KEY MOTORSPORTS AND SPONSOR SOUTHERN PRIDE WELCOME TOP-10 FINISH

Team Efforts Throughout Early Season Rewards Pairing

The #40 Southern Pride Woodburning BBQ Pits & Smokers Chevrolet enjoyed an 8th place finish in Saturday’s Scott’s Turf Builder 300. Driver Mike Bliss fulfilled many expectations for Key Motorsports, raised after his guest stints last year in the #40 Chevrolet truck. In just his sixth race since moving over to the potent organization’s Nationwide Series effort, the Oregon native matched his finish from Atlanta in the 2009 Camping World Series.

The 160 mile, 300 lap affair provided great benefits to last-minute sponsor Southern Pride Woodburning BBQ Pits & Smokers. Their first participation in a NASCAR racing event was rewarded with a Top-10 finish. The support that owner Curtis Key called a “blessing to our efforts” spawned a well-earned return. The integrity and standards Southern Pride promotes were typified in the way the team avoided circumstances that made spectacles, but impacted their results, of some NASCAR Nationwide competitors. The commitment, that the team and sponsor exemplify, returned the considerable rewards that both anticipated. Normally protective of his emotions, owner Curtis Key could not keep from engaging in a little back-patting, “The team really came through today.”

The team ran as high as fourth, during lap 189 of the 300-lap event, staying on the lead lap the entire race. 25 competitors were 2 or more laps behind Bliss and rest of the leaders at the finish. Running in the Top-10 for most of the occasion did come with extra trials.

The accomplishment required Bliss to steer clear of nine major accidents that drew eleven cautions during the grueling trial at the World’s Fastest Half Mile. The third caution, before one hundred laps were even run, produced conditions that brought a red flag while NASCAR removed the wreckage from the track. Many of the leaders spun right in front of the #40 Southern Pride Woodburning BBQ Pits & Smokers Chevrolet fifty miles later, while driver Mike Bliss was on a forward charge. Just a few laps before the finish, a laps-down competitor tried to let the leaders pass safely but did not succeed, presenting another challenging situation for the Key Motorsports driver to navigate through. The high-banked track’s frontstretch; turns 2, 3, and 4; and even pit road encountered collisions that the combined efforts of driver, spotter and crew had to be alert for.

Drawing no penalties during the entire course of the competition contributed to the spectacular result. “We did a great job on pit road today,” crew chief Gary Showalter said. “I couldn’t be happier with the crew, especially in the tight quarters at Bristol.”

“I don’t think we lost a single position while on the track today, only when the other teams gave up pit strategy to stay on the track,” driver Bliss offered. “The #40 Southern Pride Key Motorsports Chevrolet worked great and we moved forward lap after lap.”

Bliss moves up to 25th in the 2010 Driver’s Point Standings, while the finish also boosts the #40 team to 27th in the 2010 Owner’s Point Standings after 4 races. In both rankings the potential to move up or down as much as ten positions is intimidating. After the fifth event of the season the top-30 full-time competitors in the latter standings will be guaranteed a starting spot in each remaining event. The next event in Nashville, TN will be the last event using 2009 Owner’s Point Standings to determine a “locked-in” status.

The #40 Key Motorsports Chevrolet will return with the NASCAR Nationwide Series to Nashville Superspeedway on Saturday, April 03, 2010 for the Nashville 300. This sponsorship prospect is still available for an opportunistic organization.