After last week's dominating performance at the Texas Motor Speedway, the No. 5 Toyota Tundra team headed to the Irish Hills in hopes of another strong performance. The team took the same truck which dominated the race in Texas and was hoping for the same result at Michigan International Speedway on Saturday.

In the first practice session the 5 team was really happy with its truck. The 1995 champion told his crew the truck was a little free in the corners and the team made a couple of small adjustments to its Tundra in hopes it would tighten him up. The changes seemed to help and at the end of the first session Skinner was third on the speed chart.

In the final practice session, Skinner told his crew the truck was extremely loose in the corners but it was not evident on the speed chart. Skinner held down the top position and was over three tenths of a second better than the second place truck. Skinner and his team were gunning for their first win of the season and were hoping it would come at MIS on Saturday.

Skinner had an early draw in Saturday morning's qualifying session which the team felt would hurt its chances for a second consecutive pole. Skinner went out and ran a blistering lap of 40.278 seconds, which put him at the top of the speed chart. After waiting over an hour for the rest of the field to qualify, Skinner captured his third pole position of the 2006 campaign. With the pole in Michigan, Skinner is also now tied with Jack Sprague for the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series record with 27 poles in his career.

When the green flag dropped over the 36-truck field Skinner took no time pulling away from the field. On lap 14, he called into his crew saying the truck was a little loose in the gas but he could run anywhere on the track. He and NASCAR veteran Mark Martin were in a class of their own and pulling away from the rest of the field.

Skinner led the first 24 laps before surrendering it to Martin. The duo battled lap after lap for the lead and Skinner again retook the lead on lap 27. Then the unthinkable happened. On lap 32 Skinner called into his crew saying all his engine temperatures had pegged. The team started to get ready for a green flag pit stop to cool down the truck. Skinner hit pit road under green conditions on lap 33. The team changed four tires and filled the truck with fuel. They also pulled debris off the grill which was the culprit for the overheating.

The team went a lap down because of its unscheduled stop and was hoping for a caution so Skinner could get the lucky dog. The team's prayers were answered three laps later when the yellow flag was displayed to the field. Skinner was again on the lead lap, but knew he had to be patient to get back to the front of the field.

When the race was restarted on lap 39, Skinner was in the 32nd position, but was on his way back to the front. In less than 30 laps Skinner had already picked off 19 positions. He still complained the truck was loose, but knew the team had one more pit stop to adjust on the truck.

When the caution came out on lap 67 the 5 team took the opportunity to bring Skinner down the pit lane. The 5 Toyota Tundra hit pit road on lap 69 for its final stop of the race. The crew changed four tires and filled the truck with fuel. They also made a trackbar adjustment to their Tundra in hopes it would tighten it up for the final segment of the race.

Skinner battled for the last 30 laps to get back into the top 10, but when the checkered flag was displayed to the field Skinner found himself in the 11th position.

The NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series heads to The Milwaukee Mile this Friday night to race under the lights. The race will commence on Friday, June 23rd. The race can be seen live on the Speed Channel. Check local times for listings.