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KANSAS CITY, KANSAS (April 26, 2008) – In his first race as the new crew chief for Key Motorsports, Lance Hooper proved his value, helping driver Chad Chaffin and his #40 Wrapitupvehiclewraps.com Chevrolet Silverado to a hard-fought 17th place finish at Kansas Speedway Saturday.

Down a lap with a very tight race truck at the outset of the O’Reilly Auto Parts 250, NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series event, Chaffin’s race truck needed some adjustments. Remaining calm and leading his crew with confidence, Hooper was able to make chassis changes that worked and made the first 37 laps of the 167-lap race forgettable.

“Lance made some great adjustments, and the way I see it now (with the race over), I probably should have had him make the truck a little freer at the start when we really struggled,” said Chaffin, who managed to bring home the best finish in five races for Key Motorsports thus far in 2008.

“I was really tight at the start, but we got the caution we needed that allowed us to pit and finally make the adjustments I needed to be able to run with the other trucks. Despite a little lack of horsepower, I had a great truck today, and my right leg is a little sore right now for being slap down to the mat for pretty much every lap after that first pit stop,” Chaffin added.

Carrying the colors, logos and a really sharp graphic wrap of its new sponsor, the #40 started the race in the 27th position. Chaffin began to drop a few spots from the drop of the green flag and eventually lost a lap to leader and eventual race winner Ron Hornaday, Jr. by lap 27.

Just a few laps later, the first of the race’s 12 yellow flags waved when the motor expired on Mario Gosselin’s Dodge, and Hooper promptly ordered a track bar adjustment, tire pressure changes and the removal of rubbers from the left rear spring when Chaffin pitted for the first time.

It took a second caution period on lap 36 for the #40 to get that lap back and return to the lead lap, a position they were never in trouble of losing the remainder of the event.

Taking advantage of the misfortunes of other trucks and additional cautions, Hooper used each opportunity to continue tweaking his race truck for Chaffin and enabling him to pick up positions.

The Murfreesboro, Tennessee driver responded by driving hard and avoiding several wrecks in the process, one of which he was directly involved in when the Chevrolet driven by Andy Lally lost the air on its nose while trying to make a pass and slammed into the left side of Chaffin’s truck on lap 106.

Lally’s machine began to spin, collecting the outside wall, while Chaffin escaped with just a flat left rear tire that was changed on the subsequent yellow flag pit stop on lap 108.

Chaffin twice had the #40 in the 15th position during the latter stages of the race and never ran worse than 23rd but was regularly battling for positions 17 through 19 over the final 40 laps.

“Everyone worked hard and we never panicked when we started out a little rough,” Hooper said. “Chad did a good job hustling the truck and working through the problems. Now that we have the handling issues going in the right direction, we’ll go back to the shop and work on our engine program so we can start running in the top 10 instead of the top 20,” Hooper added.