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Friday, April 28
Friday was another enjoyable day in California for native
son Mike Skinner. And he'll lead 43 cars to the green flag
on Sunday after winning the pole for the NAPA Auto Parts
300.
Skinner had a strong run at Talladega two weeks ago,
finishing second to Jeff Gordon. Earlier this season,
however, we talked to him in Las Vegas, where he talked
about how frustrating it's been that he's not been able to
be the driver to take the 31 team to Victory Lane. And
his crew chief Larry McReynolds knows this is the year
they have to get to Victory Lane.
Could this be the race? Well, Skinner runs well on this
type of wide-open track. But you have to remember, this could turn out to be a
fuel-mileage race with a lot of green-flag racing. And that could change the complexion
of the race midway through the event.
But for right now, Mike Skinner is on the pole and on top of the world.
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Lineup
FONTANA, Calif. -- Mike Skinner is a little frustrated right now and even winning another pole wasn't enough to soothe his wounded spirit.
Skinner, considered by many the best current Winston Cup driver who has not won a race, outdueled Jimmy Spencer and Ricky Rudd on Friday to win the pole for Sunday's NAPA Auto Parts 500 at California Speedway.
"I'd trade it right now for a good finish," the Northern California native said.
Skinner earned the fifth pole of his career, and first since last September in Richmond, with a lap of 186.061 mph on the 2-mile, high-banked oval.
More important, he put himself in position for a shot at becoming the 10th different winner in as many races this season, as well as ending his personal string of 119 races without a victory.
"I'd never thought I'd be this far in my Cup career without winning a points race," Skinner said.
Asked how he feels about nine winners already this year, Skinner said, "It's time for us to have a 10th."
In three previous races at the new Southern California track -- 60 miles east of Los Angeles -- each winner has come from the top five starters.
"I don't know that that means very much," Skinner said. "The guy who starts 42nd, if he gets his car hooked up, he'll be the man to beat. Now that we've got the car in the race, we can concentrate on making it better in race trim."
Skinner came close to the coveted first win last month in Atlanta, dominating the race before a blown engine took him out while leading with 20 laps remaining. Two weeks ago in Talladega, he finished a career-best second to Jeff Gordon after making what he considered a mistake with six laps to go by following
pole-winner Jeremy Mayfield up high instead of staying with Gordon
on the low side of the track.
"If you're not in the hunt, you work harder to get in it," Skinner explained. "If you're in the hunt and you don't win, yeah, that's pretty frustrating. It would be less frustrating if we weren't in contention so often and have so many stupid things
happen to us."
|  | | Mike Skinner's speed of 186.061 mph put him on the top of the chart in California. He'd like to finish Sunday on top as well. |
Spencer was second at 185.979, followed by Rudd at 185.830, Ward Burton at 185.558, Winston Cup points leader Mark Martin at 185.486, rookie Scott Pruett at 185.204 and three-time Winston Cup champion Darrell Waltrip, Spencer's teammate, at 185.014.
Among the seven fastest qualifiers, Martin and Burton are the only winners this year.
The runner-up's Ford was just 0.017 seconds slower than Skinner's Chevrolet on Friday.
"When you get that close you're upset because, naturally, you
want to be on the pole," Spencer said. "We just bobbled a little
bit in (turns) three and four. That little bit probably cost us the
pole, but man, this year we've been worrying about if we were going
to make races."
Spencer, who has struggled most of the season, gave credit to
his Carter-Haas Racing crew for rebuilding the team's Ford chassis
in the past few weeks.
"I got down on the guys in the shop and told them they weren't
doing the job I thought they needed to do," he said. "I've got to
tip my hat to them because they've finally done some good work and
built some really good race cars."
The top 23 drivers qualified faster than the previous track
qualifying record of 185.753 set by Greg Sacks in 1997.
"Tires is obviously a big thing -- Goodyear keeps bringing
better tires," Skinner said. "And we keep making more horsepower
and the teams just keep building better cars."
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ALSO SEE
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Notebook: All is well within 88 team
Notebook: NASCAR still testing Mayfield's Talladega gas
Kernan: Streaking into California
Yocum: The nominees for Winston Cup champion are ...
Weber: Martin a model of consistency
NAPA Auto Parts 500 Breakdown
AUDIO/VIDEO
 Mike Skinner's pole-winning lap Friday for the NAPA Auto Parts 500 at California Speedway.
avi: 2152 k
RealVideo: 56.6 | ISDN | T1
 Mike Skinner says his qualifying lap was scary.
wav: 269 k
RealAudio: 14.4 | 28.8 | 56.6
Ward Buton qualified fourth, but said his car was better than he was.
wav: 91 k
RealAudio: 14.4 | 28.8 | 56.6
Darrell Waltrip says he loves the California Speedway.
wav: 284 k
RealAudio: 14.4 | 28.8 | 56.6
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