CHAFFIN SALVAGES 22ND PLACE MARTINSVILLE TRUCK RACE FINISH

MARTINSVILLE, VIRGINIA (March 29, 2008) – Chad Chaffin struggled at times driving the #40 Key Motorsports Chevrolet Silverado Saturday afternoon at cold Martinsville Speedway but did manage to finish on the lead lap for the first time in four races this NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series season. The end result was a 22nd place finish in a race marred by 16 cautions and two race stoppages.

Finding it difficult to get a good jump with his race truck coming off of the corners and then beset by a bad set of tires at the end, Chaffin found himself racing most of the Kroger 250 in the second half of the field. (Photo Right: Crew men converge on the race truck to make some changes during practice.)

Chaffin did break into the top 20 for a lap on the 110th circuit around Martinsville’s half-mile, paper clip-shaped oval but raced pretty much between the 21st and 27th positions over the event’s final 143 laps.

The #40 was showing in the 19th position, the best position it would achieve during the event, as late as lap 239 when the second of the race’s red flags was displayed following a 3-car incident on the back stretch involving the trucks of Brendan Gaughan, Sprint Cup ace Denny Hamlin and rookie Justin Marks.

When the race was re-started with just eight laps remaining and Chaffin looking at his team’s first top 20 finish of the 2008 campaign, 19-year-old Chrissey Wallace, the daughter of NASCAR Nationwide Series driving veteran Mike Wallace and the niece of former Sprint Cup champion Rusty Wallace who was making her debut in the NCTS, drove underneath the #40 in turn two looking to take the position. Wallace’s Toyota slid up into Chaffin’s truck, sending Chaffin’s Chevy spinning and glancing into the outside retaining wall.

The #40 lost eight spots as a result of the spin, one that did not bring out the caution flag, and Chaffin was destined to again finish well back in the field for the fourth straight race when he caught a break.

The Toyota driven by veteran Mike Skinner was holding down the fourth spot with just two laps to go and in front of the fast-closing Toyota of Kyle Busch when Skinner’s #5 truck apparently ran out of gas entering the fourth turn. Busch’s machine, unable to stop in time, hit Skinner’s truck in the left rear and sent it spinning to bring out the 15th caution flag and forcing a green/white/checkered finish and three additional laps of racing.

Chaffin improved a couple of spots as a result of the incident, and when the race re-started for the final dash to the finish, Chad was 25th while Busch tried desperately to chase down leader and eventual race winner Dennis Setzer in a Dodge and the second place truck driven by Johnny Benson.

Busch attempted to force his way underneath Benson’s machine in the third turn, hitting Benson’s Toyota in the left rear and sending both trucks spinning into the fourth corner. A host of trucks were able to sneak by the two spinning Toyota Tundras with Chaffin picking up three spots and earning his best finish of the season to date.

“We did what we could with what we had,” Chaffin said. “It’s a shame that the 03 (the truck driven by Wallace) had to get into me because I thought I gave her plenty of room to make the pass. That really killed us because we lost a lot of track position, and with what happened at the end there, quite possibly a top 15 finish. I hate it for all the guys who worked so hard to get everything they could out of this race truck, but that last set of tires just made the truck too loose to drive and unable to hold off the trucks behind me,” Chaffin ended. (Photo Right: The Key Motorsports #40 Chevrolet Silverado sits on the starting grid at Martinsville.)

Chaffin and the #40 have steadily improved on their runs since starting the season with a crash at Daytona and a 36th and last place finish in the season opener. Though still not in the top 30 in owner points, thus guaranteeing the #40 a starting berth in the next event at Kansas Speedway on April 26, the Key Motorsports #40 is but 29 out of the 30th spot and is separated by less than 100 points from the 21st position with a lot of racing remaining this season.