NEVER QUIT ATTITUDE PAYS OFF FOR CHAFFIN & KEY MOTORSPORTS;
RALLY FOR 16TH PLACE FINISH IN LAS VEGAS TRUCK SERIES EVENT

LAS VEGAS, NEVADA (September 22, 2007) – Veteran driver Chad Chaffin and his Key Motorsports team came into Saturday night’s NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series race at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway determined to shake off the pitfalls that had befallen them the last two races. That determination paid off with a hard-earned 16th place finish in the Smith’s Food & Drugs 350K.

Having wasted good race trucks in the last two races at the Gateway International Raceway outside of St. Louis and New Hampshire International Speedway that resulted in uncharacteristic DNF’s for the Mooresville, North Carolina-based group, the Key Motorsports crew worked overtime in making the adjustments that enabled Chaffin to escape from an extremely loose handling condition that developed suddenly 66 laps into the 146-lap, 219-mile affair.

“It got so bad that I couldn’t pick up the throttle until I got through the corner,” Chaffin explained. “One minute we’re just outside the top 15 and headed towards the front and the next I can’t even drive the thing. It spooked all of us,” Chaffin added. A bad set of tires was believed to be the culprit and it cost Chaffin another lap to then leader Johnny Benson.

A caution on lap 82, when the Chevrolet of Brendan Gaughan blew a right front tire, gave the crew the opportunity it needed to make the adjustment Chaffin had to have with a tire pressure change and the removal of a spring rubber from the right rear. Instead of being loose the #40 Curtis Key Plumbing Chevrolet was now on the tight side and Chaffin could finally manage it.

The #40 was showing in the 24th position when the race was re-started on lap 93. Chaffin promptly moved up two spots in three laps and was 22nd on the board and one of six trucks minus a lap. The race’s sixth caution flag flew on lap 108 when Todd Bodine spun and smacked the turn two wall, and just a lap after the race was re-started on lap 112, the Dodge driven by Jason White was clipped coming off of the second turn, spun and collected the outside retaining wall to again bring out the yellow flag that finally enabled Chaffin to get back on the lead lap thanks to the NASCAR Lucky Dog award.

When the race resumed on lap 117, the #40 was 21st, and over the final 29 laps Chaffin rallied past the trucks of David Green, Kevin Hamlin and Tim Sauter to again move back into the top 20 and picked up two more positions due to attrition for the team’s best finish since Clay Rogers posted a 16th place finish in May in Mansfield, OH.

“Hopefully, this is something that our guys will look back on as what can happen when everyone hangs in there,” said crew chief Gary Showalter. “We made the changes that Chad needed to drive the truck off the corner, and we just stayed with it until we were in a position to get back on the lead lap. No one quit tonight, so they all earned this finish that will now hopefully give us some momentum now over the final six races,” he added.

Chaffin started the race back in the 29th position and was extremely patient as he picked up a few positions over the first 30 laps. He was lapped by then leader Bodine on lap 32 during a long green flag run but got that lap back just two corners later when the truck of Jack Sprague cut down a right front tire and hit the turn two wall to bring out the race’s first caution.

Chaffin made his first pit stop of the night two laps later for a track bar adjustment, fuel and tires and re-started the race in the 23rd position – the last truck on the lead lap – after he began claiming that the truck was still a “little loose”.

He forged into the top 20 for the first time by lap 46, was 19th four laps later and continued his charge towards the front, moving into the 17th spot 15 laps later. The #40 was running by itself in clean air and was chasing down a pack of trucks when Chaffin began reporting the sudden change in the truck’s handling. Fortunately, the team had the opportunity to make the changes to correct the problem to give Chaffin the time and equipment to rally back over the race’s remaining 80 laps.

“I am really proud of how hard the guys stayed with me and worked to make the changes we needed,” Chaffin said. “This was a big race for this race team, and we needed a good finish to pick everyone back up after the last two races. It turned out to be a good night for everyone,” he added.