rpm.espn.com: Mike Skinner

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Wednesday, February 6

Mike Skinner
By Jerry Bonkowski
ESPN.com

Team: Morgan-McClure Motorsports
Car/sponsor/make: No. 4 Kodak Chevrolet

Mike Skinner
Skinner

STATS

Year
Rank
Wins
Poles
Top-5s
Best finish

2001 40 0 0 0 9th, Atlanta

Career 0 1 10 2nd, Talladega

2001 recap
The good: Skinner struggled throughout the season, with only one top-10 finish (ninth at the spring race in Atlanta) to his credit in points-bearing races. He did earn a victory of sorts by winning the second heat of the Gatorade Twin 125s prior to the season-opening Daytona 500 and qualified fourth for the 500 itself, only to finish a disappointing 26th.

Season highlight: In a season where highlights were few, perhaps the best part of 2001 for Skinner were several high qualifying efforts, including an outside pole at the summer race in Bristol (but finished 34th). He also started third at the spring race at Michigan (but finished 20th), and fourth at the Daytona 500.

The bad: Skinner had high hopes coming into 2001 that he'd finally win his first Winston Cup race, that he'd be a strong contender for the championship and that he'd get an extension of his contract with Richard Childress Racing. Unfortunately, Skinner never came close to seeing any of those things reach fruition, including being released from his contract in late September, and replaced by Robby Gordon.

Season lowlight: Skinner had one of the worst crashes of his racing career last July in the inaugural Tropicana 400 at the new Chicagoland Speedway in Joliet, Ill. The impact knocked him unconscious for a few minutes while a fire blazed around him. He was finally rescued, but suffered serious leg injuries from the crash that eventually required two operations to fix the damage. But an even more painful incident was when team owner Richard Childress released Skinner after the fall race at Dover (he finished 20th), only one week after Skinner had said he was confident he'd be returning to the team in 2002.

Mike Skinner
Skinner has posted fast times in the past.

Key stat: Skinner finished 11 of the 23 races he competed last season in 25th-place or worse, with his worst finish being his early exit (42nd) due to his crash in Joliet. There was one point, however, last season when Skinner looked like he might finally be on the verge of turning things around for both the season and his career: In a four-race stretch, Skinner was a picture of surprising consistency, with back-to-back 11th-place finishes at Charlotte and Dover, followed two races later with a 12th-place showing at Michigan. Unfortunately, the race after Michigan returned Skinner to a truer form, as he finished a disappointing 34th at Sears Point.

2002 outlook
What needs to be done: With the move to Morgan-McClure Motorsports and the No. 4 Kodak Chevrolet for 2002, Skinner will enjoy a rebirth of sorts for his racing career. While his new team wants to win as much as the next guy, there should be a lot less pressure on Skinner as the sole driver for the one-car team. Every resource and bit of energy will be focused solely on Skinner, unlike his previous situation at Richard Childress Racing, where most of the spotlight was focused on his former teammate, the late Dale Earnhardt. While there are concerns about funding from primary sponsor Kodak, Skinner should hopefully be able to regroup from both last year's injuries as well as his release from RCR and put together a respectable season.

Prediction: Prior to last season, Skinner finished a career-high 10th in 1999 and 12th in 2000 with Richard Childress Racing. While Morgan-McClure Motorsports does not have the kind of budget and sponsorship that RCR has, it can still be a formidable team in its own right. If he is able to avoid serious injury, Skinner has the potential to finish in the top-20 in 2002, perhaps even inside the top-15 if the majority of things go his way, unlike the disaster-filled 2001 campaign. While most may discount him as a likely threat, Skinner could be one of the dark horse possibilities to win the season opener at Daytona if past history is any indication. Now-retired driver Ernie Irvin won his only Daytona 500 in 1991, while Sterling Marlin won his first Daytona 500 in 1994, and then returned to repeat the feat in 1995. The team and sponsor both drivers drove to victory for in those races: Morgan-McClure Motorsports and Kodak. Could it be déjà vu in 2002 for Skinner?

Your take
Will Mike Skinner be able to compete for a top-15 finish with a new team this season? Can he challenge for a win at Daytona? Here are your thoughts.

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