Mike Skinner
No. 5 EXIDE/International Truck/Monaco RVs Toyota Tundra
Texas Motor Speedway – WinStar World Casino 350K
November 5, 2010
Mike Skinner and the No. 5 Randy Moss Motorsports Toyota Tundra featured a special paint scheme this weekend at Texas Motor Speedway. The team debuted a variation of the International Truck/EXIDE scheme they used at New Hampshire Motor Speedway last month, but this scheme featured EXIDE on the hood with International Truck and Monaco RVs both featured on the quarter panels of Skinner’s Toyota Tundra. It was the final appearance of the 2010 season for the paint scheme which features all of Skinner’s primary partners.
The NASCAR Camping World Truck Series garage was a busy place on Thursday as the field underwent two separate practice sessions and qualifying all within an eight-hour timeframe. In the opening session, Skinner’s 30.227-second lap ranked him fourth on the leader board. The EXIDE/International Truck/Monaco RVs crew spent the second practice adjusting Skinner’s truck to where it would be able to race well on Friday night. Later that evening, Skinner went out 31st of the 37 trucks to make a qualifying attempt at Texas Motor Speedway. With an average speed of 176.240 mph, Skinner rolled off 24th on Friday night.
The Susanville, Calif., native began his charge to the front immediately after the green-flag was displayed to the 36-truck field. By lap 10 he was scored in the 14th position, and by lap 20 he had already worked his way into the top-10.
Throughout the evening at Texas Motor Speedway, Skinner called into his crew reporting that the No. 5 EXIDE/International Truck/Monaco RVs machine had become a little free as the race went on and track cooled down. The crew continually made changes to tighten up Skinner’s Toyota Tundra, but the race track continued to become looser and looser.
The 1995 NCWTS’ Champion continued to be a top-10 mainstay for the majority of the evening, and after 147 laps at Texas Motor Speedway, he crossed the finish line in the eighth position.
“We had a pretty fast truck tonight,” said Mike Skinner, driver of the No. 5 EXIDE/International Truck/Monaco RVs Toyota Tundra following the race at Texas Motor Speedway. “We struggled a little bit in the pits early in the race when we had trouble getting fuel into our Toyota Tundra, but you’ll have that even with the best pit crew in the business. I appreciate all of the hard work that my guys put into the truck and practicing pit stops every day. During the first run we came from 24th to eighth under green. I felt like we had a truck that could contend tonight, but as the race went on it just ran loose all night.
“It was so cool to see all of our partners together—EXIDE on the hood, International on the left side, Monaco on the right side, PC*MILER—it was kind of a group effort and I really appreciate everybody’s help and all of their support this season. Now it’s on to Phoenix.”
The NASCAR Camping World Truck Series will travel to Phoenix International Raceway on Friday, November 12. The Lucas Oil 150 will be broadcast on SPEED Channel, Sirius XM Satellite Radio and MRN Radio beginning at 7:30 p.m. EST. Fans can also watch qualifying on SPEED Channel at 4:30 p.m. EST on Friday afternoon. Two practice sessions will take place on Thursday but will not be televised.