Roderick and the Bill Elliott team started the season running a mix of Late Model and ARCA races, but changed directions in late May to focus on the ARCA events as they will provide Roderick with TV exposure as well as the big-track experience he’ll need to step up to NASCAR’s elite divisions. But the change also meant the team had some catching up to do, as team owner Bill Elliott explained.

  “A lot goes in to the preparation of these cars, and it takes a lot of time and focus to come into the middle of a season in a class that is as strong as ARCA is today and run competitively,” Elliott said. “I am proud of the effort that everyone put forward and feel like we came away with the knowledge we need to go to the next event even stronger.”

 Roderick’s team also had to deal with a last-minute crew chief change as regular crew chief Jim Barfield’s mother passed away suddenly just as the team was preparing to leave for Iowa.

 Ricky Turner, Chase Elliott’s crew chief, filled in for Barfield, while young Elliott took over the spotter’s duties, replacing his father who was running the Wood Brothers’ No. 21 Ford in the Sprint Cup race at Chicagoland Speedway.

  Despite having no crew members with experience at the Iowa track, Roderick immediately put the No. 51 Phoenix Racing Dodge in the top ten on the practice speeds chart and maintained his presence among 40 drivers there during both practice sessions. Roderick and Turner worked through changes to the chassis set-up, trying combinations for qualifying and for the race.

  Roderick qualified and started 19^th.  By Lap 14 he was up to 12^th and challenging ARCA regulars Mikey Kile and Chris Buescher for the 11^th and 10^th positions.  By Lap 34 he was in the top 10, and when the caution flag flew on Lap 39, he radioed to his crew that he was very pleased with his car. Roderick and Turner discussed possible improvements should they make a pit stop, but the two decided to stay on the track, and in doing so gained three positions.

 By the restart on Lap 45 there were only 17 drivers on the lead lap.  Roderick was racing in a group of strong competitors and passed Grant Enfinger and Ty Dillon while being passed himself and was in the sixth position when caution was displayed for the second time due to a crash by Steve Arpin. 

  Roderick brought the No. 51 down pit road for a fuel-only pit stop.  As Roderick was approaching his pit he took the car out of gear and lost power.  The crew pushed him to restart and Roderick, apologized saying the mistake was his fault.  Immediately, Turner came on the radio, saying “Clear your head and be sharp. We didn’t lose anything.”

  Roderick restarted 13th and moved back and forth between there and the 11th position for the next several laps.  Nearing the 75^th lap, Turner reported to Roderick that some drivers had to make green-flag pit stops due to tire wear and the absence of cautions. Roderick had moved into the 10th position as a result when he reported a vibration to the team. Timing worked to Roderick’s advantage when a caution, brought out by Joey Gase on Lap 87, gave him the opportunity to pit under caution for tires which would ultimately correct the vibration issue.   Now out of sequence with some of the drivers that pitted under green, Roderick restarted 13th.  By the half way mark at Lap 100 Roderick had worked his way back up to the ninth position.

  On lap 115 Turner asked Roderick how his car was.  Roderick replied, “Really good.” He continued to pass drivers, working his way into the sixth position by Lap 138 while racing around Frank Kimmel and Dillon for the next two positions.  By Lap 151 Roderick had worked his way into the top five with Tom Hessert leading Enfinger, Matt Crafton, Kimmel and Roderick. 

  Caution was displayed on Lap 152, and Roderick pitted for scuffed tires and restarted in the seventh position.  There were 42 laps left at the waving of the green flag.  Roderick again worked his way back up into the sixth position and was battling hard with Crafton, the Camping World Truck Series veteran, for the fifth position as Armstrong was reeling them both in from behind, making it a three-way battle.  Experience won out, and Roderick fell back to the seventh position as Armstrong and Crafton battled right in front of him for the remaining laps.  Roderick finished with a very respectable 7^th place finish.

  “I want to thank Phoenix Racing and Bill Elliott Racing for helping to get everything ready and putting in a good effort,” Roderick said. “I feel like we will be even better prepared for the next event.  I was happy with everything.  We needed longer runs.  From 45 to 65 laps on the tires I really hit it.

 “I know Jim [regular crew chief-Barfield] was wanting to be there, and I talked to him while I was at the track.

 “Our hearts go out to Jim and his family.”  

  Roderick’s next race is the South Jersey Building Trades 150 at New Jersey Motorsports Park.

