Mike Skinner and the No. 5 Toyota Tundra team headed to Texas Motor Speedway this weekend with hopes of furthering their lead in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series Championship standings.

Skinner and his team were among the fastest on the speed charts during both practice sessions Thursday. However, the No. 5 Toyota Tundra was no where near as good as it could be. Skinner and his crew made several changes, but the truck never reached Skinner's expectations.

With a great qualifying draw, Skinner and crew chief Jeff Hensley expected to earn their seventh consecutive pole position. Despite an incredible lap of 29.790 seconds, Skinner fell just short of the pole and would start second for Friday night's race.

Skinner vaulted forward at the start of the race and took the lead on the first lap. He remained within the top two for the next 18 laps, during which time he reported to his crew that the handling of the truck was tight everywhere. Skinner pitted during the second caution period of the night on lap 18 for fuel and a track bar adjustment only. He restarted eighth on lap 24.

Skinner began picking off positions one by one and re-emerged in the top three by lap 30. He soon began battling for the lead once again.

During the fourth caution period on lap 79, Skinner pitted for four tires, fuel and another track bar adjustment. When the race restarted on lap 88, Skinner was in the second position.

Skinner communicated to his crew on lap 98 that the truck's handling was now loose, and it felt as if his truck was hitting the springs. Skinner knew he would have to fight his truck until changes could be made. His truck however, began to improve during the long green flag run. He pitted under green flag conditions on lap 148, this time taking only right side tires and fuel.

Skinner returned to the track ready to charge forward once again. There were only five trucks on the lead lap when the caution flag waved on lap 156, so Skinner dove down pit road for four fresh tires and fuel.

After the restart, Skinner again battled for the lead. He narrowly avoided a crash with the lead truck on lap 165 and chased Todd Bodine to a green-white-checkered finish. It was Skinner's third runner-up finish at Texas.

Skinner extended his points lead as he heads into next week's event at Michigan International Speedway.