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Tuesday, April 3
Skinner rebounded nicely after crash
By Royce McGee
Special to ESPN.com
As the saying goes, "everything is bigger in Texas." When that "everything" is something positive, that saying is great. But when "everything" is negative, the result can be pretty disappointing.
After last Sunday's race at Texas Motor Speedway, Mike Skinner and the Lowe's Home Improvement Warehouse Racing team wish everything wasn't so big at Texas.
Friday morning's practice started out pretty well for us. For a while there, the Lowe's Chevy was the third-fastest car on the board. By the time practice was over, we had posted the 15th-fastest lap overall and felt pretty confident about the Lowe's Chevy.
|  | | Mike Skinner continues to search for his first Winston Cup win. |
But we had some unfavorable circumstances leading up to our qualifying run Friday afternoon. The No. 24 car dumped some oil on the track during his lap and only two drivers were scheduled to qualify between Gordon and Skinner. NASCAR gave the No. 43 car the go-ahead to qualify before they cleaned up the track, but he hit the oil and got loose.
NASCAR then sent the crews out to clean up the track and gave the No. 43 another chance. The No. 33 followed him but they both struggled to get around the race track with good laps. Andretti got wide and hit the wall and then the No. 33 didn't have enough grip and got very loose.
After watching both of those near-disasters, we decided to just aim for a solid lap and not try to be big heroes. We opted to play it a bit conservative because the track was still fairly slick. Mike did very well under those circumstances and qualified 19th. That's not where we thought we'd be at the beginning of the day but considering the track conditions, we were pretty happy.
The race got underway Sunday and Mike radioed in fairly early that the Lowe's Chevy was a little tight but he wanted to see how it would be on longer runs. The second caution came out after about 39 laps or so and Mike said the car was pretty good. We discussed taking only two tires in order to gain track position but opted for four instead since it was so early in the race.
When Mike went back out on the track after that pit stop, the car got too tight. I think the track itself got tighter because it had built up some rubber by then. We weren't the only ones with a tight-handling race car. We monitor other teams' radio channels and at least half of the field complained about their cars being too tight.
So, when Mike came down pit road on lap 96, we made a pretty substantial chassis adjustment. Mike soon radioed in that the changes improved the Lowe's Chevy and he began trying to make up track position. Unfortunately, the car got out from under him and he slid into the wall on lap 121. He radioed into the pits that he hit the wall but we didn't know if he had simply glanced off of it or if he really hit it hard. But then he came back on the radio a lap or so later and said the right side was pretty torn up.
That was becoming pretty obvious because we were a bit off the pace already and weren't doing ourselves any good staying on the track. We didn't want to take the chance of going several laps down throughout the race because the car was handling badly due to the wreck. So, Mike brought the Lowe's Chevy into the pits and the guys put four fresh tires on it, adjusted the toe and pulled out the sheet metal. We got the car where Mike could drive it pretty well and sent him back out on the track.
At that point, the Lowe's machine was seven laps down because we had to pit under green and we were posted in the 40th position. Seeing your team posted in the 40th position is pretty depressing, but we knew that if we stayed on the track and kept our heads up, we would make up track position and improve on that spot by the end of the race.
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We're concentrating on going (to Martinsville) with the same attitude we try to have every weekend -- no matter how the last race went. When the Lowe's team walks through the shop door on Monday mornings, we try to put Sunday behind us and look ahead to the next track and what we can improve on. ” |
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— McGee |
Sure enough, the Lowe's Chevy was just as fast as it was before the incident but we tried to stay out of the big pack if they weren't racing on our lap. There's no sense in mixing it up and risking hurting your race car. Mike stayed out of trouble and picked up an additional 10 positions and valuable points by the time the checkered flag waved. Another driver was about five laps down but still raced hard right in the middle of the pack, although none of those guys were on his lap. Well, he ended up wrecking hard and did not finish the race. That cost his team a bunch of positions and points.
Mike also drove the No. 21 Rockwell Automation Chevrolet in Saturday's Busch race at Texas and I think the extra seat time really helped him a lot, especially on Friday. The Busch teams practiced and qualified Thursday. They also practiced Friday morning before the Winston Cup teams got on track. So, Mike already had an idea of what the tires felt like and what the track conditions would be like.
Although the Busch cars were in race setup and the Winston Cup cars were in qualifying trim, Mike could still get a sense for how the tires would react, and if the track would be tight or loose. That could only help the Lowe's team.
We took some of the information that Mike learned in the Rockwell Automation Chevy on Saturday and applied it to the Lowe's Chevy on Sunday. We could apply the air pressure and tire wear information Mike learned in the Busch car to our car.
But there are some significant differences between Busch and Winston Cup cars and we can't transfer a setup directly from one to another. The cars are still built a little differently in the two series. The wheelbase is different, as is the location of the A-arms. Those components affect how the car drives.
With Texas behind us, we're headed down the road to Martinsville Speedway this weekend. We're concentrating on going there with the same attitude we try to have every weekend -- no matter how the last race went. When the Lowe's team walks through the shop door on Monday mornings, we try to put Sunday behind us and look ahead to the next track and what we can improve on.
We're going to Martinsville with the goal of sitting on the pole and winning the race. We've had some really good runs at Martinsville the past couple of years. Mike qualified third in this race last season and led several laps before we had to pit to replace the battery.
Staying out of the pits is one of the most important things at Martinsville. This track can be thrown into the same category as Bristol, Rockingham and Darlington. Fuel mileage isn't an issue at any of those tracks -- track position and tires are. Martinsville is a short track and the cars are all jammed together, making passing very difficult.
Like I said, track position is crucial. It'll be interesting to see how long we can go on a set of tires at Martinsville. Goodyear has given us a new tire this season that is much more sturdy than in the past and we're able to run a bunch more laps before the tires wear out. If the tires last longer, you'll see more teams not pitting less often and trying to maintain their track position.
Keeping the front end on the Lowe's Chevy and protecting the brakes are another huge component of success at Martinsville. The drivers constantly have to use the brakes going into the turns but they've got to make sure not to use them too much. If Mike can stay out of trouble and keep the nose on the Lowe's Chevy or if he can protect the brakes, we'll do well.
But if he can accomplish both of those tasks, the Lowe's Chevy should have an excellent finish.
Royce McGee is the crew chief for Mike Skinner and the No. 31 Lowe's Chevrolet on the NASCAR Winston Cup Series. He will be providing a weekly diary to ESPN.com throughout the season. Send this story to a friend | Most sent stories
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