Roderick Entered at Iowa

MRN Report Posted Wednesday, June 30, 2010

Seventeen-year-old Casey Roderick has submitted an entry to drive in the Prairie Meadows 200 at Iowa Speedway, along the way citing his intent to add the ARCA Racing Series Presented by RE/MAX and Menards as his main focus for the remainder of 2010. Roderick, of Lawrenceville, Ga., won the pole at Palm Beach International Raceway in February in advance of just his second career ARCA Racing Series start, only months after finishing second in his series debut at Rockingham Speedway. A protégé of 1988 NASCAR champion Bill Elliott, Roderick will scrap his late model schedule and focus on ARCA behind the wheel of the No. 51 Bill Elliott Driver Development Dodge. The car will be fielded by James Finch. “We had a model car and a sponsorship, which is a family owned business here in Dawsonville, and they decided to pull out because business wasn’t doing the best the past few months, so that put us in a position to where we had to make a decision on what we wanted to do and what would further my career,” Roderick said in a team release. “So we decided on focusing on these ARCA races and trying to give me the opportunity to race some Nationwide events at the end of the year. Bill (Elliott) thought this would be the best thing to do.” Finch was instrumental in the development of NASCAR Sprint Cup Series driver Brad Keselowski, and has in Roderick a racing student who was added to the Elliott development program at just 15 years old. He hopes Roderick’s development will result in a move to NASCAR later this year. “I hope the experience Casey gains on the bigger tracks will garner him approval from NASCAR to race in the Nationwide Series at Phoenix this November,” Finch said. “I am looking forward to racing with Casey.” Practice for the Prairie Meadows 200 at Iowa Speedway begins at 10 a.m. Central (11 a.m. Eastern) on Saturday, July 10, with live timing and scoring and live audio coverage presented by ARCA Nation at ARCARacing.com.

Reporter: Ed Hooper, Staff Correspondent

 Elliott and Roderick made the decision to concentrate on what Elliott believes it will take to move Roderick into the next level of his career.

  “We need to focus all of our energy right now on ARCA,” said Elliott.  “Casey will be 18 in August, and we will be taking another big step, moving on to bigger race tracks to gain the necessary experience for approval to compete in NASCAR’s Nationwide Series.” 

 Elliott said he’ll also continue working to find a sponsor to back Roderick.

  “We will continue to work to find him additional sponsorship throughout the season,” Elliott said. “All we need is a few ARCA races to showcase the talent that he has.  Casey is a very likable young man and will be a great spokesman as well as a great driver.”

 The summertime stretch of superspeedway racing will take Roderick from the 7/8-mile oval in Iowa to the mile-and-a-half tracks of Chicagoland and Kansas speedways.

  “This is the biggest opportunity I have ever had and the most exciting,” said Roderick.  “I am going to do anything and everything to make the most of it.  I will work 24/7 or longer if there were more hours in a day – whatever it takes.”

James Finch, owner of Phoenix Racing, also will support Roderick’s rise through the ranks.

Finch, who has played a key role in developing young drivers including current Nationwide Series points leader Brad Keselowski, said he too is committed to helping Roderick.

  “I hope the experience Casey gains on the bigger tracks will garner him approval from NASCAR to race in the Nationwide Series at Phoenix this November,” Finch said. “I am looking forward to racing with Casey.”

The changes to Roderick’s schedule will mean that he will not be competing in any of the previously scheduled late model races. 

The ARCA series offers televised events and national media coverage.  The first of the televised races that Roderick will run is on June 10 at Iowa Speedway.

2010 Short Track Draft Merges Underclassmen and the 18 & Ups
Speed51.com – 4/26/10
The buzz surrounding this year’s Short Track Draft is getting louder. Fans, experts and racers alike are eager to hear the results starting with the top-10 Draft picks this Tuesday night on Speed 51 Radio. This year’s Draft was a little bit different than in years’ past, as we’ve done away with an Underclassmen Draft for drivers aged under 18. For this year’s draft, all drivers from ages 13 to 29 were eligible and our panel of experts listed their choices for who deserves a shot at a big-time ride. Of course, drivers who already have a full-time development contract or have competed in NASCAR’s top levels so far in 2010 were ineligible, but top up-and-comers will be announced this Tuesday night on Speed 51 Radio and throughout the week on Speed51.com.

Roderick’s Ford was fastest in qualifying at the Jefferson, Ga., track, but his luck in the draw for the starting order wasn’t so good. He drew a six, which put him back in sixth place for the start while his teammate Chase Elliott inherited the pole.

