Veteran chief wrenches Tommy Morgan and Gary Showalter have been named to new positions at Key Motorsports, the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series organization that fields the #40 and #44 Chevrolets on the circuit. Team owner Curtis W. Key, Sr. announced the re-structuring of his team today.
Morgan, 57, has stepped up from his Shop Foreman’s post to become the organization’s very first Director of Competition while the 51-year-old Showalter was named to succeed Barry Dodson as Crew Chief after Dodson unexpectedly resigned just prior to last Friday’s race at the Lowe’s Motor Speedway in Charlotte.
“We are a more experienced and stronger race team today than we were a week ago, ” Key said. “Tommy and Gary have worked together in the past and the knowledge that they share and bring to this race team will help us move forward and to become the competitive entity that it should be, ” he added. After six races, the #40 sits 27th in team owner points with Mike Bliss, Clay Rogers and Shane Huffman sharing the driving chores.
“We were not making the progress that we had envisioned, and after nearly five years of trying and millions of dollars spent, some changes were in store, ” Key said. “Barry’s (Dodson) departure just created the situation in which we could make many of those changes now and not have to wait through more races. We haven’t lost a beat, and I know that I will get everything out of Tommy (Morgan) and Gary (Showalter) who do not stop until the job is done, ” he added.
Morgan’s best years were in the mid to late 1990’s when he was the Crew Chief for the Roush Racing #9 Busch Series race team for which Jeff Burton drove to 11 victories and a whole lot of top-5 and top-10 finishes in just 66 races under Morgan’s team today than we were a week ago, “er racegned justprior toowalter was named to succeed the dfeparyedman Truck Series organiza reign.
Showalter, who most recently served as the Crew Chief for Pennington Motorsports and the #7 Chevrolet in the NCTS and before that for driver Kelly Sutton and Sutton Motorsports, has raced extensively in the Busch and Truck Series during his lengthy career. Showalter will call the day-to-day shots for the team with regular input coming from Morgan.
In addition to the new hire of Showalter, Key also welcomed several new, full-time employees to the team to replace the individuals who left the team with Dodson. Included in this group is Daniel Morgan, Tommy’s son, and Shane Whitbeck, Matt Eberly, Gary’s son Bobby Showalter and Brad Neely who worked under Showalter at Pennington Motorsports.
Key is running his second full season in the NCTS with the 40 Chevrolet Silverado and has also run several races with his 44 race trucks that have been earmarked for driver development.
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