[MIKE'S REMARKS:] This race team probably deserved five or six wins by now, ... We've been really close so many times. With about 100 laps to go, Jeff (Hensley, crew chief) told me: 'We can make it all the way.' And I told somebody to slap Jeff. I said: 'I'm not doing that.' Last year we did that and lost the race. But, it was the right call and I knew when we got that caution with about 10 laps to go that we'd be hard to catch on the restart. |
[MIKE'S RICHMOND REMARKS:] My Tundra was just awesome, ... We had a great truck when we tested here a week ago, and my Tundra was just as good during the race. I could go anywhere I wanted on the track, without any problems. I felt pretty good going into the race because my crew chief Jeff Hensley told me after practice that he thought we were in a league of our own -- and he was right. |
[NOTHING NEW:] We have not done one thing different than we have all season, ... We still have the same game plan we've had all year. We've had dominant trucks all year long - we've just had things happen in front of us. |
[Richmond.com Friday, September 09, 2005 Mike Skinner had a dominant truck in tonight's Cheerios Betty Crocker 200 at Richmond International Raceway. Even after finding himself in 7th place on lap 149, the Susanville, Calif. native methodically passed truck after truck. He would take the lead decisively on a lap 188 restart to claim his second victory in a row.] This Toyota Tundra would go anywhere I wanted it to go ... This is a great race track. We could run about 3 grooves tonight |
[SKINNER'S START AT NHIS: Mike Skinner remembers the first NCTS race at New Hampshire in 1996 very well because he earned the pole position driving a truck for Richard Childress.] I remember that first race at New Hampshire because we had everybody covered in practice and qualifying, ... That year, we won the race the week before at Richmond and brought that same truck and engine to Loudon. Back then you would run the engine for a couple races. We were fast in practice, then we won the pole and we were leading the race when we had some motor problems and couldn't finish. |
Apparently someone blew up down there and we hit his oil. I went up and hit the wall, bent the ball joints, rear end moved over and the wheels were killed. We were just really, really lucky to finish the race. |
He still had some room down there at the bottom and I knew he'd race me clean, ... I was trying to do anything I could to break his momentum. |
I had no place to go and after that we sort of self-destructed, ... We probably shouldn't have been there to begin with. At the start, my Tundra was driving away from everybody and I was just riding. |
I know it has to be hard for him. She called me, and when I got here, half the house was gone -- and I live in Wylie. It takes a good 10, 15 minutes to get here. |
It was awesome. We had an awesome truck when we came here and tested a couple weeks back. It was a good truck all night long. |
It's a pretty good deal. |
It's important for people to know that there is a lot of fresh fruit and produce here, and when they come they can look the people in the eye who actually grew the food. We do everything right here. |
Many families come out to the farm, and it's not so much picking the berries as it is kind of a treasure hunt for the kids. It's just a beautiful area here. |
Mike is a perfect fit for the brand because he has been a long time wearer of the Classics range and a fan of the Reebok brand. |
My hats off to Todd, he ran a good race. I just finished second, what can you say. We ran really good. |