DAYTONA BEACH, Fla.: A new season is upon Codie Rohrbaugh and the CR7 Motorsports team and they are prepared to tackle the 2021 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series season with the same mentality as 2020.
And that mentality worked to the team’s benefits on several occasions including last February’s NextEra Energy Resources 250 at Daytona (Fla.) International Speedway.
Despite an innocent mid-race spin, Rohrbaugh was able to draft his No. 9 Grant County Mulch Chevrolet back through the field and earned a career-best third-place finish in his Truck Series debut at the 2.5-mile superspeedway.
In the most recent superspeedway race at Talladega (Ala.) Superspeedway last October, Rohrbaugh, 27, flew under the radar for much of the race but during a late-race restart, the former ARCA Menards Series competitor made his move and hustled to a fifth-place result.
With two top-five finishes in his most recent superspeedway races, Rohrbaugh, a native of Petersburg, West Virginia and his Doug George-led team return to the “World Center of Racing” hoping to produce more of that same magic and kick off their 2021 season with momentum on their side.
“I’ve been ready for a while,” said Rohrbaugh. “I can’t wait to get to Daytona this week and back behind the wheel of our No. 9 Grant County Mulch Chevrolet and charge for another top-five finish – if not a win.
“I’m really proud of Doug (George, crew chief) and the rest of the CR7 Motorsports team for building such a sound and fast Chevrolet Silverado. It certainly makes my job easier. Hopefully, luck continues to be on our side, and we can leave Daytona Friday night with the same smiles we had a year ago.”
The CR7 Motorsports team will also race in honor of their general manager Mark Huff who passed away last week after a brief illness.
“There is a huge void left by the passing of Mark Huff,” added Rohrbaugh. “He wasn’t just a friend or a worker, he was family. He will be deeply missed and we will race in his honor not only at Daytona but all year.”
Planning to compete in most of the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series races this year, Rohrbaugh hopes to avoid the string of midseason blues and keep his Statesville, N.C.-based team on the radar for their on-track performances and determination.
“We learned a lot as a team through a pandemic and all,” added Rohrbaugh. “We had some ups, and we had some downs, but we still grew as a team and that’s the biggest positive. We strive to be better with each race we run.
“We know what we need to do to go fast at certain tracks and have work to do at others. Our team will put forth the effort, we just need everything to come together from luck to equipment and even the driver not making any mistakes. When we did that last year, we had some pretty good days.”
When it comes to the plan for Friday night’s race at Daytona, Rohrbaugh admits that their plan usually goes out the window within the first couple of laps of the race.
“You always like to have a game plan, but it just never seems to work out for us,” sounded Rohrbaugh. “It sounds good on paper and in our heads but once you throw that green flag – things change in a hurry, especially at Daytona. “We will try to stick to the plan at hand, but we also know that it can be unscripted within seconds.
“We know though – if we’re going to have a chance to contend for a good finish, we have to be around when the checkered flag is waving. That’s our goal, a repeat of 2020 – if not better.”
It’s a busy weekend at Daytona for CR7 Motorsports. In addition to Friday night’s NASCAR Camping World Truck Series race, the organization will field an ARCA Menards Series entry for Saturday afternoon’s Lucas Oil 200 driven by General Tire with Jason Kitzmiller behind the wheel.
Rohrbaugh competed in three ARCA Menards Series races at Daytona with a best finish of seventh in the 2019 edition.
CR7 Motorsports has 28 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 NextEra Energy Resources 250 (100 laps | 250 miles) is the first of 22 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series races on the 2021 schedule. Practice begins on Thurs, Feb. 11 from 5:35 p.m. – 6:25 p.m. Qualifying is set for race day, Fri., Feb. 12 beginning at 3:10 p.m. The field will take the green flag shortly after 7:30 p.m. with live coverage on FOX Sports 1, the Motor Racing Network (Radio) and SiriusXM NASCAR Channel 90.
