Mike Skinner
No. 5 International Truck/Monaco RVs Toyota Tundra
Martinsville Speedway – Kroger 200
October 23, 2010
Mike Skinner and the No. 5 International Truck/Monaco RVs Toyota Tundra finished sixth on Saturday afternoon at Martinsville Speedway. The three-time Martinsville Speedway winner was fast in practice and raced inside the top-10 throughout the majority of the 200-lap event before bringing home his 10th top-10 finish of the 2010 season.
On Friday afternoon, 37 trucks made laps around Martinsville Speedway in two separate practice sessions. During the opening session, Skinner completed 47 laps around the 0.526-mile paperclip-shaped track recording a fast lap of 20.003-seconds to be ranked sixth on the leader board. During final practice, the No. 5 team worked to perfect the handling of the International Truck/Monaco RVs Toyota Tundra allowing Skinner to post a 19-second lap. At 19.718-seconds, Skinner finished practice in second-place—one one-thousandth slower than the fastest competitor.
In qualifying, the No. 5 International Truck/Monaco RVs Toyota Tundra handled great through the center of the corner, but lost the forward bite Skinner needed to return to the gas and gain speed down the straightaway. As a result, Skinner posted a 19.842-second lap to start 10th on the grid.
When the green flag fell to kick off the Kroger 200, Skinner struggled early with forward bite. The driver of the No. 5 International Truck/Monaco RVs Toyota Tundra visited pit road during the lap 41 caution period for an air pressure adjustment, four fresh Goodyear Eagles and fuel.
An early stop for Skinner and the International Truck/Monaco RVs Toyota Tundra team meant that the group was able to gain track positions when the leaders visited pit road on a one-stop race strategy. Several of the front-runners came down pit road during the lap 92 caution period, allowing Skinner to restart the race in the third position with just over 100 laps to go.
Skinner made one more stop with just over 50 laps remaining at the Virginia short-track. The No. 5 machine needed another chassis adjustment along with fresh tires and fuel to race to the finish. Skinner returned to the track in the 17th position to travel through the field one last time.
The final laps of the Kroger 200 were marred with on-track incidents and caution flags. With the whole field on cool tires, Skinner was never able to benefit from the newer Goodyear Eagles on the International Truck/Monaco RVs Toyota Tundra and crossed the finish line in sixth-place.
“It was a crazy day as usual at Martinsville [Speedway],” commented Skinner following the race. “Stacy [Johnson, crew chief] and the International Truck/Monaco RVs team did a great job designing a strategy that put us on fresher tires than the rest of the field with about 50 to go. We had a really fast truck at that point, but the cautions just kept coming and coming which equaled out everybody’s tires. We ended up with a sixth-place finish for our International Truck/Monaco RVs Toyota Tundra. I really think we had a better truck than that, but that’s Martinsville. A lot of teams didn’t finish and we did, so it was a good day.”
Next week the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series will travel to Talladega Superspeedway for the Mountain Dew 250. The race will be broadcast live on SPEED Channel, MRN Radio and SIRIUS XM Radio beginning at 3:30 p.m. EST on Saturday, October 30. Practice and qualifying will be televised on Friday at 10:00 a.m. EST and 4:40 p.m. EST, respectively. Additionally fans can visit Randy Moss Motorsports on Twitter (@RMMRacing) and Facebook (http://www.facebook.com/randymossmotorsports) for updates.