NASCAR WCUP: Mike Skinner on front row at Bristol

Posted By Terry Callahan
Motorsports Editor, The Auto Channel

August 25, 2001

Mike Skinner, No. 31 Lowe's Chevrolet Monte Carlo (qualified 2nd): "At first, I thought we was going to be on the backstretch for sure. We really felt that our Lowe's Chevrolet was going to have to run somewhere in the .20's to be on the pole here today from the practice speeds we saw earlier and the pace that my teammate, Jeff Green, had set. We made some adjustments. I think he put a pound of air in the right front (tire) and took one out of the right rear. We probably should have put three in the right front and took two or three out of the right rear. The car spun the tires all the way up both straightaways. We really got through the corners well. It's always an eventful deal, qualifying here at Bristol. Eight out of ten times when you qualify at this place, if you're not out of breath at the end of those two laps, you're usually starting in the back. You've just got to run so hard here. You just can't leave nothing on the table here. I felt like I didn't leave anything on the table, but I didn't feel like our racecar was strong enough to start on the front row. Fortunately it did. Congratulations to Jeff (Green). I guess it was pretty good."

(Is the job hunt on?) "Yes, it is."

(Does your performance help to encourage you in that effort?) "No, I don't think so. People that understand racing that have watched this whole thing unfold don't have any doubt that I can drive a racecar and that I can put racecar up front and that I can win. The people that have been doubting that don't understand the sport very well. We'll be okay."

(Since Bristol is a tough physical track, do you feel safe in your racecar?) "Yes. The RCR cars, as we saw at Chicagoland, are real safe racecars. We took a hard hit there when that tire blew out, I didn't know if I was fixing to breathe my last breath or not. And here we are back here racing four or five weeks after it happened. So, yeah, I believe our cars are safe and my hat's off to NASCAR for doing everything they're doing to try to make things better. I think that's special. I think Chevrolet has done a great job. They're the ones that came to me and asked if I wanted to wear a HANS device. It feels good to have the manufacturers behind you like that."

(Do you think that wearing the HANS device saved your life in that Chicago crash?) "Personally, in my heart, yes I do." I just want to thank everybody for sticking with me. We've had a lot of phone calls since all this has unfolded. All our sponsors have been great. We've had lots of support. We really appreciate everything that everybody has done for us. I'm going to get healed up. I don't want to be driving in pain every week. We want to be 100% when February rolls around."

Text provided by Nancy Wager

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