After just 16 laps, Roderick had moved into the top five with a pass of Hunter Robbins, and almost immediately took fourth place from Dwayne Buggay.

By the time the green flag flew following a caution period at Lap 34, Roderick was in thid and challenging Reaid for the runner-up spot as the top four drivers ran within 1.3 seconds of each other.

After a red-flag period for clean up following a crash by Buggay, the green flag was waved with 43 laps remaining. Roderick restarted on the outside of teammate and leader Chase Elliott. The largest Gresham crowd of 2010 was treated to a battle among Bill Elliott Racing teammates as Roderick challenged Elliott for the lead, with the duo racing side-by-side coming off of Turn Four. Elliott maintained the lead, while Roderick had a mirror full of Reaid.

Reaid just missed getting into Roderick coming off of Turn Four and took the second position at the flag, but Roderick battled back and pulled up to the door of Reaid the very next lap.

Roderick slid the nose of his Monolith Fusion, and the two cars made contact, with both Reaid and Roderick spinning down the frontstretch, bringing both of their nights to an abrupt end.
“When I got into T.J., my car just bottomed out and washed up the track and went sideways,” Roderick said. “When I tried to correct it, I turned into T.J., and we ended up in the wall.
“It was just hard racing for second. I think we had a pretty decent car though.”

Roderick’s next event will be a Super Late Model track event at Gresham Motorsports Park on May 15.

With Roderick a last-minute entry in Elliott’s back-up car, the two, who had just one previous start between them at the speedway– by Roderick in 2009 in a Pro Late Model race – sped to the top of the speed chart in practice, with Elliott posting fast time and Roderick just behind him. In the race, they battled at the front all night before Elliott finished third and Roderick fifth.

Roderick started sixth in his No. 19 Ford, followed by the No. 9 of Elliott in seventh. Side by side, the teammates steadily moved through the field, taking sixth and fifth places then fifth and fourth places due to a spin by race leader Augie Grill on Lap Nine. On Lap 15, they took over third and second places when front-runner Ryan Lawler went off the track.

Roderick and Elliott ran second and third respectively until Lap 60 when Roderick passed the No. 99 of Casey Smith for the lead. Elliott made his way to the bumper of Smith on Lap 66 and passed him for the second position on lap 70. Roderick led the race for 20 laps until the final caution of the evening came out on Lap 80 for the Phoenix Racing car of Eddie Mercer.

With a relationship in place between Roderick and Phoenix Racing, the Phoenix team quickly agreed to pit for Roderick but that meant moving the necessary tires and equipment from the Aaron’s Pit Crew location.
Amid the pit road confusion, Roderick dropped to third place while Elliott fell to ninth, the last driver on the lead lap.

Elliott put his Aaron’s Dream Machine to work over the final 20 laps. On the restart he passed two cars for the seventh position and by Lap 84 he was up to the fourth position with the No. 99 of Casey Smith close on his bumper. By Lap 87, Elliott was challenging Roderick for third place position and made the pass a lap later. Smith also made the pass, dropping Roderick to fifth.

Elliott then tracked down the No. 51 of Josh Hamner. Coming to the checkered flag Elliott was up to Hamner’s door but could not complete the pass for second position. When the checkered flag fell it was Jeff Fultz with the win followed by Hamner, Elliott, Smith and Roderick.

Elliott was awarded the $1,000 bonus for the weekend’s best average finish between Friday night’s race at Five Flags Speedway in Pensacola, Fla., where he finished second, and Saturday’s at Mobile. Those two races are part of the Gulf Coast Championship.
He is one point behind Fultz in the championship after the first event of the season.

Name: Casey Roderick

Date of Birth: August 8, 1992

Hometown: Lawrenceville, Georgia

(3-24-10) – Casey Roderick is part of the Bill Elliott Driver Development team in the ARCA Racing Series presented by RE/MAX and Menards. The 17-year-old racer drives the No. 51 Monolith Hospitality Dodge in select ARCA races. He also currently drives a Pro Late Model and Super Late Model in select races at Gresham Motorsports Park and Five Flags Speedway.

The young driver started racing when he was 5 years old and began to impress drivers and owners immediately. In 2001, Roderick competed in the World Karting Association Gold Cup Series Junior Sportsman Championship and went on to become the youngest driver in WKA history to win a national championship.

