KEY MOTORSPORTS IS APPROACHING TALLADEGA TRUCK RACE
WITH A SENSE OF “PAYBACK” AFTER LAST YEAR’S LAST LAP WRECK

MOORESVILLE, NORTH CAROLINA (September 28, 2007) – There was less than a lap to go in last year’s inaugural NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series race at the Talladega Superspeedway when the opportunity for Key Motorsports to score its first-ever top five finish was snuffed out. That has established a sense of “payback” for the #40 team as it approaches this year’s event on the very fast and very popular, 2.66-mile, high-banked tri-oval event next weekend.

Veteran driver Derrike Cope was in his first ride for Key Motorsports in the 2006 ‘Dega race and was running fifth in the outside line of the two that were negotiating the final two turns of the historic event. Running just ahead of the #40 machine was the Toyota of Mike Skinner in fourth place and the Chevy of Mike Wallace in the third spot. 2006 NCTS champion Todd Bodine was immediately behind Cope in his Toyota, and this line was the one moving to the front. Picture Right: The two Talladega race trucks (top and middle) under preparation.

As if the moves were choreographed, the trucks of Skinner and Bodine tapped the Chevrolets of Wallace and Cope, respectively, at almost the exact same time turning each truck hard right into the outside retaining wall coming off of the third turn. The end result to what had appeared to be a sensational afternoon of racing before the incident relegated Wallace to a 26th place finish and Cope to 27th, the latter’s truck destroyed, its steering wheel bent and Cope’s Hahn’s device cracked.

Fortunately, the only thing hurt during that spectacular wreck were the trucks, but for Key Motorsports owner Curtis W. Key, it did force him to circle in red on the team’s race calendar the 2007 Talladega race date when the team hopes to exact some revenge.

“We’re not after Bodine or Skinner or anything like that, but we are after a performance this year that will help erase the memories of what could have been last season,” Key said. “That place (Talladega) owes us one!”

A year later, Key Motorsports returns to Talladega with a different driver (Chad Chaffin), a different crew chief (Gary Showalter), a new crew and a brand new race truck that Showalter says appears to be even better than the two trucks that Key Motorsports raced in Daytona at the start of the season. In that event, the 40 driven by Mike Bliss and the 44 piloted by Larry Foyt both rocketed to the front from starting positions well back in the field and were exceptionally strong in the draft only to be sidelined by accidents. Picture Left: Body man Bobby Showalter working on seat positioning in the brand new Talladega race truck.

“The numbers we saw in the wind tunnel on this new truck were just great, and we expect to have a new motor package that should give us 20 more horsepower than this team had in February. We’re expecting another strong run in the 40 truck,” Showalter said.

Chaffin, who finished eighth at Talladega a year ago driving for the #59 Harris Trucking team and knows how strong Cope was in the 40 truck was then, is equally as excited about what to expect when he takes the Curtis Key Plumbing truck out onto the race track for practice next Thursday afternoon.

“This team finally got back on line last weekend at Las Vegas (he finished 16th after the 40 failed to finish the two events before that), and everyone is pretty excited about what we have for the Talladega race. If we can run as well in the draft this time as Curtis’ trucks have done the last two years, we have every reason to believe that we’ll have something for ‘em again,” Chaffin exclaimed.

Chaffin succeeded rookie Brandon Miller in the Key Motorsports mount following the Labor Day weekend race at Gateway International Raceway outside of St. Louis, and he will remain there through the balance of the 2007 campaign. Continuing what he was able to do in rallying fashion in Las Vegas will again be Chad’s objective heading into Alabama.

“The team has set its sights on finishing 25th in the owner point’s standing (the #40 is 28th after 19 races) by the end of the season, and I believe that we can attain that if we continue to work hard and perform as a team. The equipment is there, so if we can perform to the level we need, and luck is on our side, we’ll have the chance to achieve those objectives. I know that I’ll be ready to do my job,” Chaffin ended.

The Key Motorsports #40 sits just 31 points behind the #08 of Green Light Racing in the 27th position in owner points, trails the #13 of ThorSports Racing and rookie driver Willie Allen in 26th place by just 57 points, and is only 78 out of the 25th spot currently held by the #07 truck of Tim Sauter and another Green Light Racing entry. Picture Right: Tommy Morgan works on the engine for the back-up Talladega race truck.

“We’ve been going through every one of our race trucks, updating them and putting in new parts and pieces….and our engines are all being freshened for the final six races,” said Director of Competition Tommy Morgan. “We know that Chad can drive and has the experience that we’ve not had for a while, so if we can give him something good to drive in Talladega, we should be fine,” he added.

Should the #40 be in a similar position on the race’s final lap next Saturday as it was a year ago, everyone in the Key Motorsports camp will just keep their fingers crossed and hope that this time an antsy driver behind them doesn’t get too impatient.