SKINNER: Double Time Scheduled for Talladega
10-02-2008 11:35 am

NOTES:

This Week's Race Truck for Talladega Superspeedway is Chassis No. 5-21.  Chassis No. 5-21 was last raced in the season opener at Daytona (Fla.) International Speedway.  Mike Skinner started third but was caught in an early-race accident during that event.

BDR Powerhouse…  With Skinner's victory two weeks ago at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, Bill Davis Racing became the only team in NASCAR Camping World Truck Series history to win six or more times in three consecutive seasons.  Bill Davis Racing is also the only team to have all three entries win in one season. 

Double Duty…  Skinner will pull double duty this weekend at Talladega Superspeedway.  Not only will the 1995 Craftsman Truck Series Champion drive the No. 5 Toyota Tundra in Saturday's 94-lap event, he will also pilot the No. 84 Red Bull Toyota Camry in Sunday's 188 lap NASCAR Sprint Cup Series event.  This will be Skinner's 11th attempt behind the wheel of a Toyota Camry this season.  His best finish this season (27th) came at Atlanta Motor Speedway in the spring.

Moving on up…  Skinner's win two weeks in Las Vegas earned the 51-year-old NASCAR veteran two spots in the Craftsman Truck Series point standings.  Skinner now sits in the fifth spot. 

Top-10'er...  The No. 5 Toyota Tundra team has captured more top-10 finishes this season than any other team in the garage.  The team has finished in the top-10 in 15 of 19 races this season.
 
Listen and Watch … The Mountain Dew 250 is scheduled to start at 4 p.m. EST, Saturday, Oct. 4.  It will broadcast on SPEED (TV), MRN (radio) and Sirius Satellite Radio (Ch. 128).

Bill Davis Racing Quotes:

Mike Skinner on Racing at Talladega Superspeedway: "Well it's a major drafting track, and we're working with a little bit of a handicap with this taper spacer.  I think it's going to be follow more than lead this year at Talladega.  So it's like any other race:  you try to get down to the end and get yourself in position to win the race, and if you can get yourself in position, then you work any magic you can on that last lap and try to get to the front.

"It is not necessarily about strategy as much as it is to try to run around guys with a little bit more experience.  There are the rookies that haven't been in all the aero situations that you get in at Talladega and Daytona.  So a lot of times they'll think their truck is going to do one thing, and it does something else, which triggers a wreck.  So I don't know if there's any safe place to run at those places.  I think you just got to get in there and try to run with somebody you trust and then hope for the best."