CHAFFIN’S RETURN TO KEY MOTORSPORTS GETS OFF TO ROCKY START
AS EARLY HANDLING ISSUES AND ACCIDENT ENDS LOUDON RUN EARLY

LOUDOON, NEW HAMPSHIRE – (September 15, 2007) – Veteran driver Chad Chaffin’s return behind the wheel of the Key Motorsports’ entry at the New Hampshire International Speedway got off to a rocky start Saturday afternoon resulting in the team’s worst finish of the 2007 NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series season.

Plagued by some handling issues early that resulted in a lost lap in the New Hampshire 200, Chaffin found his #40 Curtis Key Plumbing/Westerman Companies Chevrolet well back in the pack on lap 56 when disaster struck.

The Ford driven by Stacy Compton was running immediately behind Chaffin’s machine coming off the second turn when Compton’s truck struck Chaffin’s in the left rear quarter panel. It spun the #40 around grazing the outside retaining wall and was then collected in the front end by the trucks driven by Nextel Cup Series veteran and Chase driver Clint Bowyer and the Chevrolet of Aric Almirola.

The accident destroyed the front end of the Key Motorsports truck resulting in a 36th place finish – the worst for the team since a 35th place effort back in April some 14 races ago at Martinsville when another accident killed the suspension and ended the day early for then driver Mike Bliss.

“That should never have happened,” Chaffin said of the incident. “I thought I had given the 09 (Compton’s Ford) plenty of room to get by me but I guess it wasn’t enough. We were in a spot we really shouldn’t have been in (the rear of the field) because of the handling problem, but the changes we made on our pit stop did work and I was just getting the truck to drive the way it should when the wreck happened,” he added.

Chaffin said that the left front of the truck was lifting off the ground driving off of the corners, and the long green flag run at the start of the race enabled pole sitter and ultimate race winner Ron Hornaday, Jr. to drive away from the competition. Just 25 laps into the race Hornaday began lapping trucks, and on lap 32 the #40 fell victim to Hornaday’s dominant machine.

The race’s first caution, for debris, came out just five laps later, and after getting four fresh tires, fuel, a track bar adjustment and a change in air pressure to his right rear tire on his pit stop, Chaffin was counting on the changes to get his truck driving to his liking. Twenty laps later all the hopes were dashed by one over anxious driver.

“I really hated to start this new run with Curtis (team owner Key), Gary (crew chief Showalter) and Tommy (Director of Competition Morgan), and all of the crew guys who worked so hard getting this truck ready for me and this race,” Chaffin stated. “We’ll try and make up what we lost in points next week in Las Vegas,” he added.

For Showalter, the end result of this race was a bitter pill to swallow.

“Chad’s lap times after that pit stop really picked up, and we seem to have solved the problem he was having getting off the corner,” Showalter said. “But when you are running back in the pack like we were, you risk just what happened to us today, and you see the end result – a good race truck tore up and a loss of points. But we are all veterans and we will get this ship straightened out – hopefully starting next week in Vegas,” Showalter promised.