CONCORD, N.C.: Codie Rohrbaugh and his CR7 Motorsports team come out of the COVID-19 NASCAR Gander RV & Outdoors Truck Series (NGROTS) hiatus looking to keep the team’s solid start to the 2020 season going in Tuesday night’s N.C. Education Lottery 200 at Charlotte (N.C.) Motor Speedway.
After tallying a career-best third place finish at Daytona (Fla.) International Speedway in February, the team produced another competitive run the following week at Las Vegas (Nev.) Motor Speedway with a respectable 18th-place performance.
Slated to enter the third race of the season at Atlanta (Ga.) Motor Speedway in March, the season was brought to a screeching halt – leaving the sport in a 70-day pause.
As the sport attempts to reboot the season, Charlotte is on deck and Rohrbaugh is ready to climb aboard his No. 9 Grant County Mulch Chevrolet Silverado and earn high praises.
“It feels like forever since we’ve been racing – but I’m glad we’ll be back in action on Tuesday night at Charlotte,” said Rohrbaugh. “It’s hard to imagine that we’re going back to the track without race fans, but I think the fans that will tune in and watch and listen will be rewarded with a great race.
“I like Charlotte a lot. It is a fast place where handling is critical and the draft offers opportunity and excitement. The guys on this CR7 Motorsports team have really been hustling the last few weeks to make sure our trucks are in good shape.”
Without the benefit of practice or qualifying because of the current NASCAR protocol, Rohrbaugh said he is glad he has turned laps around Charlotte’s 1.5-mile track.
“Going straight to race mode is pretty exhilarating, I haven’t done it very much,” Rohrbaugh added. “I’ve done it very few times but luckily I feel like I have a good baseline on where our trucks needs to be. My crew chief Doug (George) feels good about the setup and we’ll have a competition caution early in the race where we’ll be able to make more adjustments.
“The race will go by quickly, so we just need to make sure we keep making the adjustments and put ourselves in contention for a top-10 finish or better.”
After two races, Rohrbaugh stands 10th in the championship standings – and while his 2020 Truck Series schedule remains fluid, the team plans to run a majority of the season.
“It’s pretty cool to be sitting 10th in points heading to Charlotte,” sounded Rohrbaugh. “I wouldn’t be sitting where I am in points if it wasn’t for the guys on my CR7 Motorsports team.
“They have been through a lot and as a team we’ve only continued to make great strides with a focus on turning our program into a race-winning team. We’re getting close. We were almost there at Daytona. We’ll keep focused and see where the road takes us.”
By virtue of a qualifying draw, Rohrbaugh will start 31st for his 14th career NASCAR Gander RV & Outdoors Truck Series start.
Following Charlotte, CR7 Motorsports plans to return to the Truck Series scene at Atlanta on Sat., June 6, 2020.
CR7 Motorsports has 13 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 tonya@gcmulch.com or 304.257.8783.
The N.C. Education Lottery 200 (134 laps| 201 miles) is the third of 23 NASCAR Gander RV & Outdoors Truck Series races on the 2020 schedule. The 40-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 (Eastern).
