Keyed Up Motorsports to return: Keyed Up Motorsports plans to attempt and run the first five races of the 2011 season with driver Scott Riggs in the #90 Chevy with Earnhardt Childress engines. Doug Richert will return as the crew chief.(Keyed Up Motorsports)(12-9-2010)

Key Motorsports expands operation to body hanging: Key Motorsports announced the addition of body hanging services available to NASCAR Sprint Cup, Nationwide, Camping World Truck and East as well as ARCA Series teams who are in need of professional quality bodies to be installed at a competitive price. Key Motorsports fields Chevrolet Impala's for driver Mike Bliss in the Nationwide Series and currently has nine COT cars under construction at the teams Mooresville, North Carolina headquarters. Key Motorsports team owner Curtis Key purchased five body hanging plates from Gillette Evernham Racing [now Richard Petty Motorsports] several months ago and added skilled personnel to hang bodies in house for the No. 40 team before making the decision to offer its services to other NASCAR teams.(Key Motorsports)(10-19-2010)

Keyed Up Motorsports to skip Charlotte races: Keyed-Up Motorsports owner, Raymond Key, announced that the #90 Chevy will go on hiatus until funding is secured. The team has reduced staff but is still in operation, and will not participate in the All-Star Event weekend or the Coca-Cola 600 event as previously announced. “We look forward to returning to the schedule,” stated owner Raymond Key. “At this time we are taking a break from the schedule and working on securing sponsorship for future races.” Keyed-Up has not participated in an event since the Phoenix race in April, where driver Scott Riggs finished 28th. Riggs maintained a top-25 position with three laps to go when a right front tire blew, causing the final caution of the night. “I was very happy with Scott’s performance at Phoenix,” added Key, “and I welcome him back to the drivers’ seat when we return to the schedule.” The team will continue its efforts in securing a sponsor and will not “start and park” for funding.(Keyed-Up Motorsports)(5-12-2010)

#90 to run at Charlotte: Keyed Up Motorsports announced that the #90 Chevy will return to Sprint Cup action in the Coca Cola 600 at the Charlotte Motor Speedway [May 30th]. Keyed Up Motorsports team owner Raymond Key and crew chief Doug Richert decided to take off a few races to restructure the team and build focus on the remainder of the 2010 Season. The team announced that driver Scott Riggs will be behind the wheel at Charlotte. Keyed Up Motorsports has sponsorship opportunities available at this time.(Keyed Up Motorsports)(4-20-2010)

Keyed-Up cutting back schedule: Keyed-Up Motorsports announced that it will be reducing its schedule for the remainder of the 2010 season. The team has scaled back on crew members and those who remain will be prepping cars for the limited schedule. The team will continue its efforts in securing a sponsor and will not start and park for funding. "I set out with this team to race, not start and park", said Key. "However, a reduced schedule will allow us to continue operations and focus our time on specific aspects of racing to make us stronger when we return to the track". Doug Richert remains at the helm as crew chief and will continue to lead operations. There is no set schedule for the remainder of the season as some potential sponsors could change what is tentative for the team however the #90 will not be participating at Texas next week.(Keyed-Up PR)(4-12-2010)

New driver named for #90 Keyed-up Motorsports ride: Keyed-Up Motorsports team owner Raymond Key announced that Scott Riggs will drive the #90 Keyed-Up Motorsports Chevy at Phoenix and Texas. “We are thrilled to have Scott in our car,” Key said today. Riggs, the current driver for the #09 RAB Racing in the NASCAR Nationwide Series, will make his 2010 Sprint Cup debut at Phoenix in the #90 Keyed-Up Motorsports Chevy. The team started the season with Casey Mears behind the wheel, but Mears’ contract was for the first six races only, and he opted to be a back up driver for Denny Hamlin in the #11 FedEx Toyota while Hamlin recovers from ACL surgery. “Casey is a great guy and did a good job for us,” Key said. “Both parties fulfilled the 6-race deal and parted on good terms, we have even discussed the possibility of having Casey back later this year.” The team has qualified for only one (1) of the first six (6) races this season. Key added, “We had competitive speeds this year in qualifying attempts but the ‘Top 35’ rule has kept us from racing. We now look to Scott for his input on how we can succeed in getting into the top 35 in points with him behind the wheel.”(Keyed-Up Motorsports)(3-30-2010)

