Mike Skinner won the 2007 truck series race at California. (VPS Motorimages)

The NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series heads to Southern California this weekend for Saturday's San Bernardino County 200 at California Speedway, race No. 2 of 25 on the Truck schedule.

There have been five different winners of this event in the last five years, with Mike Skinner the defending race winner at the Fontana track. Mark Martin, Steve Park, Todd Bodine and Ted Musgrave were the prior four winners.

Bodine, who scored an emotional first victory at Daytona International Speedway last weekend, got some bad news on Wednesday, when NASCAR docked him 25 driver points and team owner Stephen Germain 25 owner points after the Lumber Liquidators No. 30 Toyota Tundra was found to have a device designed to reduce the bed panel height of the truck during pre-qualifying inspection on Feb. 14.

Worse yet for Bodine, his crew chief Mike Hillman Jr. was fined $10,000 and suspended for the next four NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series events until April 30 and placed on probation until Dec. 31. Hillman's father will replace the suspended crew chief.

Bodine's penalty drops him from first in points to a third-place tie with David Starr, 10 points behind Kyle Busch and 5 markers back of second-place Johnny Benson. Bodine's points penalty was good news for last season's title protagonists, Skinner and Ron Hornaday Jr., who finished 29th and 25th, respectively at Daytona.

While Hornaday and his Kevin Harvick Inc. teammate Jack Sprague have won three titles apiece, neither they nor any other competitors have ever won back-to-back NCTS championships.

In terms of this weekend's race, California is fast 2.0-mile oval, which places a premium on both horsepower and aerodynamics - exactly the kind of track that both Skinner and Kyle "Rowdy" Busch love. Skinner, of course, is the defending race winner here and Busch became the youngest NASCAR Sprint Cup race winner in history here in 2005, when he won the Labor Day weekend race.

Historically, though, the man to beat at California Speedway has been Musgrave, driver of the No. 59 Team ASE/Harris Trucking Toyota. Musgrave won the first three NASCAR Craftsman Truck races he ran at the 2.0-mile speedway from 2001 to 2003 and narrowly missed a victory the following year, finishing second to Sprague. In seven races at California Speedway, Musgrave's worst finish came last year, when he was fifth. His average finish at the track is an impressive 2.6.

"Winning at California isn't always about having a good truck," said Musgrave. "There is a lot of strategy with pitting and fuel mileage and  a good amount of luck is involved. Hopefully heading into Saturday's race we will have a little on our side again."

Musgrave will be attempting to give Virginia-based H-T Motorsports its first NCTS victory. The Jim Harris-owned team scored back-to-back second-place finishes at Bristol and Richmond in 2003 but has never been able to make it into victory lane so far. "I believe this team is now in a position with its personnel and equipment to win," said crew chief Danny Rollins, who led the late Bobby Hamilton's drive to the 2004 NASCAR Craftsman Truck championship. "Of course with the addition of a driver the caliber of Ted Musgrave, that enhances our chances as well."

Looking to rebound in a big way at California will be Roush Fenway Racing, which saw all three of its Ford F-150s collected in wrecks at Daytona last weekend.

"Fontana will be the first real race of the season in a way," said Erik Darnell, driver of the No. 99 Northern Tool + Equipment Ford, which won the Keystone Light Pole at Daytona and led 45 laps in the race. "It's the first opportunity we'll have to see how the trucks perform under the new engine rules.  I believe that we'll see Daytona-style racing with big packs running together."

One change for the Roush Fenway squad: Former series champion Travis Kvapil will replace Joey Clanton in the No. 09 Zaxby's Ford F-150. "We are going to have Travis Kvapil run the Zaxby's Ford F-150 at California this weekend," Jack Roush said. "After that race we will re-evaluate our plans for the rest of the season. We wish Joey Clanton the best of luck in his future endeavors and we look forward to continuing our relationship with Zaxby's throughout the season."

Last but not least, fuel mileage could play a factor on Saturday now that the teams are using the smaller 17.75-gallon fuel cell NASCAR mandated for 2008.

"Last year several times the trucks made only one pit stop or even no pit stops during the races (and) that really took away the importance of pit road for the drivers, teams and the fans," said Stacy Compton, driver of the No. 4 Carl Burgers Dodge. "So, I think by making our fuel cell smaller it will only make our racing even better. Fuel mileage has always been an issue at California because it is a 2-mile oval, but throw in the smaller fuel cell and it becomes a larger issue. It should be pretty interesting on Saturday."

Official NCTS California Entry List

Official NCTS Driver Point Standings

Official NCTS Owner Point Standings

Tom Jensen is the Senior NASCAR Editor for SPEEDTV.com, the former Executive Editor of NASCAR Scene and a contributing Editor for TruckSeries.com.  He is the author of "Cheating: The Bad Things Good NASCAR Nextel Cup Racers Do In Pursuit of SPEED," and has appeared on numerous television and radio shows to discuss NASCAR racing. Jensen is the President of the National Motorsports Press Association.