Key Motorsports planning a Nationwide Series return
By SceneDaily Staff
Sunday, March 23, 2008
For the first time in almost 10 years, Key Motorsports will compete in what is now the NASCAR Nationwide Series.
The team will test at Richmond International Raceway next Monday and Tuesday in hopes of qualifying for the Nationwide race at RIR on May 2 – one of a handful of Nationwide events the team plans to enter in 2008.
Former series champ Jeff Green has been hired as the driver for Key Motorsports, which currently has four cars in its fleet of Chevrolets.
“We’re going to give it our best shot for a few races and see what happens,” team owner Curtis Key Sr. said. “The cars all have been to the wind tunnel and posted some pretty good numbers. … I’m really curious to see how well we can do with them, but Richmond is my home and favorite race track and I want to make the race and compete.”
Key Motorsports hasn’t competed in what is now the Nationwide Series since the Richmond race in the fall of 1998 with former American Speed Association Series late model champion Kevin Cywinski.
The race marked the 35th and most recent start for Key Motorsports, an organization that operated on a part-time basis for six seasons.
Key, who returned to the NASCAR ranks in 2003 and has been a full-time competitor in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series since 2006, purchased four intermediate cars left over from the merger of Ginn Racing and Dale Earnhardt Inc. last year. Regan Smith drove three of the four cars for DEI in 2007.
“I really loved the Busch Series when I first got into the business of NASCAR team ownership, but a lot of things happened along the way that forced me to leave the sport,” Key said. “ … But I am thrilled to once again be able to race the cars.”
