DAYTONA BEACH, FLORIDA - The high hopes that veteran driver Chad Chaffin and his Key Motorsports race team had for Friday night’s 2008 NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series season opener at the Daytona International Speedway came crashing down as the #40 Chevrolet Silverado was among the eight race trucks sucked up in a major backstretch melee after just 18 laps of the Chevy Silverado 250.
Eyeing a strong race performance after recording the best-ever qualifying run for a Key Motorsports’ entry in any race at Daytona, Chaffin had stormed from his 22nd place starting berth to within one spot of the top 10 just six laps into the 100-lap affair.
The #40 did slide back a bit to the 15th position when Chaffin complained of a loose handling condition a few laps later, and when the first caution flag flew on lap 10 when Scott Lynch’s machine spun and hit the second turn wall, crew chief Gary Showalter elected to pit for fuel, four fresh tires and a wedge adjustment.
With some teams staying on the race track and electing not to pit while others just got fuel or changed two tires, the Showalter decision pushed Chaffin’s truck back to the 26th spot when the race re-started on lap 14. With fresh rubber and the chassis fix, Chaffin started to again rumble through the field and the #40 was showing in the 21st position on the 19th lap when all hell broke loose.
The Toyota driven by NASCAR Sprint Cup star Kyle Busch was in the middle of a three abreast battle at the front of the field when it got out of shape and began to spin. Busch’s truck struck the on-coming Toyota of Mike Skinner sending the Skinner machine and two others spinning and then hard into the outside retaining wall.
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