Pre-Race Notes and Quotes
Talladega Superspeedway
Mountain Dew 250
October 31, 2009
SKINNER AT TALLADEGA: Mike Skinner, driver of the No. 5 PC*MILER Navigator Toyota Tundra, has competed in three NASCAR Camping World Truck Series (NCWTS) events on the 2.66-mile superspeedway and has never finished outside of the top 15. Skinner also has 2 top-10 qualifying efforts to his credit. In addition, the 1995 Truck Series champion has made 16 starts at the track in the Sprint Cup Series and has scored one top-five and three top-10 finishes in competition in that series.
PHILLIPS’ CHASSIS CHOICE: Crew Chief Eric Phillips and the No. 5 Randy Moss Motorsports team will utilize chassis MDM-45 for this weekend’s event. This is not the same truck the team ran in the 2009 season opener at Daytona (Fla.) International Speedway.
THIS SEASON’S STATS: The No. 5 team has posted eight top-five and 14 top-10 finishes in 21 events this season, including three wins, which came at Kansas Speedway, Iowa Speedway and Gateway (St. Louis) International Raceway. Skinner holds down the third spot in the NCWTS driver point standings, 102 markers behind second place and 326 points out of first.
SKINNER’S THOUGHTS ON TALLADEGA: “Every track we go to you can be a victim of circumstance, which was pretty clear last weekend in Martinsville. You can get caught up in somebody else’s melee, especially with the pit road situation the way it is with us not being able to take tires and fuel at the same time. That opens up the opportunity to have a lot more crazy things happen to you, which we’ve had happen to us a couple of times this year. Talladega - it’s just really easy to get caught up in what they call the big one. We’ve seen it in the Sprint Cup Series, in Nationwide and the Camping World Truck Series, but I think that anywhere we go that can happen to you. I think that if I’m Ron Hornaday, I want to get through Talladega. I know we do. We’re fighting to stay in the top three in points. If Matt Crafton has a hiccup or two, then we can feasibly get second, but we don’t want to end up fifth. We’re going to try to protect where we’re at right now.”
SKINNER CAREER NCWTS STATS: Mike Skinner has scored 28 victories in 200 starts in NASCAR Camping World Truck Series competition and has earned 88 top-five and 127 top-10 finishes since making his first start in Phoenix (and going on to win the event) in 1995. With the addition of last weekend’s pole at Martinsville (Va.) Speedway, he has also earned 50 pole positions during that time.
WATCH AND LISTEN: Race coverage will be televised on SPEED and heard live on select affiliates of MRN Radio and Sirius-XM NASCAR Radio Channel 128, beginning at 4 p.m. (ET).
POINT AND CLICK: This Saturday is the last day for fans to vote for their favorite driver for the Most Popular Driver Award. The results of the online balloting will be announced at the NCWTS awards banquet at the end of the season. Visitwww.nascar.com for more details and to cast your vote for Mike.
ABOUT PC*MILER NAVIGATOR: PC*MILER Navigator is changing the way commercial truck drivers work, as it is the first GPS navigation system specifically designed for company drivers, owner operators, and leased operators and the only way to get industry standard PC*MILER directions in the cab. For more information about PC*MILER, please visit www.pcmnav.com.
ABOUT RANDY MOSS MOTORSPORTS: Randy Moss Motorsports ownership consists of Randy Moss, New England Patriots All-Pro Wide Receiver, and David Dollar, a long-time participant in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series. The team fields the No. 81 Toyota Tundra and the No. 5 Toyota Tundra full-time in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series. For more information about Randy Moss Motorsports, please visit www.randymossmotorsports.com.