MARTINSVILLE, Va.: Carrying momentum from their most recent NASCAR Gander RV & Outdoors Truck Series race at Talladega (Ala.) Superspeedway earlier this month, Codie Rohrbaugh and his CR7 Motorsports team head to Martinsville (Va.) Speedway hoping to earn back-to-back top-10 finishes for the first time in the team’s young tenure.
On Oct. 3, Rohrbaugh and his team were hopeful for a good run on the 2.66-mile superspeedway. The home of the team’s career-best qualifying effort and the career-best third place finish for Rohrbaugh in the season-opening race at Daytona (Fla.) International Speedway, a track with similar characteristics had the family-owned team upbeat.
Despite having to drop to the rear of the field at the start of the race for an inspection failure, Rohrbaugh did not let his deficit affect his performance.
Throughout the race, Rohrbaugh used patience and a well-balanced No. 9 Grant County Mulch Chevrolet Silverado to guide his way though the field. A restart with two laps to go saw Rohrbaugh slice and dice his way through the field and take the checkered fifth under caution.
The performance was the team’s second top-five of 2020 and third top-10 overall.
This weekend, the team returns to the tight paperclip short track of Martinsville (Va.) Speedway eyeing their fourth top-10 finish of the season in their final Truck Series race of 2020.
“We are still riding high from the finish at Talladega,” said Rohrbaugh. “I’m really proud of this C7 Motorsports team. We worked hard and were able to stay out of trouble and be around for the end when it counted most. Hopefully, we can go to Martinsville and end the season with another top-10.”
The good news for Rohrbaugh and his Doug George-led team is Martinsville is the home of the team’s first career top-10 in Truck Series competition last October at the 0.526-mile short track.
Finishing 10th after starting 18th, Rohrbaugh realizes it will take a similar approach with patience to conquer Martinsville again.
“Martinsville was a track I struggled with early in the season last year,” Rohrbaugh admitted. “Then, I went to work, I studied the track, talked to my competitors and my team and we were much better in the fall and it showed with performance.
“This weekend is our final race of the 2020 season, and I’d like to end it the way we started with a strong finish. 2020 has certainly been an unorthodox season because of COVID-19, but we’ve been blessed to have some positive finishes despite everything. I look forward to the race on Friday night.”
As for next season, the team is hopeful to run a similar schedule in 2021 and plans to start their year with the season-opener at Daytona (Fla.) International Speedway.
“The plan is to be at Daytona and have a similar Truck Series schedule in 2021 that we did this year,” sounded Rohrbaugh. “We still have some things to do to be a better race team next season. We were plagued with some bad luck and if we can clean a lot of that up, we should be in good shape.”
For their 12th 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 fourth 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.
Competing in 16 of the 21 races in 2020, Rohrbaugh is 22nd in the championship standings.
CR7 Motorsports has 27 NGOTS starts to their credit with a career-best finish of third at Daytona (Fla.) International Speedway (February 2020). Additionally, the team owns three other top-10 finishes at Talladega (Ala.) Superspeedway (fifth) in October 2020, Richmond (Va.) Raceway (sixth) in September 2020 and Martinsville (Va.) Speedway (10th) 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 A.L.L. Construction | Grant County Mulch Chevrolet and No. 9 Grant County Mulch Chevrolet for the 2021 ARCA Menards Series and NASCAR Camping World Truck Series seasons and beyond. Interested inquiries are encouraged to contact at tonya@gcmulch.com or 304.257.8783.
The NASCAR Hall of Fame 200 (200 laps | 105.2 miles) is the 22nd of 23 NASCAR Gander RV & Outdoors Truck Series races on the 2020 schedule. The 38-truck field will take the green flag on Fri. Oct. 30, 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).