Mears to sub for Hamlin if needed, may return to the #90 team: Casey Mears was selected Saturday to sub for #11-Denny Hamlin while he recovers from ACL surgery. It’s a deal that came together in just a few days, but one Mears knows could relaunch a fledgling Cup career after going 1-for-6 in making races with underfunded Keyed-Up Motorsports – a deal that ended with a DNQ Friday. “It’s just an opportunity I couldn’t pass up,” he said. “It’s one of those deals where I could just be sitting on the pit box if Denny feels pretty good, but if he doesn’t it’s just a great opportunity to possibly get in a good car.” It’s also a chance to pair with an organization that would one day like to expand to four teams. “You see him in passing, and it’s hi, hello, but I’ve never really spoken with those guys,” he said. “So it’s an opportunity for me to just kind of get to know those guys a little bit, and you never know what the future holds.” Hamlin had high praise for Mears in his press conference Saturday morning, calling him “the best option to get a good finish” of all the drivers available in case he falters. If Hamlin’s pain is overwhelming, the plan would be to run to the first caution, then have Mears take over for as many races as possible until his recovery’s complete. “I think it means a lot to think your peers think of you that way,” he claimed. “I think that hopefully if I can get in there, I can do a good job for them, and keep them in the running for where they want to be.” In the meantime, Mears’ relationship with Keyed-Up is expected to continue once his subbing is complete. He claims owner Raymond Key will run in the interim, although no driver has been selected to sub for him in the #90 Chevy as of yet. “I still want to run with those guys some more,” he said. “Hopefully, I can get through this year and get something going rolling positive for 2011.”(Frontstretch)(3-27-2010)

#90 team signs sponsors for Bristol: Keyed-Up Motorsports announced that it welcomes the return of Juice Air Fresheners and SMELLmyCAR.com to co-primary sponsorship of its #90 Chevy and driver Casey Mears for the Food City 500 at Bristol Motor Speedway. Juice Air Fresheners and SMELLmyCAR.com will run as a primary sponsor on select races and an associate sponsor of the team throughout the 2010 season. SMELLmyCAR.com is the prime outlet available for purchase of the newest air fresheners on the market. Juice Air Fresheners CEO Abraham Hakim said, "It was very unfortunate that Casey and the team did not qualify for our first race as sponsor at Atlanta, but we were very impressed with the exposure Juice Air Fresheners and SMELLmyCAR.com received for the small amount of on air time of the misfortunate practice session (blown motor)." Continuing its motorsports marketing efforts of its air freshener line, Juice Air Fresheners is offering free shipping on all orders from SMELLmyCAR.com through March 28th by entering coupon code: RACE90 at checkout.(Keyed-Up Motorsports)(3-18-2010)

Keyed-Up to get engines from ECR: Keyed-Up Motorsports announced that it has formed an alliance with Earnhardt-Childress Racing engines to supply the #90 Chevy 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, Sprint Cup Bud Shootout winner #29-Kevin Harvick, and Daytona 500 race winner #1-Jamie McMurray.(Keyed Up PR)(3-11-2010)

Keyed-Up Motorsports gets associate sponsor: Keyed-Up Motorsports, in conjunction with ADFAST Marketing, named 75000000.com as an associate sponsorship of its #90 Chevy and driver Casey Mears for the 2010 Sprint Cup Series Schedule. 75000000.com is an innovative site that track the millions of fans of NASCAR and donates to the program Race 4 Pets, a pet adoption program that helps homeless pets find homes. The site also gives members the opportunity to win monthly prizes such as gift certificates, race tickets, pit passes, cars and cruises.(Keyed-Up PR)(3-9-2010)

Keyed Up Motorsports breaks from Key Motorsports: As of this past Monday, Raymond Key’s #90 Keyed Up team [driver is Casey Mears] officially severed ties with the more-established Key Motorsports one that has run in the Nationwide and Truck Series, owned by brother Curtis Key. This upheaval has forced Keyed Up to move to Tommy Baldwin Racing’s old shop, meaning less time was spent this past week on refining equipment the team already had to try and get their #90 Chevys up to speed... despite the mvoe, Keyed Up Motorsports’ future itself remains a bit uncertain. Without funding, the team eventually will not be able to run each week. One source within the organization says if funding and performance do not soon turn a corner, the No. 90 may find its schedule trimmed back to around a dozen races.(Frontstretch)(3-6-2010)

#90 car gets sponsors for Atlanta: Keyed-Up Motorsports announced that working in conjunction with Racer Management, it welcomes Juice Air Fresheners and its distributor SMELLmyCAR.com to co-primary sponsorship of its #90 Chevy and driver Casey Mears for the Kobalt Tools 500 at Atlanta Motor Speedway, March 7, 2010. In the project, SMELLmyCAR.com will run as a primary sponsor on select races and an associate sponsor of the team throughout the 2010 season. SMELLmyCAR.com is the prime outlet available for purchase of the newest air fresheners on the market. This new partnership provides another reason for shoppers to discover the scents that Juice Air Fresheners has to offer. Juice Air Fresheners competes in Auto Air Fresheners, a market dominated by strong competitors. Hakim added, “When we heard about Casey and Keyed-Up Motorsports we saw a good fit for our product. We both actively run and operate our businesses, and are chasing after our dreams.”(Keyed-Up Motorsports PR)(3-5-2010)

