Davis: Wheels won’t fall off
Posted on Friday, February 15, 2008
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — Mike Skinner wants no changes for the 2008 NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series, except for the final outcome, of course.
Skinner, who drives for truck owner Bill Davis of Batesville, enjoyed one of the most dominant truck seasons ever in 2007. He won five races and had 17 top-five finishes.
But in the season finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway, Skinner lost a wheel shortly after a pit stop and finished 35 th. The incident handed the series championship to Ron Hornaday Jr.
“It was a wonderful year,” said Skinner, who will race in tonight’s Chevy Silverado 250 at Daytona International Speedway. “The stuff that got us, it was stuff that was out of our control. Everything that we were in control of, we handled pretty good.” After a fourth-place finish in the season opener at Daytona, Skinner never was out of the top two spots in the series standings for the rest of the season. He held the points lead for 18 races, including 14 in a row at one point.
In qualifying, Skinner was nearly untouchable. He won a series-record 11 poles and never started a race worse than ninth. He qualified in the top five for 24 of the 25 races and started on the front row 15 times.
But it marked the second season in a row that a Davis truck team has entered the final race of the season with a shot at the championship, only to fall short. Johnny Benson finished second behind Todd Bodine in 2006.
“We’re kind of tired of finishing second, you know ?” said Davis, whose teams have won 17 truck races in five seasons but no championships. “We beat ourselves last year. Somebody made a mistake, and we finished second when we had it in the bag. We had it going our way is a better way to put it.” Benson also had an excellent 2007. He had four victories, including the finale at Homestead-Miami, and finished third in the points.
Between Skinner, Benson and promising rookie Phillip McGilton, Davis fields what is considered to be easily the top team in the series.
“We certainly have got two teams here that are capable of winning championships,” Skinner said. “Johnny had some bad luck early [last season ], and we had some bad luck late. It kind of took us both out of contention.” “I think we will be better than ever,” Davis said. “I don’t know why we won’t be.” Skinner said he thinks his team enters the season with a chip on its shoulder, if not worse.
“They’re just p ***** off, that’s all,” said Skinner, who won the first truck series title in 1995. “I want them to stay mad. Homestead was two or three months ago. It’s Daytona now, and we’ve got to put that behind us. What we’ve got to do is what we did to put us in the hunt to begin with. If we can do that, hopefully it can come down to Homestead again this year.” Chevy Silverado 250 WHAT NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series season opener WHEN 7 p.m. Central today WHERE Daytona International Speedway, Daytona Beach, Fla. TV Speed
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