Randy Hill Racing; Casey Roderick Deliver Career Weekend At Phoenix

Randy Hill Racing; Casey Roderick Deliver Career Weekend At Phoenix

Topics: Casey Roderick, Bashas’ Supermarkets 200

Randy Hill Racing; Casey Roderick Deliver Career Weekend At Phoenix

Chris Knight
Knight Motorsports Management
Randy Hill Racing
March 4, 2012

“Randy Hill Racing; Casey Roderick Jointly Collect First Top-20 Finish”

AVONDALE, Arizona (March 4, 2012) - - In a relatively calm Bashas’ Supermarkets 200 at Phoenix (Ariz.) International Raceway for the NASCAR Nationwide Series (NNS), Casey Roderick in the No. 08 RandyHillRacing.com Ford Mustang rightfully benefited from two Aarons “lucky dogs” during the 200-lap contest to net his career-best finish for the immensely improving Randy Hill Racing (RHR) team.

After buckling in the 18th and 15th quickest laps in the two practice sessions respectively on Friday afternoon, the team led by crew chief Paul Andrews and car chief David Ingram had high hopes for qualifying Saturday morning. The extremely slick one-mile oval would present its challenges for the teams, including RHR. However, the 19-year old Roderick would be able to secure the 22nd fastest lap – good enough to lock himself into his fifth career NASCAR Nationwide Series start.

The 43 car starting field took the green field shortly after 2:30 p.m. local with Roderick quickly trying to maneuver the No. 08 RandyHillRacing.com Ford Mustang into the top-20, but Roderick would soon realize that the second race of the year would be no piece of cake.

It would take 32 laps for the former ARCA Racing Series presented by Menards winner to crack the top-20 after he passed former series champion Joe Nemechek. Three laps later Roderick would quickly move past the No. 81 of Jason Bowles to secure the 19th position.

A caution flag on lap 42 would allow Andrews to bring his rookie down pit road for four tires, fuel and two chassis adjustments. Restarting again in the top-20, Roderick would hover safely inside the top-20 through lap 82 when the leaders who were setting a blistering pace would find themselves overtaking Roderick’s blue oval dropping him one lap off the pace.

Luckily 14 laps later, the yellow flag would waive for the second time of the afternoon with Roderick sitting in the “lucky dog” position which would allow the rising phenom to re-secure his placement back on the lead circuit. The disadvantage for the team though would be restarting the race at the tail end of the field.

After ducking down to pit lane for four more tires, fuel and a track bar adjustment, Roderick would restart 18th. Methodically, Roderick continued to slice his way through the lap cars and begin to close in the back bumpers of the other lead lap automobiles before leader Kevin Harvick overtook Roderick on lap 150 to once again take Roderick from lead lap status.

To their advantage, the final yellow flag of the day would fly again on lap 163 with Roderick once again sitting prime in the “lucky dog” spot – allowing the former INEX Legend Car Series standout to pass the pace car and find himself once again on the lead circuit.

A final trip to pit road would yield four more tires, a splash of gas and one round down on the left rear – hoping to give Roderick enough muscle to charge his way towards the front.

Again, restarting the race in the back according to the rule book, Roderick would masterfully pass the lap cars ahead of him and overtake the No. 38 of Kasey Kahne on lap 172 for 17th. He would remain in the same position for the final 28 circuits where he would take the checkered flag in his inaugural PIR debut.

The lead-lap finish was a career best for Roderick and car owner Randy Hill since debuting in the NASCAR Nationwide Series late last year. Previously, Roderick’s career-best finish occurred in his NNS debut where he finished 25th at Watkins Glen (N.Y.) International.

“I’m extremely satisfied with the finish,” offered Roderick after the race. “Our car was pretty good and it really gripped to the track on long runs. We just couldn’t get the track position we needed after getting the lucky dogs, but that’s just part of the game. Everyone did a superb job start to finish and to bring home a solid top-20 finish, I’ll take it.”

Hill also could be seen gleaming upon the conclusion of the contest, especially with the considerable improvement of his young Nationwide team.

“I’m tickled,” sounded Hill. “We were able to unload with a very competitive No. 08 RandyHillRacing.com Ford Mustang and stay that way throughout the weekend. It really was a tough field but I feel we made some great strides. I want to thank Casey (Roderick) for doing a great job behind the wheel and a big tip of the hat to the entire Randy Hill Racing team for their extremely hard work this weekend. By the looks of everyone’s faces, we’re all pretty happy with the results.”

With his finish on Saturday afternoon, Roderick jumped eight positions in the Nationwide standings to 16th, just two markers behind Brian Scott for 15th and just seven points from 10th currently held by Nemechek. Currently, after two races Randy Hill is 27th in car owner points, jumping nine spots (36) from last weekend’s season-opener at Daytona (Fla.) International Speedway.

Next up for the NASCAR Nationwide Series is a continued trip on the West coast with the running of the Sam’s Town 300 from Las Vegas (Nev.) Motor Speedway. The third race of the season is set for Saturday, March 10 with the green flag set to waive at 2:00 p.m. PST (5:00 p.m.) EST live on ESPN2.

For more on Randy Hill Racing, please visit randyhillracing.com.

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PHOTO CAPTION: The No. 08 RandyHillRacing.com Ford Mustang for Randy Hill Racing (RHR) in the NASCAR Nationwide Series driven by Casey Roderick.

CONTACT INFORMATION:

NAME: Chris Knight, Knight Motorsports Management
PHONE: 239.834.9797
EMAIL: chris@chrisknightpr.com