Mears has 6-race deal with #90 team, then...: #90-Casey Mears met with members of the media recently and discussed his new team and expectations, a few tidbits fromt the transcript:
HOW DOES IT FEEL TO COME DOWN HERE IN A COMPLETELY DIFFERENT SITUATION THIS YEAR THAN LAST? “It’s hard to tell yet to be honest, until we get on the track and really see what we have we know we have a car that’s a couple years old. Sometimes that doesn’t matter a whole lot on the superspeedways. The good thing is we’re able to secure an ECR engine [Earnhardt Childress Racing] and obviously they’ve been competitive over the last few years. As far as buying, they bought the cars through DEI so we’re able to get a transmission, drive line, rear-end through them so we got a lot of good parts and pieces on the car, the only question in our minds at all is if the car is a little old and how’s that gonna affect it when it comes to speed. When we get on the track and we run I’ll have a better opinion on how I feel about being here. I haven’t been in this position, not having points coming into Daytona, since the first time I came here with Ganassi and we raced our way in fortunately and obviously the stuff was right and working real good and I didn’t know what I was doing. Now I know what I’m doing and it’s gonna be curious to see whether or not we get the car handling properly and get it good enough to race in.”
WHAT’S YOUR PROGRAM FOR THE YEAR, WHAT DO YOU HAVE GOING? “Right now the only thing that’s locked in, there’s a lot of talk about some Nationwide stuff, truck stuff, hit and miss Cup things, but the only thing that is locked in right now for sure is the six-race deal with Key-Up Motorsports.”
DO YOU RACE WITH AN ATTITUDE OF ‘NOTHING TO LOOSE’? “Absolutely, the whole thing here is to qualify one, we get in the show then we are able to approach the race and I think that obviously if we do make the race we got to have realistic goals and I think a big accomplishment for us would be to make all the races and be inside the top-35 when the music stops at the end five races and be able to get into Martinsville regardless would be good.”
YOU ARE WITH KEY-UP MOTORSPORTS FOR THE FIRST SIX RACES, HAVE YOU TALKED TO ANYBODY ABOUT RIDES AFTER THAT? “I’ve talked to probably just about everybody to be honest, there are some possibilities of some things for 2011 for sure. There may be some things that open up mid-season; there may be some new teams that start up six or eight races into, there still some guys trying to put programs together for 2010 and just couldn’t get it quite done in time so there are a lot of little things happening. I’ve talked to Richard a lot and I know he was really wanting to continue running that fourth program and they’re continually searching for sponsorship and if something was to come together maybe there’s five, six, eight, ten races still there so I’m pretty much talking to everybody. I’m hoping that a lot of guys view me after these six races that if I don’t get to continue with Keyed-Up Motorsports hopefully I’m that first guy on the bench that can get the job done if something opens up I’ll be there.”(GM Racing)(2-11-2010)

Mears to drive the #90 car: Keyed-Up Motorsports, the new NASCAR Sprint Cup Series team founded by Raymond Key and debuting in the 2010 Daytona 500, announced it has named Casey Mears as driver of the #90 Chevy. Mears has competed at the NASCAR Sprint Cup level since 2003 and spent the 2009 season at Richard Childress Racing [in the #07 Jack Daniel's Chevy]. Mears is the nephew of four time Indianapolis 500 winner Rick Mears and the son of Indy and off-road veteran Roger Mears. "I'm really excited about this opportunity to drive the Keyed-Up Motorsports #90 Chevy." said Mears. "I'm looking forward to working with Raymond, Doug and the entire team during the 2010 Cup season. We're a new team, but I feel we have everything in place to race. It's going to be a rewarding endeavor."(Keyed Up Motorsport PR) Doug Richert was recently named the crew cheif for the #90 team.(1-20-2010)

Keyed-Up Motorsports announces partnership: #90 Keyed-Up Motorsports announced a partnership with St. Paul, MN-based Ergodyne, a leader in the development of products for worker protection and performance. Ergodyne is the official gear provider to Keyed-Up Motorsports and will outfit the Keyed-Up crew members with its ProFlex gloves and knee pads, CORE Performance Workwear and Arsenal Equipment Storage Systems throughout 2010 Cup season.(Keyed-Up Motorsports)(1-16-2010)

