DARLINGTON, S.C.: Taking a brief sabbatical from NASCAR Gander RV & Outdoors Truck Series (NGROTS) competition, Codie Rohrbaugh and his CR7 Motorsports team return to the track this weekend for Sunday’s South Carolina Education Lottery 200.
The two-race break for Rohrbaugh and his family-owned team allowed them to regroup and focus not only on his Darlington debut – but the remainder of the 2020 season.
“It feels great to be heading back to the race track this weekend,” said Rohrbaugh who scored a career-best third place run in the season-opening race at Daytona International Speedway.
“It was a tough decision for our team to stop and take a rest.
“We were doing what we could to keep soldiering on – but there came at a point where we had to think about what was in the best interest of not only myself and the team.
“We hated to miss Dover and Gateway – but the door is open for us to come back stronger and put results on the table.”
Much like his most recent race at the Daytona (Fla.) International Speedway Road Course, the Truck Series teams head to the 1.33-mile egg-shaped oval for the first time in nearly a decade and while nearly the entire field doesn’t have any experience around the historic
“Lady in Black,” Rohrbaugh and his Doug George-led team is trying to remain upbeat about what to expect for the 147-lap race.
“I wish I could tell you what to expect at Darlington this weekend, but I have no clue,” Rohrbaugh said with a laugh. “I’ll be relying on my crew chief Doug (George) and my spotter Timmy (Fedewa) who have been to Darlington in the past and they can keep me on the straight and narrow.
“I’d like to avoid the world-famous Darlington-stripe, but our goal is to return to the series and have a strong top-15 showing that can give us some momentum heading to Richmond next weekend.”
While Darlington has earned praises for its throwback weekend campaign, Rohrbaugh and his CR7 Motorsports decided to forgo a special paint scheme and still show their support 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 14 races, Rohrbaugh is 23rd in the championship standings.
CR7 Motorsports has 23 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 South Carolina Education Lottery 200 (147 laps| 200.1 miles) is the 15th of 23 NASCAR Gander RV & Outdoors Truck Series races on the 2020 schedule. The 39-truck field will take the green flag on Sun. Sept. 6, 2020, shortly after 2:00 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).
