CHESAPEAKE, Virgina - Joey Clanton and the Key Motorsports racing team went into the Florida Dodge Dealers 250 with the same expectations as the other entrants in the Craftsman Truck Series, to win. The unsponsored Chevrolet Silverado of Joey Clanton claimed a 30th starting position. It wasn't long after the green flag flew that Clanton moved up to 10th place. "This truck was on a rail," stated Clanton, "this had to be the best handling ride I've ever driven".
Clanton, was penalized a lap for pitting outside the box under a yellow flag pit stop. After falling back to 31st, he got the lap back under the "Lucky Dog" rule. Clanton hooked up with Bobby Hamilton and they worked their way through the field quickly. Clanton soon found himself back in the top 20 when the "BIG ONE" happened. " I'm not sure who started the incident I haven't seen the replay but I know the 16 and the 88 got together and then the flood gates opened up," said Clanton." I feel really bad for the guys in the shop, they worked all winter even Christmas to get this truck ready."
Curtis Key, owner of the number 40, was impressed with the team.
" This was the first time the truck had ever seen a race track," commented
Key, " these guys took it from a last place practice time to a tenth place
machine, for a rookie team to come here and run like we did, it's a great
feeling." Key Motorsports is still in need of financial support. Key
believes that a corporation will see the hard work and dedication the team
made for the Daytona race and that a potential sponsor will come. "We proved
that we could run in the top 10, and we are sponsor less, there were five
trucks with primary sponsors, that went home." Key added, " this is 1 race
out of 25, and we will bounce back for Atlanta in March."
