CHAFFIN, KEY MOTORSPORTS SILVERADO FALL VICTIM
TO NASCAR’S TOP 30 OWNER POINTS RULE IN DAYTONA

Despite out qualifying 14 other trucks, including a pair of factory-supported teams and four that finished in the top 20 in points in 2005, driver Chad Chaffin and the #40 Key Motorsports/Russell E. Garwood Electrical Contractors Chevrolet Silverado failed to earn a berth in last Friday’s 2006 NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series season opener at Daytona International Speedway.

With the top 30 trucks in owner points from the 2005 season guaranteed starting positions for the 2006 season’s first four races, 12 truck teams entered the GM Flex Fuel 250 at Daytona knowing that they were competing for just six positions. Craftsman Truck Series starting fields number 36 trucks while 43 cars earn berths in the fields for NASCAR Nextel Cup and Busch Series races.

Chaffin practiced and qualified at pretty much the same speeds throughout the week, turning in a best time of 51.531 seconds on the first of his two laps for a top speed of 174.652 miles per hour. The best time turned in during Thursday night’s qualifying was a 50.384 (178.628 mph) by pole sitter and eventual race winner Mark Martin, but all but one of the 42 trucks that attempted to qualify did so at a faster speed than where it had practiced. In most cases, lap times fell off by as much as two and a half seconds. Chaffin’s times exhibited consistency only to lose out in the end.

“The truck handled great and really drove well, and with our speed pretty much lining up with more than two thirds of the starting field, there is little doubt that we had a truck capable of a good run”, Chaffin said. “We knew coming in here (Daytona) that we had to beat at least six of the 12 trucks that were entered and did not have guaranteed starting positions, and we just came up a little short”, he added.

The undaunted Key Motorsports contingent, headed by Crew Chief and Team Manager Lance Hooper, now sit 38th in 2006 points as the Craftsman Truck Series teams head to Fontana, California for this weekend’s race at the California Speedway. The Racetickets.com 200 is scheduled to take the green flag at 9:15 p.m. EST on Friday night, February 24, with qualifying set for 1:15 that afternoon.

Chaffin has seen action in three previous Craftsman Truck Series races at the 2-mile, D-shaped California Speedway. His worst qualifying effort of the three was 17th place in 2003 with a best of 12th in 2004. Chaffin has posted finishes in those three outings of 17th in 2003, 11th in 2004 and 15th last season. He is confident in his ability to finally get the #40 Key Motorsports Chevrolet Silverado into a starting field.

“We have good equipment, a good (Hutter) motor and good personnel. We just need to find a way to get the job done, earn a berth and go racin’. I’m ready once that happens and I feel good about our chances when that does happen”, Chaffin exclaimed.

“There may not be as many trucks entered in the California race, but we are going to be ready for them no matter how many trucks we have to beat out in qualifying”, Crew Chief Hooper said confidently.