NASCAR Winston Cup Series DieHard 500 Preview: #31, Mike Skinner
8 October 1997
#31 Mike Skinner, Lowe's Chevrolet Monte Carlo NASCAR Winston Cup Series DieHard 500 Advance Talladega Superspeedway MIKE SKINNER NOTES & QUOTES: DIEHARD 500 TALLADEGA, AL - Mike Skinner has won the pole position for two of the three restrictor-plate races that have been run this season -- the Daytona 500 and the Pepsi 400. And he was fifth fastest in qualifying for the Winston 500 at Talladega in May. - Skinner has led all three restrictor-plate races this season. However, his best finish in the three races has been 12th in the Daytona 500. - In the first race at Talladega, Skinner ran in the top five for the first 100 laps, but he ran out of gas as he was getting ready to make his second pit stop. That dropped him from second to 25th, and Skinner rallied to finish 16th. "I still believe we had the best car at Talladega," says Skinner. "The crew thought we could go five more laps, but we ran out and we still can't figure out why. You don't get many chances in this business to win, and we had a winning car that day. But I guess it wasn't meant for us to win that race." - After becoming the first driver to win the pole position for both races at Daytona International Speedway in his rookie season, Skinner hit the wall on lap 34 of the Pepsi 400 after being clipped by another car. As a result, he finished 34th. "I think we had a car that could have won that race, too," says Skinner. "But another driver wasn't too patient. And it cost us -- big time." Skinner finished 41st. - The Lowe's team has rebuilt the car that was wrecked at Daytona in July. "We tested it a couple of weeks ago at Talladega, and it feels just as fast as before," says Skinner. "So I feel real good about how we're going to run (in Sunday's DieHard 500 at Talladega Superspeedway). I just want to be running in the top five with 15 laps to go. If we can be in that position, I think we'll have a chance to win it." - Skinner knows he and the Lowe's team need a "big morale boost" after failing to qualify for the UAW-GM Quality 500 at Charlotte Motor Speedway. "That was one of the worst weeks of my racing life -- probably the worst one," says Skinner. "We really need a good finish this week, and that's why I'm glad Talladega is next. If we can run as well there as we did the first time and not have any problems, we can win it." - Despite failing to qualify at Charlotte, Skinner still leads the race for the Rookie of the Year Award by a comfortable 32 points. Skinner has earned 213 rookie points compared to 181 for Robby Gordon, 179 for David Green and 159 for Jeff Green. By Sports Marketing Enterprises