The Veteran Captures Fourth Top-Five Finish of the Season
BROOKLYN, Mich. (June 15, 2009) – Mike Skinner took to the Irish Hills of Michigan on Saturday afternoon for the running of the Michigan 200 and came home with a fifth-place finish. The ninth stop of the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series (NCWTS) saw Skinner with a fast No. 5 Brooklyn Products/Exide Toyota Tundra but a multi-truck wreck on lap 34 resulted in left front fender damage. The Randy Moss Motorsports team battled back through the field in the second half of the 200-mile race and recorded their fourth top-five finish of the 2009 NCWTS season.
Starting from the seventh position, Skinner steadily worked his way into the top-five by lap 14. Nine laps later, the 1995 Truck Series Champion was running in third-place and reported to crew chief Eric Phillips that his No. 5 Toyota was a little loose. The second caution at the two-mile D-shaped oval came out on lap 28 and Phillips called Skinner to pit road the next lap for fresh tires and an air pressure adjustment, followed by another stop for fuel. On the lap 33 restart, the Daytona Beach, Florida resident was in the 11th position.
Unfortunately, the next lap Skinner received left front fender damage in a seven truck incident. After making a number of pit stops to fix the damage and restarting from the 19th position, the Brooklyn Products/Exide Toyota quickly moved through the field, as he was running in eighth-place on lap 45. On lap 60, the fourth caution of the afternoon came out and Phillips once again called Skinner to pit road for more work on the damage.
As the No. 5 Tundra entered and exited pit road, Skinner was caught speeding which resulted in a tail-end of the longest line penalty. On lap 68, the field returned to green-flag racing conditions and the veteran moved his way to the front. Over the final 30 laps, Skinner meticulously picked off one competitor at a time to come home with a fifth-place finish.
Recording his seventh top-10 finish of the season, Skinner remains in the third position in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series championship point standings. He currently sits 44 points behind leader Matt Crafton and only five points behind second-place Ron Hornaday Jr.
This Friday, June 19, Skinner and his No. 5 Randy Moss Motorsports Toyota Tundra team will head to the oldest active track in the world for the one day show at The Milwaukee Mile. The green flag will drop at America’s Legendary Oval just shortly after 9 P.M. Eastern. SPEED will have live coverage of the 200-lap event, starting at 8:30 P.M. Eastern. Select affiliates of MRN Radio and Sirius-XM NASCAR Radio Channel 128 will also have the live radio broadcast.
Mike Skinner Quotes:
How was your truck in the race?
“We had an awesome Tundra today. They wrecked in front of us there and we couldn’t miss it. Tore our old piece up and then we struggled. I had a heck of a lot of fun with Ron Hornaday Jr. at the end. My teammate, Tayler Malsam, man that kid has really come a long ways. He’s doing a heck of a job.”
How much fun did you have racing against Ron Hornaday Jr.?
“You ought to see us race golf carts out in the motor home lot sometime. We had a great, great day. I want to thank Brooklyn Products for coming along, helping us out, Exide of course and Toyota. We thought we were going to win the race today and came up short.”
-RMM-