tool name
closeSkinner dominates for third-straight victory
JIM UTTER, jutter@charlotteobserver.com
Saturday, Mar. 31, 2007
MARTINSVILLE, Va. – Mike Skinner had just secured his third consecutive NASCAR Truck Series victory when his crew chief, Jeff Hensley, boomed over the radio:
"We're going for No. 4 at Kansas," he said.
No rest for the dominating.
Skinner, who started on the pole, led all but seven laps of the 253 in Saturday's Kroger 250, holding off fellow Toyota driver and reigning series champion Todd Bodine by 0.527 seconds at Martinsville Speedway.
The win is Skinner's 22nd of his career. Ironically, Bodine was the last series driver to win three in a row, in the final three races of 2005.
"That was cool, wasn't it? The thing just hauled butt all day," said Skinner, who leads the series standings by 94 points over Bodine. "I remember a couple years ago these Toyotas wouldn't run on short race tracks."
The only time Skinner didn't lead was during pit stops early. Even when Bodine used pit strategy to get better track position, he moved into second but couldn't close on Skinner.
"We didn't have anything for Mike. We did the best we could with what we had," Bodine said. "That truck could roll through the center (of the turns) and he could stop the gas and go.
"I could stop the gas and go, but I couldn't roll the center like he could. I got us in a real hole in qualifying (starting 26th), but good pit strategy got us up to the front. Track position at Martinsville is so critical."
Skinner said he was getting aggravated with cautions. The race was slowed 15 times by caution for 85 laps.
"I wasn't too happy with some of those guys. I was like, `You're not going to win today, quit trying to take it from me.' But it worked out good," Skinner said.
"If it was a bunch of other guys behind me, we wouldn't have won. But Todd Bodine was a gentleman and it will come back. He's shown a lot of professionalism. That's why he's the champion -- because he's smart."
With Ted Musgrave fifth, Toyotas took three of the top five positions.