KEY MOTORSPORTS TO TEST TWO TRUCKS IN OPEN SESSION
AT THE LOWE’S MOTOR SPEEDWAY LATER THIS WEEK

Key Motorsports will test two trucks during the open testing session scheduled for the Lowe’s Motor Speedway in Charlotte this Thursday and Friday in preparation for the May 18th Quaker Steak & Lube 200 Presented by Circle K, NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series race.

Veteran Steve Park and up-and-coming driver Clay Rogers will pilot the two Chevrolet Silverado race trucks for team owner Curtis W. Key during the two days of testing. Park will help ready the team’s primary #40 truck for the race that NASCAR Busch Series driver Shane Huffman has been entered to drive. Huffman was unavailable for the test because of his full-time commitment to JR Motorsports and that team’s #88 Chevrolet that is racing in Darlington, SC this weekend.

Rogers, who drove the #40 at the Kansas Speedway two weeks ago and posted a 21st place finish, will steer the team’s #44 truck in the LMS test that has also been entered in the race. A decision on who will actually drive that race truck will be determined after the team has evaluated the test data.

“We’re looking to run both trucks if everything goes well during the test session,” said Key, who for the second consecutive year is running the full 25-race NCTS schedule with his 40 truck. The team’s #44 has been entered in four of this season’s five races to date and earned starting berths in each of them, although the entries for the events in California and Atlanta were purely as field fillers. That could all change shortly.

“Though we will not have the benefit of having attempted to qualify for every race in the 44 truck, and would now have to qualify in for every race in which we do enter, we are waiting for a sponsorship deal to close soon that could have the 44 truck running a 25-race schedule beginning this season and continuing into 2008. The Charlotte test thus serves a dual purpose for us,” Key added, pointing to the fact that racing at Charlotte with his second team truck may be necessary to get that team readied for competition at all of the remaining races this season.

“We’re working hard in preparation and hope that we have overcome the problems that we experienced in the Atlanta and Martinsville races….the two that really hurt us in the points standing after we had gotten off to such a great start,” explained Key.

The team’s #40 truck, with 2002 NCTS Champion Mike Bliss behind the wheel, enjoyed stellar runs in the season-opener in Daytona, in California and again in Atlanta with only a 10th place finish at Fontana, CA to show for it. An accident and subsequent engine problems at Daytona, and blown right front tires in the Atlanta and Martinsville events produced disappointing end results and a loss of 14 positions in the all-important owner’s points standing.

“We got through the race at Kansas City without a reoccurrence of the tire woes, but a bad set of tires early in that race and some horsepower issues just didn’t give Clay (Rogers) the stuff he needed to contend,” Key explained, now hoping that the test at LMS will be the prelude for a good run on May 18.

PHOTOS COURTESY OF ERNIE MARINO MOTORSPORTS IMAGES (www.myspace.com/racepic)