Chad Chaffin and his Key Motorsports, NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series team ran strong, led Friday night's Racetickets.com 200 at the California Speedway and posted a solid 18th place finish in their first Series appearance of the 2006 season. That effort, plus the route it took for Chaffin and the team to be able to get there in the first place are the things that are helping to build momentum now for the fledgling, Mooresville, North Carolina-based organization.

A 6-year Craftsman Truck Series veteran who has two career victories, the 37-year-old Chaffin only ran four practice laps on Thursday before his #40 Chevrolet Silverado careened into the turn two outside retaining wall after the right front tire exploded. A fender rub that dug too deeply into the tire turned out to be the culprit.

Rather than go to the back-up truck, Key Motorsports Crew Chief and Team Manager Lance Hooper surveyed the truck's damage with Chaffin, and it was decided that the team would spend eight hours repairing the primary truck instead. A new lower A-frame, brake and suspension parts, some metal patches and new crash panels, four rolls of duct tape and a lot of hammering later, there was Chaffin on the pit lane on schedule on Friday morning ready to take his qualifying turn.

"Once we saw that the truck didn't sustain any severe structural damage, the decision to fix the primary truck rather than bring out the back-up was easy to make", Hopper said. "Even bent up, the primary truck was going to be better than our back-up, and I salute the guys for all of their hard work in put the thing back together", he added.

Chaffin was also surprised but energized by the team's diligence and tenacity, and he was quick to salute their efforts.

"The crew did an unbelievable job repairing that race truck, and they deserve all of the credit for getting us ready to qualify", Chaffin said. "It was my job to then reward them for their effort by getting in a good qualifying lap to get into the race", he added.

All Chaffin had to do to make his first race of the season was to out qualify two other trucks who were in the same position as Key Motorsports. That was the need to qualify on time since 30 other trucks had guaranteed starting berths out of the 36 spots available as a result of finishing in the top 30 in truck owner points in 2005.

On his first lap, Chaffin clocked in at a stunning 40.945 seconds for a speed of 175.846 mph. That effort ended up beating four of the eight teams needing to qualify on time and thus put the bright white Key Motorsports machine on the ninth row and in the 17th starting position.

"The truck ran great. It was really amazing too, because none of us had any idea what that truck was going to run like after all of the repairs were made and with no practice to test it afterwards", Chaffin explained. "Obviously, what Lance and the crew did was right because we had a great run", added Chaffin, who ended up not only besting the times of the other non-guaranteed starters but also seven factory-backed teams - three Toyotas, two Dodges and two Chevrolets.

"We felt we were going to be better than a lot of the teams coming into the race, but when you have to fix what we fixed just to get the truck through inspection and onto the qualifying line on time, and then beat the other teams without points, it becomes a tall order", Hooper explained. "Chad did a great job, both in qualifying and in the race".

In the race, Chaffin only once fell lower than 20th on the track, and that came after making his final pit stop of the night for tires and gas on lap 73 during a caution period when the vast majority of the other lead pack trucks stayed out on the track for remainder of the 100-lap race.

Re-starting the race on lap 76 in the 23rd position, Chaffin proceeded to pass seven trucks over those final 24 laps. A last-lap altercation in turn four with the truck of Stacy Compton prevented Chaffin from scoring a 16th place finish, the incident allowing the trucks of Brad Keselowski and Mike Skinner to beat the slightly damaged Key Motorsports machine to the checkered flag.

Chaffin was running 13th on lap 58 when another caution flag flew, but Hooper elected to keep Chaffin and the #40 on the track when all of the trucks in front of him pitted. It handed the lead over to Chaffin who held it for six laps (two of them under the green flag), got some TV coverage and, as Hooper put it "gave Curtis (car owner Curtis Key) something to smile about" as he watched the race at home.

"We didn't have anything for most of those Toyotas and the Nextel Cup Ford teams that were in front of us, so electing to stay out and get a chance to run out front was the right thing for us to do. We had a top 15 truck and we pretty much finished there. We're happy with how everything turned out", Hooper exclaimed.

As for the future, Hooper says that the team has some new trucks ready for the next few races and will use this California experience to further energize his team.

"This weekend was a real morale builder for this race team, and I believe that we are going to only get better as the season wears on", Hooper said. Chaffin, who is committed to the team for at least the next two races (Atlanta and Martinsville), will then weigh his options with team owner Curtis Key to see if the combination will continue.

Hooper, Key and the Key Motorsports crew are certain that they will have a competitive entry ready for whoever does agree to sit behind the wheel of the #40 Chevrolet beginning with the April 19th showdown at Gateway International Raceway outside of St. Louis. That is when 2006 team owner points take over, and the goal now for the organization is to be in the top 30 in points at that time so that they then have that invaluable and tension-releasing guaranteed starting berth. Not bad for a team that didn't get to race in the season opener in Daytona for that very reason, despite turning in the 28th best qualifying time.