Scott Wimmer to Drive for Key Motorsports in NASCAR Nationwide Series, Car Number Change

MOORESVILLE, North Carolina Wednesday, February 4, 2009: Shortly after announcing that his team will compete full-time in the NASCAR Nationwide Series for the first time, team owner Curtis Key has named Scott Wimmer to pilot the Key Motorsports Chevrolet for the first three races of 2009.

Additionally, Key announced that the team's NNS entry will begin 2009 with a new number, changing from No. 31 to No. 40. The switch was made to re-brand the car to match the team's full-time NASCAR Camping World Truck Series entry.

Wimmer, 33, has agreed to race the No. 40 Chevrolet for three races: Daytona International Speedway (February 14), Auto Club Speedway (February 21), and Las Vegas Motor Speedway (February 28). Races beyond Las Vegas Motor Speedway are still in negotiation and will be announced at a later date.

2009 will be the eighth season of Wimmer's flourishing career, which already includes 6 wins, 29 top-5's, and 68 top-10's in the NASCAR Nationwide Series. The Wausau, WI native, along with co-driver Jeff Burton, brought home the Nationwide Series owners' championship for Richard Childress in 2007. Last season, Wimmer scored one NNS win, the Pepsi 300 at Nashville Superspeedway.

"I'm really excited to be driving for Key Motorsports. It's going to be a new adventure coming down here and I'm really looking forward to that," says Wimmer, "I think we can go down to Daytona and make the race. The main thing at Daytona is staying out of trouble, and I think if we can do that we'll have a great race down there."

In an interesting twist of fate, Key Motorsports recently acquired a fleet of top-quality Nationwide Series equipment from owner Richard Childress, including several cars which Wimmer drove in 2008. Chassis #030, the team's primary car for the season-opening Camping World 300 at Daytona, was driven to a 9th place finish by Wimmer at Talladega last April.

"I spent my last 2 years at RCR, and Curtis actually went and bought the speedway car that I ran well with last year. He's got a great motor for it, and a great group of guys out there," stated Wimmer, "I think we can be a real shock for Daytona and the rest of the races we're going to run."

The Key Motorsports season begins at Daytona International Speedway, with the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series race on Friday, February 13, and the NASCAR Nationwide Series Race on Saturday, February 14.