7/14/07
Skinner Stays on Top With Kentucky Speedway Victory

It appears that Mike Skinner and his Bill Davis Racing team can do no wrong this season. They have successfully carried a streak of top-eight finishes through the first 13 races including four victories after their most recent triumph at Kentucky Speedway. Skinner and Co. started fourth despite using a coil bind setup for the first time in race conditions and it took just four laps for them to claim the lead.

Skinner went on to lead all but 15 of 150 laps and beat Travis Kvapil to the checkers by 5.5 seconds. “It was a great, great night,” said Skinner who also set a series record by leading at least one lap in 13 consecutive races. “I’m not a big fan of (coil binding) because it’s real rough in there. But these races aren’t that long. We’re going back to what these kids have been beating us with.”

Kvapil won at Memphis Motorsports Park and was looking for two-in-a-row but with Skinner being so stingy with the lead he was forced to settle for second-best and failed to score any bonus points. “We’re a little discouraged,” Kvapil admitted. “I am happy with second but the guy we’re chasing in the points won the race and led the most laps.”

Ted Musgrave returned to action after a NASCAR imposed one-week hiatus and he wasted no time getting back up to speed with a strong third place finish.
“My hat is off to the guys on the Germain Racing team for rallying around me this week,” said Musgrave. “It was a good truck and a good effort. We got tight there at the end of the race when we were battling for second but I’m happy with a third-place finish.”

Ryan Mathews kicked off the weekend with his first career pole in just his seventh start and he backed that up with a personal best fourth place finish. “It’s big time for me,” he said. “When you’re on a hot streak it helps everybody’s confidence. Hopefully we can build on this momentum and continue to have solid runs.”

Rounding out the top five was Kentucky native David Green who made his first start with Red Horse Racing and posted his best finish in the series. “I’ve never been in a race with that fast of a pace,” said Green. “The races I won in the Busch Series and races that were very mentally stressful don’t even hold a candle to what it takes to run these things. What a great effort. Tonight was a lot of fun.”

Skinner increased his advantage in the standings to 164 points over Ron Hornaday as the series heads into their second off-weekend in the past three weeks. The series will go short tracking at O’Reilly Raceway Park in Indianapolis on July 27.