Clay Rogers Returns For Third Race of The 2007 NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series Season
May 24, 2007
Clay Rogers has been one of the country’s premier short track racers over the last six years and last year earned the second of his two USAR Hooter’s Pro Cup Late Model Series championships with a dominating season.
Rogers returns to Key Motorsports for his third race of the 2007 NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series season and second with Key Motorsports and will be behind the wheel of the #40 Curtis Key Plumbing Chevrolet Silverado for this weekend’s event at the Mansfield Motorsports Speedway in Ohio.
En route to his Hooter’s Pro Cup title in 2006, Rogers raced twice at the highly competitive, high- banked, half-mile Mansfield oval and finished second in a Northern Division race after leading the entire race and then blew away the competition en route to a victory in a late-season Championship Series event. Rogers is hoping to provide the same performance level in the truck event.
“Mansfield has kind of been a highlight on this year’s schedule for me ever since the truck series schedule came out. I’ve won races there in different types of cars but not much different from the Craftsman Trucks, ” Rogers explained.
“I have been sort of labeled as a short track expert by a lot of different people, but the fact of the matter is that I really like the track (Mansfield). They have good tires there with a lot of grip, and I think that me being able to get to a race track where I have had a lot of experience and success is going to be the great equalizer. In fact, it might give us a little bit of an edge on the chassis side as far as the set-up goes, and I am really looking forward to it for sure, ” Rogers added.
Unlike his first race with Key Motorsports this year in which Rogers finished 21st at Kansas in the #40 truck, the life-long North Carolinian will be taking his direction beginning with the Mansfield event from a new crew chief in Gary Showalter and the organization’s new Competition Director in Tommy Morgan.
Morgan is stepping up from the Shop Foreman’s position while Showalter comes over to Key Motorsports to succeed the recently departed Barry Dodson.
The 57-year-old Morgan was a consistent winner in NASCAR Busch Series competition for many years with his most notable success coming during a 5-year stint with Roush Racing in the mid to late 90’s when he served as crew chief for Jeff Burton. During those five seasons, the Burton-Morgan combination posted 11 victories in just 66 races that included 34 top-five and 51 top-10 finishes and six poles.
Showalter is a veteran Crew Chief and top mechanic who has worked in all three levels of NASCAR. He more recently guided the NCTS efforts of Kelly Sutton and Sutton Motorsports and drivers Casey Kingsland, Brad Keselowski and Jason White at Pennington Motorsports. Showalter and Morgan also have a long-standing relationship in the industry and have worked together on several teams in various divisions in the past.
Morgan and Rogers did have the opportunity of working together at Key Motorsports recently, teaming together to test one of the team’s race trucks during the Lowe’s Motor Speedway’s open test a couple of weeks ago. Rogers likes what he saw in Morgan and believes that it will be a good fit – for him and Key Motorsports.
“Tommy is a heck of a nice guy and has definitely been around a long time. Everyone knows about the success he had at Roush Racing, so no one should doubt his ability, ” Rogers stated. “Tommy also understands that I am fairly opinionated when it comes to chassis stuff, and we have talked about some things and actually share many of the same ideas. The limited chance we have had to work together was at the test, but this weekend we’ll be working a whole lot more together and I expect it to be an enjoyable experience, ” Rogers added.
Morgan also expects some good things from Rogers and believes that the revised Key Motorsports contingent will be ready for the challenge at Mansfield and for the next five races on the 2007 schedule that come in successive weeks.
“We have some new, experienced people working here now, and blending them with the crew that remained here after Barry’s departure, I believe that we will be better than what this team has showed thus far this season, ” Morgan said.
One of the true bright spots for Morgan and Key Motorsports is the addition of Showalter.
“I have worked with Gary before, and he, too, shares many of the same ideas and strategies that I do as far as chassis set-up. He brings a lot of experience to the table, and we will work well together in giving our drivers race trucks that are fully prepared when they leave the race shop while I help Gary get accustomed to how we do business here at Key Motorsports, ” Morgan said.
