Mike Skinner in the No. 5 Toyota Tundra at Matinsville in April 2006. (David M. Vaughn Photo)

Skinner was the last driver to win back-to-back short track races in August-September 2005 at Bristol and Richmond. There have been seven consecutive different winners since the latter race, five in 2006.

Saturday's race will be Sprague's 97th on a short track, tops among NASCAR Craftsman Truck competitors. Skinner, however, owns the best winning percentage among series short trackers with 25 or more starts. The Susanville, Calif. native is 14-for-20, a winning percentage of .280.

Skinner, Rick Crawford (No. 14 Circle Bar Truck Corral Ford), Dennis Setzer (No. 85 E85 FlexFuel Chevrolet) and David Starr (No. 11 Red Horse Racing Toyota) look to add another win to their Martinsville records. For Setzer it would be the third. He's the only driver to win more than once in 15 Martinsville events.

Most prominent is Mark Martin (No. 6 Scotts Ford), a five-time series winner in 2006. Martin finished fourth in April's Kroger 250. Also entered are Kyle Busch (No. 15 SunTrust Chevrolet) and Denny Hamlin (No. 46 EconoLodge/Rodeway Inn Chevrolet). Hamlin will be making his first series start at the track in the Morgan-Dollar Motorsports-prepared truck driven to victory by Bobby Labonte in 2005.

Raybestos Rookie of the year candidates have come close to victory twice: Travis Kvapil (2001) and Carl Edwards (2003) finished in the runnerup spot. Twelve drivers participating in the Raybestos program qualified for April's Kroger 250. Five of them finished among the top 20.

Bodine's 12thplace finish in April netted 54 points over closest rival Johnny Benson (No. 23 NAPA Auto Parts Toyota), who wound up in the 30th spot.

Championship Contenders
Best Martinsville Finishes

Driver	Finish	Year
Todd Bodine	4th	2004
Johnny Benson	3rd	1995
David Reutimann	8th	2004
Ted Musgrave	2nd	2003, 06
Rick Crawford	1st	2004
Ron Hornaday Jr.	3rd	1998, 05
David Starr	1st	2006
Terry Cook	3rd	2001
Dennis Setzer	1st	2002, 03
Mike Bliss	2nd	2002

NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series
Different Short Track Winners

Driver	Track	Date
Mark Martin	Bristol	8/23/06
Rick Crawford	Indy	8/4/06
Jack Sprague	Memphis	7/15/06
Ron Hornaday	Mansfield	5/27/06
David Starr	Martinsville	4/1/06
Ricky Craven	Martinsville	10/22/05
Mike Skinner	Richmond	9/8/05

This Week's NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series Leaders
Through 20 races of the 25-race season:

• Points leader - Todd Bodine (3,076)
• Winnings - Todd Bodine ($546,650)
• Laps led - Mark Martin (522)
• Miles led - Mike Skinner (758.168)
• Victories - Mark Martin (5)
• Budweiser Poles - Mike Skinner (6)
• Top-five finishes - Johnny Benson, Todd Bodine (11)
• Top-10 finishes - Johnny Benson, David Reutimann, Todd Bodine (15)
• Raybestos Rookie Leader - Erik Darnell (41 over Chad McCumbee)
• Races led - Todd Bodine, Mike Skinner (10)

ETC: Current or former NASCAR NEXTEL Cup drivers have won nine times in 15 races at Martinsville Speedway. No driver, however, has managed to complete a NEXTEL Cup/Craftsman Truck weekend sweep at any series track... Just one Martinsville race has been won from the Budweiser Pole - by Rich Bickle in 1997... The most recent four winners have started 15th, ninth, fifth and 18th. Setzer won the 2002 race from 33rd - second-deepest in the field by any series winner. … There has been just one first-time winner in the series in 2006 - fewest in any season. Martinsville Speedway has produced five first-time series winners: Ricky Craven, Bobby Hamilton, Bobby Labonte, Jamie McMurray and Scott Riggs.

On The Right Track
David Dollar has scored three victories in Martinsville, two by Setzer and a third by Bobby Labonte. Three owners count two wins apiece. Setzer, with 13 starts, has won $221,995 at the southern Virginia track aided by six top-five and eight top-10 finishes. All are statistical records at Martinsville. Setzer has completed 2,864 laps and 1,506.5 miles.

Quotable
"I do it for a few reasons. I need all the track experience at Martinsville I can get, because before my rookie season I had never seen the place. It's mostly all about experience and fun." - Kyle Busch on why he'll be in a truck in the Kroger 200.
"We had a pretty good race here in the spring; we just ran so many laps under caution that it was really tough to pass other trucks." - Dennis Setzer, who finished ninth in the Kroger 250.

"Winning the pole earlier this year makes it two poles in the last two Martinsville spring races for BHR, so that's pretty cool. I was really, really nervous coming to Martinsville the first time this year because my Dad is always good there." - Bobby Hamilton Jr., No. 18 Fastenal Dodge.

"We got knocked around a little bit and we had a tough time getting comfortable. Looking back, that was to be expected. We've come a long way since then." - Marcos Ambrose, No. 20 Aussie Vineyards/Team Australia Ford.

In The Loop
If dominance in three key categories is the measure, Kyle Busch will win his first NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series short track race this week at Martinsville Speedway. Busch has the best Speed in Traffic (91.973 mph) and Average Running Position (4.575) among entered drivers measure over Martinsville's past three races. Busch ranks No. 2 in Quality Passes (15) behind Ron Hornaday Jr. (22).

Among drivers with multiple starts at the track in 2005-06, Ted Musgrave owns the best Driver Rating (112.7). Mike Bliss is next at 105.7 with Hornaday third at 99.3.

Dennis Setzer (75), Terry Cook (74) and Hornaday (73) have recorded the most green flag passes.

Cook has recorded the most passes in three of the tracks four turns - 42 in Turns one, two and four while Hornaday has executed the most straightaway passes; 43.

NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series
Manufacturers' Championship
2006 Point Standings

Toyota - 141
Ford - 129
Chevrolet - 98
Toyota - 70

From The Archives
Martinsville Speedway's first series race in 1995 was run at a 150-lap distance and held on a Monday after the Saturday-scheduled event was postponed by inclement weather. The race became a 250-lapper the following year and was shifted to the spring in 1999. A second date, this week's Kroger 200, was added in 2003.

Fast Facts
The Race: Kroger 200
The Place: Martinsville Speedway
The Date: Oct. 21, 2006
The Time: 1:05 p.m. (ET)
Race Distance: 105.2 miles (200 laps)
TV: SPEED, 12:25 p.m. (ET)
Track Layout: .526-mile oval
Race Purse: $434,105
2005 Winner: Ricky Craven
2005 Pole: Rick Crawford