Keyed-Up Motorsports to run Earnhardt-Childress Racing engines

Mooresville, NC (March 11, 2010) - Keyed-Up Motorsports has formed an alliance with Earnhardt-Childress Racing engines to supply the No. 90 Chevrolet Impala and driver Casey Mears with horsepower for the remainder of the 2010 Sprint Cup Series Schedule.

ECR develops and builds engines for its Chevrolet NASCAR Sprint Cup and Nationwide Series teams and also leases engines for teams in NASCAR’s top three series. ECR engines dominated the Daytona International Speedway earlier this season, as ECR engines were used by Nationwide race winner Tony Stewart (No. 4), Sprint Cup Bud Shootout winner Kevin Harvick (No. 29), and Daytona 500 race winner Jaime McMurray (No. 1). The season’s second race of the year (Auto Club 500, Fontana, CA) saw ECR engines take the top three starting spots, with McMurray on the pole.

"This is a huge step in the right direction to be competitive," Keyed-Up Motorsports driver Casey Mears said. “We still have a lot of short-term work to do to accomplish our goals, but this gives us a more of an advantage to making races.”                  

“We ran an ECR engine in the Gatorade Duel race back in February and we were very competitive amongst the multi-car teams,” said Keyed-Up’s owner, Raymond Key. “We utilized another company’s engines following Daytona, and after failing to make the last three races, we decided to make some serious adjustments. Our engine program was high on our list.”

The next stop on the 2010 Sprint Cup circuit is the Food City 500 at Bristol Motor Speedway on Sunday, March 21. The team currently sits outside the top 35 in points; therefore, it must rely on one of the fastest speeds amongst the cars listed as “go-or-go homers.”

“We have missed the last few races by less than fourteen-tenths (.14) of a second,” Key said. “With an ECR engine in the car, we feel our horsepower struggles are over and we a better opportunity to qualify for races.”

Release courtesy of Keyed-Up Motorsports