Like a hitter in baseball  being in a semi slump, Chad Chaffin and his Key Motorsports contingent saw their NASCAR Camping World Truck Series batting average dip to .250 Saturday at Martinsville Speedway.

A loose handling condition during qualifying for the Kroger 250 prevented Chaffin from putting the #40 Chevrolet Silverado into the starting field thus spoiling the debut of veteran crew chief Barry Dodson. It's the third time in the 2006 season's first four races that the Mooresville, North Carolina-based team has been forced to go home early.

"We weren't down on horsepower this time", Chaffin said after his effort of 20.478 seconds (92.470 miles per hour) fell just ninety-eight thousands of a second shy of the 36th and final starting spot. Chaffin's lap time was also more than two tenths of a second slower than his fastest time recorded during Friday's two practice sessions.

"The truck was just too loose. I couldn't turn the truck to drive it through the corners and almost spun it out twice. It sure is frustrating because there is no way that we couldn't have run a seventy (20.370) to make this race. It just seems like bad luck finds it way into our garage area each week", he added.

Dodson, in his first race as crew chief for Key Motorsports after succeeding Lance Hooper, blamed a flat tire in the second of Friday's two practice sessions as the reason behind Chaffin's failed attempt and the loose conditions.

"We had a tire go flat late in the second practice on Friday. I had wanted to make a qualifying run, but we just did not have enough time to cool the engine down enough to tape off the front, so we ran without the tape on the grill.

"Had we done that, Chad would have told me that the truck was loose taped off and we could have made some adjustments. We just didn't know. You just have to shake your head and wonder", added Dodson, who said that even though he did tighten up the race truck before Chaffin's qualifying runs, he didn't tighten it up enough.

"I was thinking about what happened on Friday and almost stopped taping up the grill during pre-qualifying preparation. I only wish I would have gone with my gut", Dodson stated.

Despite the disappointment, team owner Curtis Key still saw something positive from the experience.
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"The last time we came to Martinsville to race and had to qualify in on time (September 2004), qualifying was rained out and we went home without ever turning a lap", Key explained. "This time, we ran in both practice sessions, got to qualify and know exactly why we missed the race. This means that the next time we come here we'll take that next step which will be to qualify and finally get the chance to race", said Key. "When that finally does happen, we'll then be able show the racing community that this is a good race team. We just have to break out of our slump", he added.

That next time will be in a month when the Craftsman Truck Series heads to Gateway International Raceway outside of St. Louis for a race on April 29.