MARTINSVILLE, Va. (October 24, 2009) – Making the 200th start of his NASCAR Camping World Truck Series (NCWTS) career, Mike Skinner started the weekend off strong by capturing his 50th career pole position on Friday. After running in the top five for much of the event on race day, an incident involving several lapped cars resulted in damage to the No. 5 PC*MILER Navigator Toyota Tundra and Skinner was relegated to a 23rd place finish.
Rain showers forced NASCAR to shorten the first scheduled practice Friday afternoon, but Skinner found his groove early and posted the quickest lap times in both of the day’s practice sessions. Skinner was the 11th truck to take to the track for his two-lap qualifying run Friday evening and had no problem backing up those speeds. The veteran driver was gunning for his 50th career truck series pole and posted a speed of 95.733 miles per hour around the .526-mile track, which earned him the top spot on the starting grid.
Rain showers again blanketed the Martinsville area Saturday morning, but the skies cleared in time for the race to begin with only a slight delay. Leading the field to the green flag, Skinner settled into the third position early in the race after communicating to crew chief Eric Phillips that the truck was pretty loose throughout the corners.
The first pit stop of the day came during a caution period on lap 55 and Phillips called for air pressure and chassis adjustments to help tighten up the truck. Several differing pit strategies were taking place during the event, and Skinner and several other front runners lined up in the middle of the pack for the lap 59 restart. Patiently working his way past slower traffic, the veteran driver and three-time NCWTS winner at the Virginia track, made his way into the top 15 by lap 74. He continued to climb through the field and held down the 10th spot when a caution flag flew on lap 95.
Skinner took the green flag for the lap 100 restart in eighth place, and with the help of former driver and veteran spotter Tim Fedewa, he was able to fight his way into fifth place in just 10 laps. Though he complained of a tight handling truck, Skinner stood solidly in fourth place when disaster struck. Caught behind two lapped trucks who made contact with one another in turn two, Skinner had no place to go on the tight short track in an effort to avoid becoming part of the incident. The Randy Moss Motorsports crew went to work to change the resulting flat right front tire and repair the damaged fender. After taking the green for the lap 174 restart, the crew realized the sway bar was also broken. Skinner was forced into the pits for more repairs and lost several laps in the process. When the checkered flag flew for the finish, the No. 5 PC*MILER Navigator Toyota held down 23rd place.
Though disappointed with the results, Skinner was able to maintain third place in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series driver point standings. He now stands 326 points behind series leader Ron Hornaday and 102 markers out of second.
The NASCAR Camping World Truck Series returns to action next weekend at Talladega (Ala.) Superspeedway. The Mountain Dew 250 will be broadcast live at 4 p.m. (ET) on SPEED TV and on select affiliates of MRN Radio and Sirius-XM NASCAR Radio on Saturday, October 31.
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.
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