KEY MIOTORSPORTS PERSONNEL BACK TO WORK ON 2008 NCTS PROGRAM
AFTER TAKING VERY BRIEF TIME OUT FOR THANKSGIVING DAY HOLIDAY

Taking just a brief time off for the Thanksgiving Day holiday, Key Motorsports personnel are back at work busily preparing for the 2008 NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series season.

Forced to make several major modifications and changes to their fleet of 11 Chevrolet Silverado race trucks, Key Motorsports shop workers are readying the race trucks that will be used during the early phase of the 2008 race schedule that begins on February 15 in Daytona.

Under the direction of Director of Competition Tommy Morgan and the guidance of Crew Chief Gary Showalter, spaces for NASCAR’s newly mandated 18-gallon fuel cell are being cut out and installed. Body panels are being cut, trimmed and installed, and new noses and tails are being ordered and put into place.

“The new fuel cell issue is going to take the most time and cost the most money, but this is what NASCAR has ordered us to do so we’re complying. We only have about six weeks to get the work done on our speedway trucks, intermediate units and our best short track trucks since we’re scheduled to test in mid-January, so there is little time to waste,” Morgan explained.

To the benefit of the six drivers who drove the #40 race trucks in 2007, most of the team’s race trucks came through the season without major damage thus minimizing the actual word load in preparing for the new season. During the final third of the season when veteran Chad Chaffin drove the trucks is when the team experienced its most damage to its fleet when Chaffin was caught up in wrecks at New Hampshire and Atlanta – neither of which were his fault.

“The truck from Atlanta is junk and one that we can’t repair, but other than that one, we really are in pretty good shape,” Showalter said. “Every race team has to make the fuel cell changes, but we spent most of our time over the last half of last season going through all of our trucks and getting them to the point that we can race them with our set-ups. That should put us ahead of the game as we get ready for testing,” he added.

With sponsorships still being presented, negotiated, discussed and hopefully soon-to-be-finalized, a lot is riding over the next few weeks as team owner Curtis W. Key, Sr. eyes the situation and establishes his game plan.

“We came away from the ’07 season pretty good in terms of the condition of our race truck fleet, so the majority of our time now will be spent making the changes that NASCAR has announced,” Key said.

“Our motors (10 of them) are being prepped as well, so from an equipment standpoint, we are on schedule. What has yet to be completed, though, is our sponsorship situation and just what driver will be with us when we open the season. I’m still rolling that around in my head” added Key, who for only the second time in his 12-year career as a NASCAR Busch (now Nationwide) and Craftsman Truck Series team owner completed a full season in 2007.

“We’ve progressed in steps to the point that we now know ahead of time that we will go to Daytona and will race as a result of finishing in the top 30 in owner points. We haven’t had that luxury before.

“We qualified for and raced in all 25 races this past season after making 20 of the 25 the year before, so that shows that we are making progress. We’re a long way from being set, though, and our sponsorship situation will help to dictate that,” he added.

In comparing the progress that Key Motorsports has made over the last two years after relocating to its present Mooresville, North Carolina facility from Chesapeake, Virginia, the numbers exhibit that best.

In the team’s very first full season of action in its entire history in 2006, the #40 started 20 of 25 races using five drivers and posted four top 20 finishes, two of which were top 15 efforts. The race truck averaged a 28.85 starting and 26.5 finishing position.

This past season, it was 25 for 25 in starts with the #40 posting three top ten finishes headed by a 7th place effort in Martinsville and an 8th in Talladega, both with Chaffin behind the wheel. Chaffin remains a serious candidate of the drivers that Key is considering for the seat at this juncture.

The #40 also boasted a half dozen top 20 placements headed by the three top 10’s and two finishes of 16th at Mansfield (with Clay Rogers driving) and Las Vegas (Chaffin). The 40’s average starting position improved to 25.1, the finishing average to a vastly better 22.3 and the truck earned a career best $255,778.

The three early season, NCTS test sessions have been scheduled for the Daytona International Speedway January 11-13, Atlanta Motor Speedway on January 22-23 and then March 12-13 in Martinsville, VA.