Although veteran Mike Skinner dominated Wednesday
night's O'Reilly 200 NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series race at
Bristol Motor Speedway, he was not among the five Toyota
Tundra drivers to record a top-15 finish in the 200-lap
test at the Tennessee short track.
Skinner, who started his No. 42 Bang Racing Tundra on
the outside of the front row, charged into the lead on the
first lap and led the first 50 circuits around the Bristol
half-mile. After pitting for fuel and tires, Skinner
returned to the track and worked his way back into the
lead on lap 103. He maintained that lead through lap 179,
before being passed by the eventual race winner Carl
Edwards.
"My tires were going away towards the end of the race
and I just wasn't able to hold Carl off," said Skinner,
following the race. "My Tundra ran really, really good,
but we probably should have pitted again and put on new
tires. I really felt like we had the truck to beat
tonight, but we just asked for a little too much from the
tires."
Later, with just a handful of laps remaining, Skinner
was trying to hold off Dennis Setzer from making a pass
when there was contact between the two trucks. "I thought
Dennis would have tried to pass me clean, but instead he
knocked me out of the way," said a disappointed Skinner.
"I was probably holding Dennis up, but he should have
tried to pass me cleanly. He's a good guy and a good
driver, and we've had lots of good races -- but I expected
him to make a clean pass there. But, this is just Bristol
-- those things happen here and there's not much you can
say."
Hank Parker Jr., driving the Innovative Motorsports No.
21 AirVest Tundra, was the top finishing Toyota at Bristol
with a sixth-place finish. Despite battling a virus all
night long, Parker Jr. managed to record his third best
finish the season. "I wasn't feeling well tonight,
especially during the caution periods," said Parker Jr.
"But, I just focused on what I needed to do -- which is
run a strong race and bring my Tundra home in one piece.
Once we got running, I forgot about being sick and
concentrated on racing. From racing at Bristol in the
past, I know you can't get impatient here. We took our
time and worked our way through the field. If the race had
been longer, we might have even had a better finish."
Crossing the finish line after Parker Jr. were Travis
Kvapil (8th) in the No. 24 Bang Racing Nutzz.com Tundra,
David Reutimann (11th) in the No. 17 NTN Bearings Tundra,
Johnny Benson (13th) in the No. 23 Bill Davis Racing
Tundra and Bill Lester (14th) in the No. 22 Bill Davis
Racing Tundra. Robert Huffman, driving the No. 12
Innovative Motorsports Tundra was sidelined early with a
suspension problem and finished 32nd.
After 16 2004 NCTS races, three Toyota drivers sit
among the top-15 in the unofficial championship point
standings. The finish at Bristol enabled Kvapil to move
into fifth-place in the standings with 2,180 points, just
235 points behind standings leader Bobby Hamilton. Skinner
is 9th (2,020 points) in the standings and Reutimann is
14th (1,915 points). Reutimann also tops the
Rookie-of-the-Year standings.
The next NCTS race is at Richmond International Raceway
on Thursday, September 9, beginning at 8:30 PM (EST).
SPEED Channel will provide live television coverage of the
race.
Toyota Finishing Positions - Bristol Motor
Speedway:
6th - Hank Parker Jr., - Innovative Motorsports - No.
21 Z Max Tundra
8th - Travis Kvapil - Bang Racing - No. 24 Line-X Tundra
11th - David Reutimann - Darrell Waltrip Motorsports - No.
17 NTN Bearings Tundra
13th - Johnny Benson - Bill Davis Racing - No. 23 Toyota
Tundra
14th - Bill Lester - Bill Davis Racing - No. 22 Toyota
Tundra
23rd - Mike Skinner - Bang Racing - No. 42 Toyota Tundra
32nd - Robert Huffman - Innovative Motorsports - No. 12
Toyota Tundra
