill Racing) made our debut at Texas Motor Speedway two weeks ago with David Ragan in order to evaluate our program. Undoubtedly, David (Ragan) was a great asset for the weekend and Casey learned so much and literally became the team’s biggest cheerleader for the weekend. He earned the opportunity to race this weekend.”
He continued, “We had not planned on taking our No. 08 Ford Mustang to the track this weekend in an effort to better prepare ourselves for next year, but when an opportunity arose that offered Casey a chance to get more seat time, I knew it was the right thing to do.”
For 19-year old Roderick, he had planned to vegetate in Mooresville, North Carolina this weekend to embrace the closing event of the 2011 season. But, when his telephone chimed with a message from Hill the rising star could barely contain himself.
“It’s very humbling and exciting all at the same time,” Roderick, a winner in the ARCA Racing Series presented by Menards stated. “I wasn’t planning on racing anything in NASCAR the rest of the year. Then Randy sent me the text message about how would I feel about racing Homestead, I immediately felt like a kid in a candy store.
Obviously, it’s the last race of the season and there is so much on the line for many of my fellow competitors, that we’ve kept our goals reasonable and easily obtainable on Saturday afternoon. First, we have to qualify, which I think we should be able to ace without hesitation – then it comes to racing all 300 miles in the Ford 300 and give our No. 04 Randy Hill Racing Ford Mustang a good run. I’m looking forward to working with Paul (Andrews) and learning from someone of his caliber. When the weekend is all said and done, we’ll debrief and focus on 2012,” concluded the Lawrenceville, Georgia native.
Hill added, “We’re carefully strategizing our schedule for 2012. We’re talking to some potential sponsors who have become increasingly interested in our program over the last couple of weeks. Not to mention the credentials that Casey (Roderick) has achieved makes me believe it’s going to be a busy, but successful 2012 NASCAR Nationwide Series campaign. However, before we can get started on that, we have to stay focused on Homestead this weekend. I would like to personally thank Archie (St. Hilaire, Go Green Racing owner) for opening the door for us to work together again.”
The Ford 300 (200 laps / 300 miles) is the 34th of 34 events on the 2011 NASCAR Nationwide Series schedule. The first practice session of the weekend begins on Friday, November 18th, from 9:00 a.m. to 10:20 a.m. A final “happy hour” practice session has been etched in from 12:30 p.m. to 1:50 p.m. Qualifying is set for race day, Saturday, November 19th scheduled to lift off at 1:05 p.m. live on SPEED. The field will take the green flag later that afternoon at 4:30 p.m. with live coverage on ESPN2, the Motor Racing Network (Radio) and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio (Satellite, Channel 90). Pre-race coverage of the anticipated thriller lifts off at 4:00 p.m. also on ESPN2.
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