MARTINSVILLE, Va.: For the third time this season, Colby Howard returns to CR7 Motorsports set to drive the No. 9 Grant County Mulch Chevrolet Silverado in Saturday afternoon’s penultimate NASCAR Camping World Truck Series (NCWTS) race of the season at the historic Martinsville (Va.) Speedway.
Howard, a native of Simpsonville, N.C. is soaking up the experience of driving for the Statesville, N.C.-based team in preparation of his rookie campaign on the tour in 2022.
Last month, Howard was announced as a new driver of a second NASCAR Camping World Truck Series team for McAnally-Hilgemann Racing next season. The addition of Saturday afternoon’s Truck Series will continue to allow him to add priceless laps under his belt as he prepares for a hopeful championship effort in 2022.
And a career-best performance would be a welcomed belated Birthday present for Howard who celebrated his 20th birthday on Oct. 28.
CR7 Motorsports returns to the tour after a three-week breather where at Talladega (Ala.) Superspeedway, mainstay driver Codie Rohrbaugh contended for a top-10 finish but was eliminated from the Chevrolet Silverado 250 on the last lap and finished 16th.
With speed in their race trucks led by crew chief Doug George, the organization is focused on another top-10 in the 21st race of the season.
“We are excited to have Colby back behind the wheel of our truck,” said Rohrbaugh. “He did a fantastic job for our team not only at Darlington but at Bristol last month. With another short track race on deck, we think it is very possible that he can easily contend for a top-10 finish.”
At Bristol, Howard started 20th and dodged several melees on the tight, half-mile coliseum and delivered a 15th place result – on the heels of his 13th place effort at Darlington (S.C.) Raceway the week before.
With prior experience at Martinsville earlier this year in the NASCAR Xfinity Series, the South Carolinian is banking on his prior experience at the historic Virginia paperclip to propel him to his first career top-10 finish in the Truck Series.
“I cannot thank Codie (Rohrbaugh), Doug (George) and the entire CR7 Motorsports team and family enough for this opportunity again,” said Howard. “I have had a lot of fun driving this No. 9 Grant County Mulch Chevrolet Silverado. With two good finishes under our belt at Darlington and Bristol, I am hoping for another good run in the Truck Series.”
Knowing the confines of Martinsville are night and day compared to the track of Darlington and Bristol, Howard is hoping that the good ole’ short track mentality will take over and he will use that to be an advantage towards rewarding the family-owned team with their fifth top-10 finish of 2021.
“Martinsville is a very tight short track, there isn’t a lot of room to hide, let alone make an error,” Howard added. “It’s a place where track position is everything and you have to be willing to stick with whatever challenges come your way.
“It’s gonna be rough for sure. It’s not as easy of a track to pass as Darlington or Bristol may be – so you may have to be aggressive – but you don’t want to be too aggressive and have it bite you right back or perhaps even later in the race. We will run our race, hopefully, keep the truck clean as long as possible and just see how the dominos fall to hopefully bring home another solid finish.”
Based on metrics set by NASCAR without practice or qualifying, Howard will line up 29th for the 200-lap race.
Entering Martinsville, CR7 Motorsports holds 24th in the championship owner standings participating in 18 of the 20 races this season.
Following Martinsville, Fairhope, Ala.’s Grant Enfinger will return to the organization to close out the 2021 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series season at Phoenix (Ariz.) Raceway on Fri., Nov. 5., 2021.
CR7 Motorsports has 44 NCWTS starts to their credit with a career-best finish of third at Daytona (Fla.) International Speedway (February 2020). Additionally, the team owns six other top-10 finishes including two this season at Circuit of the Americas (fourth | Grant Enfinger) in May 2021 and Las Vegas (Nev.) Motor Speedway (seventh | Grant Enfinger) in March 2021. An 11th place qualifying effort at Talladega (Ala.) Superspeedway (Oct. 2019) is the team’s best time trials effort to date.
Marketing partnership(s) opportunities are also available for the No. 9 Grant County Mulch Chevrolet in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series, as well as the team’s ARCA Menards Series No. 97 A.L.L. Construction | Grant County Mulch Chevrolet program with driver Jason Kitzmiller for the 2021 seasons and beyond. Interested inquiries are encouraged to contact tonya@gcmulch.com or 304.257.8783.
The United Rentals 200 (200 laps | 105.2 miles) is the 21st of 22 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series races on the 2021 schedule. The 40-truck field will take the green flag on Sat., Oct. 30, 2021, shortly after 1:00 p.m. ET with live coverage on FOX Sports 1, the Motor Racing Network (Radio) and SiriusXM Satellite Radio NASCAR Channel 90.
