SHANE HUFFMAN, KEY MOTORSPORTS HOPING THREE IS A CHARM
IN NASCAR CRAFTSMAN TRUCK SERIES ENCOUNTER IN PHOENIX

MOORESVILLE, NORTH CAROLINA (November 7, 2006) – After two tries in NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series competition, the Shane Huffman driver-Key Motorsports race team combination is hoping that the third time turns out to be a charm as they head to Phoenix International Raceway this Friday night for the running of the Phoenix 150.

Expectations for worthwhile performances in the duo’s two previous starts at Martinsville and Texas failed to materialize, but moving to the relatively flat PIR mile oval could be exactly what everyone needs to finally show what they have.

Huffman, the 32-year-old NASCAR rookie who is the lead driver now of the JR Motorsports #88 Navy NASCAR Busch Series team, entered into an arrangement with Key Motorsports to drive a handful of races at the end of the 2006 season. It was an opportunity for Huffman, a short track ace on the USAR Hooters Pro Cup circuit the last few seasons, to secure more seat time that would help his Busch Series effort as well as a chance for the #40 Key Motorsports Chevrolet Silverado to end its first full season of truck series competition with some momentum. After the first two races, neither has achieved their goals.

In his Craftsman Truck Series career debut at Martinsville last month, Huffman qualified reasonably well in the 24th position and seemed headed for a top 15 finish in the Key Motorsports #40 when engine problems ended the day after just 89 of 200 scheduled laps. He was running in the 17th position at the time and was waiting until the latter stages of the event to actually race.

Last Friday night at the Texas Motor Speedway, Key Motorsports was unable to bring the race truck it had been planning to run due to an incident at the Atlanta Motor Speedway the week before. That is when the right front tire went down on the race truck early in the first practice session with veteran driver Derrike Cope behind the wheel, putting the truck into the outside retaining wall in turn two and necessitating the use of the back-up.

The end result at TMS was a race truck that lacked speed, was plagued by some handling issues mid-way through the race due to a broken sway bar and finished 26th, three laps down to the leaders.

“If something could go wrong for us the last few races it has,” said Key Motorsports crew chief Barry Dodson. “Had everything we planned worked out, starting with the race at Talladega and right on through to Texas, we probably would be talking about how competitive we have been over this 4-race stint rather than answering questions about what happened. That’s going to change in Phoenix, and we have told Shane (Huffman) this,” Dodson added.

Key Motorsports will bring back its black #40 unit for the Phoenix race, a machine that has started four races and has come away with a 15th place finish in New Hampshire and 18th at Nashville with Ryan Moore driving. Tim Fedewa replaced Moore for the race at Las Vegas and had a top 20 finish in sight with less than 20 laps to go when a motor problem ended the run, the same thing that took place in the Martinsville test for Huffman.

“We’ll roll out old Smokey for Phoenix, and that addresses two things. First, we know it is a good race truck, and two, Shane has already driven it on a short track (at Martinsville) and was really comfortable in it. We’re hoping that this gets us over the hump and will give Shane a good truck that he can finally race with,” Dodson ended.

“I’m not down at all on what the guys with Key Motorsports have given me to run,” Huffman said. “I know that things happen in this business that can destroy long-range plans, but I know the problems that the team has experienced the last few races were things out of the team’s control. I’m excited to get back to a short track at Phoenix and I have feeling that we’re going to rebound there, he added.

The Key Motorsports-Shane Huffman partnership will also continue the final race weekend of the NASCAR 2006 Craftsman Truck Series season in Homestead, FL for the running of the Ford 200 on Friday night, November 17.