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09-10-2008
Richert To Wrench For Skinner
 Bill Davis Racing took a critical step towards fortifying its No. 5 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series team with the hiring of veteran Doug Richert to serve as crew chief for Mike Skinner on the Toyota Tundra-sponsored truck.
Richert, who had been working in the SPEED broadcast both as an analyst for NCTS telecasts, is one of the most experienced hands in the NASCAR garage. At age 20, he was the crew chief for the first of the late Dale Earnhardt's seven NASCAR Cup titles, and to this day, Richert remains the youngest crew chief ever to serve on a championship Cup team.
Skinner, the first champion in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series, has so far enduring a somewhat frustrating season after last year taking the title fight all the way to the final race of the year at Homestead-Miami Speedway, where ultimately he was beaten by Ron Hornaday Jr.
Expected to be in the title mix again this year, Skinner is winless so far in 2008. After 17 races, he is languishing back in fifth place in points, 273 back of his teammate at Bill Davis Racing, Johnny Benson. Although he has been unfailingly consistent, Skinner has not had a top-five finish since the sixth race of the season at Mansfield (Ohio) Motorsports Park on May 24.
A big part of the problem has been turnover at the crew chief position, with Jeff Hensley leaving the team in June to become competition director at Bobby Hamilton Racing.
Hensley was replaced by Joe Lax, who had been working with BDR development driver Michael Annett. "Joe Lax, we've kind of thrown him to the lions and he's trying to figure out all this stuff and try to patch this team that's been broken up a little bit and put it back together," said Skinner during an interview last month. "It's been a real challenge for him."
Skinner said it was important to fortify the crew chief position and make whatever other personnel changes are necessary this season in order to get the team back up to championship caliber. "Hopefully, we'll be able to implement some of that before this year is over, so when we come out in February (2009), we'll be strong and have a chance to legitimately run for the championship," he said.
As for the rest of the 2008 season, Skinner added, "We're not throwing in the towel by any means. We've got some good race tracks coming up."
The addition of the experienced Richert, 48, should help tremendously. In addition to his stint with Earnhardt, Richet has worked with some of the biggest stars in the sport, including Davey Allison, Buddy Baker, Benny Parsons and Neil Bonnett, with whom he won two races in 1985.
He joined Roush Fenway Racing in 2003 handling crew chief duties for Carl Edwards in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series. Before the year was out, he moved up to Greg Biffle's NASCAR Sprint Cup team at Roush Fenway. With Richert on the pit box, Biffle won eight races and in 2005 finished second to Tony Stewart in the points.
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