CR7 Motorsports (also sometimes known as Grant County Mulch Racing) is an American professional stock car racing team that currently competes in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series, fielding the No. 9 full-time Chevrolet Silverado for Grant Enfinger and the No. 97 part-time for Codie Rohrbaugh. CR7 also operates in the ARCA Menards Series with the No. 97 Chevrolet part-time for Jason Kitzmiller. The team has a technical alliance with McAnally-Hilgemann Racing.[1]
 | |
| Owner(s) | Codie Rohrbaugh Thomas Rohrbaugh Larry Berg |
|---|---|
| Series | NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series ARCA Menards Series ARCA Menards Series East |
| Race drivers | Truck Series: 9. Grant Enfinger 97. Codie Rohrbaugh (part-time) ARCA Menards Series: 97. Jason Kitzmiller, Landen Lewis (part-time) ARCA Menards Series East: 97. Landen Lewis (part-time) |
| Sponsors | Truck Series: 9. Grant County Mulch, Champion Power Equipment 97. Grant County Mulch ARCA Menards Series: 97. A.L.L Construction ARCA Menards Series East: 97. A.L.L Construction |
| Manufacturer | Chevrolet |
| Opened | 2014 (East Series) 2016 (ARCA) 2018 (Truck) |
| Career | |
| Debut | Truck Series: 2018 UNOH 200 (Bristol) ARCA Menards Series: 2016 Crosley 150 (Kentucky) ARCA Menards Series East: 2014 Pensacola 150 (Five Flags) ARCA Menards Series West: 2023 Desert Diamond Casino West Valley 100 (Phoenix) |
| Races competed | 185 Truck: 115 ARCA: 50 ARCA East: 19 ARCA West: 1 |
| Drivers' Championships | 0 |
| Race victories | 2 |
| Pole positions | 0 |
The team is not named after Association football/soccer player Cristiano Ronaldo.
History
editNASCAR Craftsman Truck Series
editTruck No. 9 history
edit
Rohrbaugh did qualify for the race in his and the team's first Truck Series attempt, at Bristol in 2018. As Korbin Forrister's team was already using the No. 7, they picked the No. 9 to use for their Truck Series team. They finished with a top-20 in their first race (16th) in No. 9 Chevrolet Silverado. Returning for the race at Texas in November, now driving a Ford truck, Rohrbaugh was able to make the race again, and he impressively picked up another top-20, finishing 17th. The team did announce they would be attempting Homestead, but they changed their mind to focus on preparing for the ARCA season-opener at Daytona in 2019.[2]
Returning in 2019, CR7 attempted twelve races, about half of the season, and all with Rohrbaugh as the driver. The team used Silverados in all races they attempted. Rohrbaugh qualified for nine of twelve races. His DNQs came at Daytona, Martinsville in March, and Bristol. He crashed in each of the first three races he did qualify for, which were at both Texas races (in March and June) and Charlotte. His other DNF that year came when he was involved in the big one at Talladega. Despite not qualifying for some of his races and not finishing in others, he scored a top-10 finish in the second Martinsville race in October.[3] Also in 2019, the team worked with three different crew chiefs. They started the year with Michael Shelton before he left to crew chief the No. 46 Kyle Busch Motorsports team. Their general manager and ARCA team crew chief Mark Huff worked with the truck team for the first Martinsville race. They then picked up Doug George, who came over after starting the season with the Niece Motorsports No. 44 team.[4] Rohrbaugh returned and ran 17 races in 2020. The season started with him finishing third in the NextEra Energy 250. Other than that, Rohrbaugh posted 5 top 20 finishes, including a 5th-place finish at Talladega Superspeedway and a 6th-place finish at Richmond Raceway. In 2021, Rohrbaugh got another top-10 in the season opener NextEra Energy 250, finishing 8th. Grant Enfinger drove the No. 9 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, finishing 7th. At the end of the year Colby Howard would make 3 starts for the team. In 2022, Blaine Perkins would drive the No. 9 truck full-time. Perkins scored only one top 20 finish that season, an 18th-place finish at Nashville. Perkins ended the season 32nd in the standings and left the team at the conclusion of the season. In 2023, Colby Howard would drive the entry full-time. He finished 24th in the final standings. In 2024, Grant Enfinger will return to drive the No. 9 full-time in a multi-year deal.
Enfinger started the 2024 season with a 17th-place finish at Daytona. Despite not scoring a win during the regular season, he stayed consistent with five top-fives and eight top-10 finishes to make the playoffs. Enfinger gave CR7 its first win at Talladega and made the Championship 4.[5] He followed it up with another win at Homestead.[6]
Truck No. 9 results
editTruck No. 97 history
editIn 2022, the team announced that Jason Kitzmiller would make his truck series start in the 2022 NextEra Energy 250, driving the No. 97, which is his main ARCA number, for a second entry.[7] However, he withdrew from the event after crashing his primary truck in practice and not having a backup truck.
