Mike Skinner and the No. 5 Toyota Tundra team occupied the spotlight more than once during the weekend of NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series racing at Texas Motor Speedway. Friday night, it looked like Skinner and crew were going to end the race exactly where they had started it, in first place, until another Toyota competitor managed to slide by the No. 5 Bill Davis Racing Tundra with less than 25 circuits remaining in the 147-lap competition. As other trucks raced to make the same pass by Skinner, their efforts failed and the No. 5 BDR team added another top five to its 2005 stats, bringing its Toyota across the finish line in second place. The strong finish also gave the No. 5 Tundra team another step up in the overall championship standings, moving from sixth to fifth.

As soon as they arrived to the Texas track on Thursday afternoon, Skinner and crew knew they had a good truck. The No. 5 Tundra ran inside the top five during both practice sessions, averaging a speed of 181.99 miles per hour that rounded out to 29.67-second laps around the 1.5-mile tri-oval. Altogether, they had the third fastest truck in first practice and the fifth fastest in final practice.

Qualifying proceeded later Thursday under the lights, and Skinner stole the spotlight for the seventh time this season by adding another pole to his 2005 tally. The first-place seat was also Skinner's third consecutive at the Texas track. The 29.574-second lap at 182.593 miles per hour beat the No. 5 Toyota Tundra team's practice speed and fired up everyone as they looked forward to returning under the lights the next night to race for win number three.

Shortly after the green flag waved, the focus was on the No. 5 Tundra team as Skinner took his first-place start and charged away from the rest of the field. It was pure BDR and Toyota truck domination the entire first quarter of the competition with Skinner leading the way and his teammates Bill Lester and Johnny Benson filing in behind him in second and third, respectively.

The No. 5 truck was tight earlier in the night, but loosening up as the race progressed. Skinner called over the radio at one point commenting, "This truck is one loose goose."

To try to improve the truck's handling, the No. 5 Toyota team made its second and final stop of the night on lap 86 to take four sticker tires and fuel, along with slight air pressure and chassis adjustments to try to tighten up the truck for Skinner. Racing returned to green on lap 90 with the No. 5 running in fifth place. Just a little more than 10 laps later, it was second and then Skinner returned to the lead with a little more than 35 laps remaining.

Just when it seemed like Skinner was going to claim his third victory of the year, another Toyota truck proved to be too strong and slid by the No. 5 Tundra. The white flag waved and then the race was over. Skinner and crew had to settle for second place, but they had nothing to regret. Not once did the No. 5 team fall outside of the top five the entire night. It was a solid performance all around by the team and driver, both on and off the track.