Richert to crew chief #90 car: Keyed-Up Motorsports, the new NASCAR Sprint Cup Series team founded by Raymond Key and making its debut in the 2010 Daytona 500, announced it has named Doug Richert as the #90 team's crew chief. Richert, a California native and NASCAR veteran, is a former championship crew chief in the Sprint Cup Series and has worked with many top drivers in his successful career. Richert's NASCAR resume includes crew chief for Dale Earnhardt's first Cup championship and crew chief for ten of Greg Biffle's Cup wins. "Keyed-Up Motorsports is very thankful to have Doug guiding our #90 team." said Raymond Key. "As a past champion crew chief, Doug can definitely get the job done and fulfill our first-year goal of being competitive on the track. All of us at Keyed-Up Motorsports look forward to working closely with Doug." Richert's first priorities at Keyed-Up Motorsports will be leading the team's search for high-quality crew members and overseeing the finishing touches on the team's Daytona cars at its Mooresville, NC race shop.
"I'm very excited about this opportunity that Raymond has given me with the Keyed-Up Motorsports #90 team." said Richert. "I want to continue building this team with high caliber crew members that have the same vision for the team that Raymond does. And although a challenging endeavor, I believe that the Keyed-Up #90 car can be competitive on the track." See a video of the announcement on Keyed-Up Motorsports website (KeyedUpMotorsports/Wild Sports Marketing PR), in 2009 Richert was the crew chief for the #64 Larry Gunselman team and finished as Robby Gordon's crew chief on the #7 Toyota. No word who will be Gordon's crew chief in 2010.(1-6-2010)

Keyed-Up Motorsports Uses NASCAR To Help Charity: Raymond Key, prominent Virginia businessman and team owner of the Keyed-Up Motorsports #90 Chevy in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series, has a proven track record of success. His “day job” as owner of Raymond Key Commercial Contracting, based in Virginia Beach, VA, has given him a very good life and the opportunity to pursue his passion of racing in NASCAR’s top series. But, Key also has another passion, one that truly has captured his heart- ForKids, a Norfolk, VA-based non-profit organization. Key will donate a portion of the proceeds generated from Keyed-Up Motorsports’ endeavors on the track to ForKids. But, equally important, Key is committed to raising awareness about ForKids’ remarkable efforts to make substantial differences in the lives of needy families. No stranger to poverty, Key joined efforts with ForKids to help homeless families with children in getting their lives back on track; much like Key’s own family was forced to do after the divorce of his parents, extreme poverty, and the murder of his father in 1975. ForKids helps families that have a variety of hardships, including: chronic hunger, disabilities, domestic violence, mental illness and housing-related debt. Key’s involvement goes far beyond being the premier sponsor for ForKids, he also sits on their Board of Directors. For more information visit homesforkids.org. Keyed-Up Motorsports in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series is the sister team of Key Motorsports and was formed in 2009 to expand the Key family-owned racing operations to the top three tiers of NASCAR. For more information about Keyed-Up Motorsports on the web, please visit: KeyedUpMotorsports.com.(Wild Sports Marketing)(1-5-2010)

New Cup team to debut in 2010: Raymond Key, younger brother of NASCAR Nationwide Series team owner Curtis Key, announced he is currently assembling a Sprint Cup Series team with assistance from Key Motorsports. Key's Sprint Cup team, Keyed Up Motorsports, plans to debut in the 2010 Daytona 500. Key Motorsports, based in Mooresville, North Carolina, is providing technical and engineering support as well as engines, personnel and shop space to Keyed Up Motorsports for the Sprint Cup effort. Key Motorsports, based in Mooresville, North Carolina, is providing technical and engineering support as well as engines, personnel and shop space to Keyed Up Motorsports for the Sprint Cup effort. "I am excited to be working with Raymond and Keyed Up Motorsports on the Sprint Cup program," Curtis Key said. "Raymond has traveled with our Truck and Nationwide teams and has been a lot of help to us. He has wanted to start his own team and he feels it is the right time." Keyed Up Motorsports will field Chevrolets purchased from Dale Earnhardt, Inc., with the team being committed to the the first five races on the 2010 Sprint Cup Series schedule which include Daytona, California, Las Vegas, Atlanta and Bristol. Curtis and Raymond Key, both Virginia businessmen who developed their companies from humble beginnings, have selected #90 for the Keyed Up Motorsports entry, a number that is rich in Virginia racing history [#90 was run for decades by Virginia based Junie Donlavey, winning once at Dover]. While no announcements were made regarding a driver or sponsor for the #90 Keyed Up Motorsports Sprint Cup Series team, team owner Raymond Key says it will not be a start and park team.(HardcoreRaceFans)(11-4-2009)