SKINNER STREAKS TO SECOND STRAIGHT OF SEASON AT ATLANTAIt was the 21st Craftsman Truck Series win of Skinner’s career, his fifth win behind the wheel of the No. 5 Tundra, and Toyota’s 28th Craftsman Truck Series win since joining the series at the beginning of the 2004 season.
Skinner started on the pole and ran among the race leaders throughout the 130-lap event at the 1.5-mile Georgia oval. He led the field five times for a race-high 67 laps, including the final seven circuits after a late race restart. The Daytona Beach, Fla.-driver crossed the finish line .71 seconds ahead of Todd Bodine’s No. 30 Tundra.
“At the end of the night, we were better than we were all race,” said Skinner, following the race. “We were a little better than some other guys on the short runs, so when those cautions kept coming out -- it didn’t bother me. I was able to get by Clint (Bowyer) on the last restart and was able to hold Todd (Bodine) off at the end. This win is really for my dog Opus who passed away a week ago.”
Skinner has now won two consecutive races in his No. 5 Tundra for the first time since 2004. “That can be bad luck for this race team,” said Skinner.
“We won two races in a row the year before last and didn’t win again for some time. I’m just trying to be smart. We want to run as long as we can, keep the fenders on our stuff and get top-10 finishes.”
After the first three races of the year, Skinner holds the top spot in the NCTS championship point standings. It’s the first time that Skinner has led the Craftsman Truck Series standings since the 14th race of the 1996 campaign.
“It’s still early in the season,” said Skinner, after the race. “It’s really too early to think about that right now. There are a lot of strong drivers and strong teams in the series and there are about 15 trucks that can win this thing. I’m just having fun doing this -- I want to do it and I have a passion for it.”
Tundra drivers Todd Bodine (second) and Ted Musgrave (ninth) also recorded top-10 finishes in Friday night’s race in Atlanta. Other Tundra drivers in the field were Aaron Fike (12th), Terry Cook (17th), Jack Sprague (23rd), AJ Allmendinger (27th), Johnny Benson (28th) and Tyler Walker (31st).
The next race on the Craftsman Truck Series calendar is at Martinsville Speedway, March 31.
Toyota Finishing Positions at Atlanta Motor Speedway
1st, MIKE SKINNER
2nd, TODD BODINE
9th, TED MUSGRAVE
12th, AARON FIKE
17th, TERRY COOK
23rd, JACK SPRAGUE
27th, AJ ALLMENDINGER
28th, JOHNNY BENSON
31st, TYLER WALKER
Toyota Points Positions Following Atlanta Motor Speedway event
1st MIKE SKINNER 550 points
2nd TODD BODINE 481 points
4th JACK SPRAGUE 449 points
5th TED MUSGRAVE 440 points
8th JOHNNY BENSON 409 points
13th AARON FIKE 351 points
21st AJ ALLMENDINGER 293 points
25th TERRY COOK 267 points
30th TYLER WALKER 231 points
TOYOTA NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series Post-Race Notes & Quotes -- American Commercial Lines 200 – Atlanta Motor Speedway -- March 16, 2007
MIKE SKINNER, No. 5 Toyota Tundra, Bill Davis Racing:
Finished: 1st
On the performance of the truck at the end of the race:
“That was better than we had been all night. We were a little better on the short runs so when those cautions
kept coming out, it didn’t bother me. I knew Clint (Bowyer) was quite a trick artist and he is pretty good at
mirror driving. But we were fortunate enough to get him on the restart there and then we just held on for those
last laps. This win is for my dog Opus who passed away about a week ago. This is for him and this is pretty
cool.”
On strong performances in streaks:
“It seems like that’s how we do things and then we don’t win for awhile. We won a couple of them early
enough in the season and hopefully we can win a few more before the end of the season. Todd (Bodine) did a
good job, he ran us clean and I think he had the best truck. I think we were a little better for the first 10 or 15
laps and then he had us whipped. Jeff Hensley (crew chief)`and the guys did a great job with this truck and
made all the right adjustments. We probably could have stood a little more, she was pretty free there in the last
couple laps.”
On the final restart:
“Things happen to you in this business and you don’t try to get even and you don’t try to do anybody wrong. I
knew that I just had to get by him (Clint Bowyer) and get clear. I knew I had to get a really, really good restart
and Clint (Bowyer) had been mirror driving me pretty hard all night. I wasn’t going to wreck him to win this
race. I’m just not going to do that and I’m not stooping to that. We just got a good restart right there and I was
able to get on the outside of him, keep my foot to the floor and drive away.”
On finally winning at Atlanta:
“It’s really good to win here at Atlanta. In the Cup race here we had them absolutely whipped in 2000 and
broke a rod bolt with a few laps to go and then came back a year later and we had them covered again. That
time Geoff Bodine lost a motor and put about three drops of water on the race track and they threw the caution,
but those cautions have bit me a bunch of times. But maybe that horseshoe finally fell out and found me!”
More on tonight’s race:
“It’s one of them deals where two weeks in a row we’ve won the race with a second-place truck. We’ve lost a
bunch of these races with a first-place truck so I’m not going to complain about it too much. There were some
unfortunate events last week, but we ran good enough to win the race. Here tonight it seemed like the first 10 or
15 laps we were better than Todd (Bodine) was, but after that he had us whipped. We didn’t think there was
much we would be able to do with his truck other than finish second. It just kind of worked out for us and we
were better on short runs”
On the attitude of the team this season:
“Our whole attitude is a little different this year. We are focused on top-10 finishes and keeping the fenders on
the trucks. We’re just trying to be smart. I told Bill Davis that I would screw this up sooner or later, but we’ll
try to be smart as long as we can and try to keep the fenders on this stuff just as long as we can. We are just
going to keep trying to run good.”
On leading the points this early in the season:
“It’s so early in the season, only the third race, and I’ve led the Nextel Cup Series points early into the year.
But it’s too early to think about the points and I think there are about 15 trucks that are good enough to take that
lead from us. There’s a lot of strong trucks, strong drivers and strong race teams. We’re just going to go out
there and do our job and do the best we can do every time. But I’m having fun and I’m at the stage in my
career where I don’t have to prove myself. I’m doing this now because I want to do it and the Toyota folks are
nice enough to let me drive their brand of trucks and Bill Davis is nice enough to let me drive his trucks. Angie
(wife) and I are having a blast and we’re just going camping every weekend and we race to pay for the fuel.”
TODD BODINE, No. 30 Lumber Liquidators Toyota Tundra, Germain Racing:
Finished: 2nd
On the strength of longer runs:
“When Mike (Skinner) and I got out there in front, we had seen that earlier in the race and I could run with him,
but I couldn’t do anything with him until about 10 laps into a run. What we needed was the longer run. We’ve
figured out what we need to do at these bigger tracks with this coil-binding stuff. I think this Lumber
Liquidators crew is going to be tough the rest of the year.”
On learning early this season:
“Mike (Hillman) Sr. and Mike (Hillman) Jr. have done an incredible job. The whole Germain Racing team has
really gone to work since California to figure out what we needed to do. We did a little testing and I think that
shows and I think we’re back.”
On constant improvement:
“We figured out what we needed to do to get these trucks where they need to be to run and I really feel like
we’re back. We just need to work on it a little bit more and get all the pieces of the puzzle to fit better. In two
weeks we’ll head to Martinsville and it’s every man for himself.”
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