FORT WORTH, Tex. – The start of the 2019 NASCAR Gander Outdoors Truck Series (NGOTS) season for CR7 Motorsports and Codie Rohrbaugh (@RohrbaughRacing) hasn’t gone exactly as planned, but the team heads to Texas Motor Speedway (TMS) determined to hit the reset button.
Armed with new crew chief Doug George and the leadership of team manager Mark Huff, the former NASCAR K&N Pro Series East (NKNPSE) competitor returns to the Lone Star state seeking his first career top-10 finish.
And with an emphasis put towards the team’s mile-and-a-half program, Rohrbaugh hopes to deliver a strong effort in his No. 9 Grant County Mulch Chevrolet Silverado and get his year back on track.
“We head to Texas looking to turn our season around,” said Rohrbaugh. “We’ve had some hardship at Daytona and Martinsville, but the determination in our team is resilient.
“I feel very confident in the truck we’re bringing to the track this weekend and know that a good finish Friday night could give us a much-needed boost.”
Texas Motor Speedway was the last race for Rohrbaugh during the 2018 NGOTS season and while the team started deep in the field in 26th, the team made great strides during the race and finished a respectable 17th.
“I’m hoping what I learned at Texas last year will be a benefit to us this weekend,” added Rohrbaugh. “I know Doug (George) has made some suggestions for our truck and I’m excited to see how that will unfold. The biggest factor for us this week is to make sure we can keep up with the handling of our No. 9 Grant County Mulch Chevrolet since we’ll practice and qualify during the day but race at night.
“We’ll be confident and focused and look for a memorable night in Texas. They say everything is big in Texas.”
Skipping the season-finale at Homestead-Miami (Fla.) Speedway last November to focus on the 2019 season, Rohrbaugh hopes the team’s decision to forgo the season finale will pay off on March 29th.
“The mile-and-a-half tracks will make the bread and butter of our season and we wanted to put a lot of time and effort into our program to make sure we’re as competitive as possible,” added Rohrbaugh.
“While things didn’t go our way at Daytona and Martinsville, we know where we need to improve with those trucks and feel like can show everyone what our CR7 Motorsports team is capable of on Friday night.”
Following Texas, CR7 Motorsports will return to the ARCA Menards Series tour at Talladega (Ala.) Superspeedway on Apr. 26 before returning to the NASCAR Gander Outdoors Truck Series in May at Charlotte (N.C.) Motor Speedway.
In 19 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 including at Kansas Speedway (Oct. 2018).
Marketing partnership(s) opportunities are available for the No. 7 Grant County Mulch Chevrolet and No. 9 Grant County Mulch Chevrolet for the 2019 ARCA Menards Series and NASCAR Gander Outdoors Truck Series seasons and beyond. Interested inquiries are encouraged to contact at tonya@gcmulch.com or 304.257.8783.
The Vankor 350k (147 laps| 220.5 miles) is the fifth of 23 NASCAR Gander Outdoors Truck Series races on the 2019 schedule. Practice begins on Thurs., March 28 from 3:05 p.m. – 3:55 p.m. A final practice session is set for 5:05 p.m. – 5:55 p.m. Qualifying is set for race day, Fri., Mar. 29 beginning at 4:10 p.m. The 32-truck field will take the green flag 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 (Central).