Roderick continued to bring in trophies, winning the WKA Winter National Championship in 2003 and the Legends Racing Series Bandolero Bandits Championship at AMS in 2003 and 2004. At the ripe age of 12, Roderick was granted a waiver to move up to the Legends Semi-Pro division, winning the championship in his first season. He was also voted the AMS Thursday Thunder Most Popular Driver.

In the 2006 season, Roderick became the youngest driver in INEX history to win the Summer Shootout championship, a title previously held by NASCAR driver Reed Sorenson. As he won more championships, his popularity continued to soar. For the second year in a row, the 13-year-old won the AMS Thursday Thunder Series Most Popular Driver Award. Ending the season, Roderick went on to take four more titles, including the Legends Pro Nationals.

Roderick continued to push towards history in 2007 as he won 6 more titles, including the Legends Racing Series Pro Championship in the Thursday Thunder Series at AMS, a Legends Car Asphalt Nationals Pro Title and the INEX Pro Nationals Points Championship. While racing for the National Race of Champions Legends Pro Title, Roderick also set a new track record at Las Vegas Motor Speedway of 16.873 seconds.

The 2008 season was a turning point for Roderick. He won 23 career Legends feature races at AMS, which placed him second in all-time Legends victories at AMS, ahead of NASCAR drivers Joey Logano and Reed Sorenson.

With his continued success across several racing platforms, Roderick caught the eye of NASCAR Legend Bill Elliot and was picked to be part of the Bill Elliott Driver Development program. “As far as developing the skills that I need to be in NASCAR one day, I think I’m on the fast track there, but we are working on some things to try to get more races.” Roderick continued, “I am thankful for Bill giving his input on everything I do, the ability to ask him questions on what I have to work on, and just getting his opinion on my career.”

Elliott explains why he picked Roderick on the Bill Elliott Racing website, stating, “Casey just has what it takes. There’s a certain passion you see in some drivers – you can almost see it in their eyes -and you just know they can do it. It’s about more than just winning races; it’s a true love for everything about the sport. There’s no doubt in my mind that Casey Roderick has that passion.”

Roderick made his first career start in the ARCA Racing Series with Bill Elliott Racing in Oct. 2009 at Rockingham Speedway. He qualified third but started at the rear of the field due to a rookie mistake on pit road. Roderick passed every car in the field and took over the lead. He eventually finished second behind race winner Parker Kligerman and ahead of Justin Lofton, the 2009 ARCA Racing Series champion.

Also in 2009, Roderick started 14 Late Model races, with two wins, nine top-5′s and 11 top-10s. The highlight of his season was beating out NASCAR superstar Kyle Busch and some of the best Late Model drivers for the SpeedFest pole. Roderick went on to lead 100 laps in Speedfest at Lanier National Speedway and was on tap to finish in the top-three until his race ended 25 laps early due to a transmission failure.

In 2010, Roderick took the pole in his first ARCA Racing Series road course event at Palm Beach International Raceway. The driver of the No. 51 Monolith Hospitality Dodge led 22 laps but ended the race on lap 44 of 65 with a broken transmission.

Roderick explained his decision to pursue racing in the ARCA series, “ARCA is really the only place at 16 or 17 years old that you can get a ‘Cup car experience. The ARCA car is basically a Cup car; the only thing that is different is the tires and spoiler. It’s a 3400 lb. car, and at 16 or 17 years old, it’s the only place that allows you to get that experience.” The ARCA rookie continues, “Looking at where I want to go and the amount of money that we have rounded up, I think that Bill is more interested in doing the ARCA series than anything else. I am also doing a few late model races, but we are real focused on getting experience in the ARCA series.”

Under ARCA’s rules, Roderick, who is just 17½ years old, is only eligible to run on tracks up to one mile in length until he turns 18 on Aug. 8. Currently, he is scheduled to tackle two mile-and-a-half speedways following his 18th birthday.

In addition to being grateful for being a part of the Bill Elliott Driver Development program, Roderick also appreciates his sponsors lending support for his progression in racing. “I am grateful that Monolith has come on and supported my development in the ARCA series. They have allowed me to get on the track this year and get some experience under my belt.”

Roderick’s next scheduled ARCA Racing Series start is the South Jersey Building Trades 150 at New Jersey Motorsports Park on Aug. 15.

Stay tuned as we continue to highlight other development drivers in the series each week! To go to the ARCA website please Click on the ARCA banner to the right.