By Konnie McCollum
Staff Writer

Bill Davis Racing’s Mike Skinner, driver of the No. 5 Toyota Tundra, will try to make it two straight victories when he arrives at the Kentucky Speedway in July.
Skinner, the winner of the 2007 NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series race at Kentucky Speedway, will return July 19 to Kentucky to compete in the “Built Ford Tough 225 Presented by the Greater Cincinnati Ford Dealers" NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series race. If he wins, not only will he be the only driver to win consecutively, he will be the only driver to win the race twice. That feat could be accomplished by a driver with his record.

NASCAR photo Mike Skinner drives the No. 5 Toyota Tundra. Skinner won the 2007 "Built Ford Tough 225 Presented by the Greater Cincinnati Ford Dealers.

After 10 races in this year, Skinner was sixth in points standings, including two poles, three top-five finishes and eight top-10s finishes.
In 2007, Skinner finished second in the Truck Series point standing. He led the series with 11 poles, which broke his 1995 record for most poles in a season. He also won five races, including three consecutive races, and he led at least one lap in 24 of the 25 series races.
Skinner, who lives in Daytona Beach, Fla., has been driving in the Truck Series since 1995, the year the series started. While driving for Richard Childress Racing that year, he won the championship, including the first race of the series at Phoenix. He added seven more wins to his list during the 1995 season.
Skinner is also the series all-time pole leader, with 45, the first driver to win $1 million in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series and the third all-time leader with 24 series wins.
Born June 28, 1957, Skinner began racing in Susanville, Calif., his hometown, in 1976. He won three track championships that year and decided to move to North Carolina to pursue a full-time stock car racing career.
In 1997, Skinner won Rookie of the Year in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series. His accomplishments that season included a pole at the Daytona 500. In 1999, he won a NASCAR Nationwide Series race at Atlanta and finished his series’ best points finish, 10th, in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series.
Overall, he competed in 245 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series races, with his best finish a second in the 2000 spring race at Talladega Superspeedway. While driving in the series, he earned $14.5 million in winnings. He is one of only a select handful of drivers who have won poles in all three of the NASCAR national series.
In his spare time, Skinner plays golf whenever he can. He stages an annual charity tournament in Daytona Beach. He is also an excellent amateur pool player who has won several tournaments, and he also loves motorcycling. He is married to wife, Angela, and has two children, Jamie and Dustin.