CHAFFIN, KEY MOTORSPORTS LOOKING FOR COMPLETE TURNAROUND
IN LAS VEGAS MOTOR SPEEDWAY’S SMITH’S FOOD & DRUGS 350K

Veteran driver Chad Chaffin has had his shares of ups and downs in the NASCAR business during his 14 seasons as a driver, and the most recent downer occurred last weekend in New Hampshire when a 4-truck accident knocked Chaffin’s #40 Curtis Key Plumbing/Westerman Companies Chevrolet out of the event way too early.

Chaffin is looking to come back from that forgettable performance when the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series teams converge on the Las Vegas Motor Speedway this Saturday night for the running of the Smith’s Food & Drugs 350K.

“I established a few goals for myself when I decided to accept Curtis’ (team owner Key) offer to return to the team and drive the final eight races of the 2007 season schedule for him,” said Chaffin, who drove for the team during the first six races of the 2006 season schedule. “But doing what I did on Saturday at Loudon is certainly not the way I wanted to start things off, so I have a lot of making up to do in Vegas,” he added.

That accident destroyed the front end of the #40 Silverado and ended Chaffin’s day after just 55 of 200 laps, resulting in a last place finish and the first sub-30th place effort for the team in 14 events. Chaffin aims to rebound in a big way in Las Vegas.

“Even though I’m not a big fan of the changes to the race track that they made out there, it does feel a lot like the mile and a half in Texas. That’s the best comparison I can give,” said Chaffin. “The size of the track, the banking and the speed you generate are the closest to that of Texas than the other tracks the same in size, so I anticipate having a good run and getting back some of the points that Key Motorsports lost last week.”

Chaffin has had several top five and top 15 finishes at Texas, and even though he started and finished 25th in the first-ever NASCAR race ever run on the new LVMS track configuration and pavement last September, he thinks that the set-up his Chevrolet Silverado will have underneath it is the best way to start.

“Gary (crew chief Showalter) told me that he is going with a similar set-up to the one the team used in Texas earlier this year, and that’s a good starting point. Clay Rogers drove for the team then and had a truck capable of earning a top 10 finish when something broke in the engine. I expect to run every lap this time out and race well – well enough to get a top 10 or top 15 and get this Key Motorsports outfit back on track,” Chaffin added.

“We have a good truck for Chad for Texas, and the motor should be better than we had back in June,” said Showalter. “Chad is a veteran, and we expect him to give us everything he can to help us rebound from the New Hampshire disaster.

“We fully intend to give Chad what he needs to accomplish everything he wants to accomplish in Las Vegas. We’ll just keep our fingers crossed that we can stay out of trouble and get back to where we had been for most of the first 16 races of the season, and that was to finish every race and bring back a race truck in one piece,” Showalter ended.

Saturday night’s race, which will be televised live by the SPEED Channel and broadcast over live, nationally syndicated radio by the Motor Racing Network, is scheduled to start at 9 p.m. EDT.