NASCAR Winston Cup Series MBNA 400 Preview: #31, Mike Skinner
17 September 1997
#31 Mike Skinner, Lowe's Chevrolet Monte Carlo NASCAR Winston Cup Series MBNA 400 Advance Dover Downs International Speedway MIKE SKINNER NOTES & QUOTES: MBNA 400 DOVER, DE - Skinner finished ninth in the first race this year at Dover Downs International Speedway for the first top-10 of his Winston Cup career. - His two other top-10s have come in the Pennsylvania 500 at Pocono Raceway (sixth) and in the Brickyard 400 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway (ninth). - Skinner has qualified in the top five four times this season including fourth at last week's CMT 300 at New Hampshire International Speedway. - Skinner is one of seven drivers who have two pole positions this year. Both of Skinner's poles came at Daytona International Speedway. He is the first driver to ever win the pole positions for both races at Daytona in his rookie season. - No driver has yet to win a third pole position this season. However, Dale Jarrett is credited with a third pole since Bobby Hamilton, who won the pole for the first race at Pocono does not participate in the Busch Pole Award. Jarrett posted the second-fastest speed for the Pocono 500. This means Jarrett is the leader in the race for the $40,000 that will go to the driver with the most poles this season. - Despite a recent run of bad luck, Skinner remains the leader in the race for the NASCAR Winston Cup Rookie of the Year Award. Skinner has earned 210 rookie points in the first 25 races compared to 180 for Robby Gordon, 171 for David Green and 137 for Jeff Green. - Since finishing ninth in the Brickyard 400 for his second straight top 10, Skinner has an average finish of 30.5 for the last six races. "I don't know what's going on, but people keep running into us," says Skinner. "It's like we've hot a bullseye painted on the car that says 'hit me.' I'm getting mighty tired of it, and I know the crew is too as they have to keep rebuilding race cars. We haven't run as well as we would have liked during this streak, but we sure would have finished a lot better than we have if people didn't keep running into us." - Skinner hopes a return to Dover means a return to the top 10. "If we can avoid all the trouble that usually takes place at Dover like we did the first time, we can get us another top 10," says Skinner. "I know we've got some top 10s in us if we can just get this gorilla off our back. Our luck the last four or five races has been horrible. If people aren't running into us, we're cutting a tire. We just can't seem to catch a break. If we can run the whole race without any trouble, we can get us a top 10. This Lowe's team is a lot better than our record shows." By Sports Marketing Enterprises