Truck No. 97 results
edit| Year | Driver | No. | Make | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | Owners | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | Jason Kitzmiller | 97 | Chevy | DAY Wth |
LVS | ATL | COA | MAR | BRI | DAR | KAN | TEX | CLT | GTW | SON | KNO | NSH | MOH | POC | IRP | RCH | KAN | BRI | TAL | HOM | PHO | 57th | 0 |
| 2023 | Codie Rohrbaugh | DAY 33 |
LVS | ATL | COA | TEX | BRD | MAR | KAN | DAR | NWS | CLT | GTW | NSH | MOH | POC | RCH | IRP | MLW | KAN | BRI | TAL | HOM | PHO | 47th | 4 | ||
| 2024 | DAY 23 |
ATL | LVS | BRI | COA | MAR | TEX | KAN | DAR | NWS | CLT | GTW | NSH | POC | IRP | RCH | MLW | BRI | KAN | TAL | HOM | MAR | PHO | 45th | 14 |
ARCA Menards Series
editIn addition to their K&N East races in 2016, Rohrbaugh's team made their ARCA debut that year, running the last two races of the year at Kentucky and Kansas. The same as how he did in his first East Series start, Rohrbaugh finished 13th in his ARCA Series debut. However, Rohrbaugh did not finish the race at Kansas due to electrical issues and ended up 32nd.
For 2017, Rohrbaugh and his No. 7 team attempted an expanded schedule of eight races in ARCA after dropping their K&N program. The team ran Chevrolets in all races, except for Daytona and Talladega that they ran Dodges. Rohrbaugh finished every race no worse than 16th except for when he crashed out at Chicago, finishing 29th. His best finishes were a pair of 8th-place runs at Michigan and Kansas.
The team started out the 2018 season now driving a Chevrolet SS but crashed at Daytona and rebuilt the same car in time to attempt Talladega.[8]
At the ARCA Daytona test in January 2019, Rohrbaugh announced he would compete in all the speedway races that year.[9] However, Rohrbaugh eventually decided to focus on the Truck Series team, and they cut back their ARCA schedule for the rest of the 2019 season. Eric Caudell bought the team's owner points and switched his team's car number from the No. 2 to the No. 7, which Rohrbaugh's team had been running.
For 2020, the team returned to ARCA, entering a car in the series' testing at January in January with newcomer Jason Kitzmiller driving the No. 97[10] (since Caudell was continuing to use the No. 7).[11] The team then filed an entry for the race there in February.[12] The team has yet to announce whether they will attempt more races throughout the year after Daytona.
ARCA Menards Series East
editRohrbaugh's family team made their first NASCAR starts in 2014 in what was then the K&N Pro Series East while also competing full-time in the X-1R Pro Cup Series that year. With his grandfather Larry Berg as the listed owner, the team fielded the No. 05 Toyota in three races: Five Flags, New Hampshire, and Dover. Their best finish was in their debut at Five Flags, where Rohrbaugh finished 13th.
They returned for another part-time schedule in 2015, switching numbers from the No. 05 to the No. 7 and manufacturers from Toyota to Chevrolet. The team ran New Hampshire and Dover again, and also for the first time attempted New Smyrna, Bristol, and Richmond. The other race they entered that year was the East Series’ first and to-date only race at Motordrome Speedway, where Rohrbaugh and his team earned their first top-10 with a 9th place finish.
The team attempted five East Series races the following year. They attempted mostly the same schedule, but with Motordrome and Richmond off the schedule for 2016, they attempted the new race at Mobile instead. Rohrbaugh crashed out in two of his five starts and finished in the top-20 (two 19ths and a 13th) in his remaining races.
References
edit- ^ "Grant Enfinger secures new NASCAR Truck ride with CR7". usmotorsport. December 12, 2023. Retrieved January 18, 2024.
- ^ "Update from Codie Rohrbaugh and Grant County Mulch Racing". Catchfence. Retrieved December 25, 2019.
- ^ Massie, Michael (October 26, 2019). "Codie Rohrbaugh Scores First Career Top 10 in Martinsville Truck Race". Frontstretch. Retrieved December 25, 2019.
- ^ "Codie Rohrbaugh grabs new crew chief in time for Martinsville Truck Series debut". Speedway Digest. March 22, 2019. Retrieved December 25, 2019.
- ^ Cain, Holly (October 4, 2024). "Grant Enfinger wins Truck Series playoff race at Talladega". NASCAR. Retrieved October 5, 2024.
- ^ Schramm, Dewey III (October 26, 2024). "Grant Enfinger Goes Back-to-Back, Scores Victory at Homestead". TobyChristie.com. Retrieved October 26, 2024.
- ^ Srigley, Joseph (February 10, 2022). "Jason Kitzmiller Making Truck Series Debut at Daytona, Driving Second CR7 Motorsports Entry". TobyChristie.com. Retrieved February 15, 2022.
- ^ Radebaugh, Don (April 26, 2018). "Codie Rohrbaugh rebuilds speedway car for Talladega". ARCARacing.com. Archived from the original on December 26, 2019. Retrieved December 25, 2019.
- ^ Krall, Charles (January 16, 2019). "Codie Rohrbaugh Ready To Tackle 2019". ARCARacing.com. Archived from the original on December 26, 2019. Retrieved December 25, 2019.
- ^ C, Rich (January 13, 2020). "ARCA Menards Series Testing-Daytona". ARCARacing.com. Retrieved January 17, 2020.
- ^ "Daytona Test Entry List". ARCARacing.com. Archived from the original on December 24, 2019. Retrieved January 17, 2020.
- ^ "ARCA Daytona 200 Entry List". ARCARacing.com. Retrieved January 17, 2020.[permanent dead link]
External links
edit- CR7 Motorsports owner statistics at Racing-Reference