Infineon 200
Lowe’s Motor Speedway
Race 5 of 25
Qualifying: May 20th, 5:45 pm EST
Start: May 21st, 8:30 pm EST

In the Top-5
Skinner in fifth place: He remains 5th in the NCTS driver’s points’ race after finishing 11th at Mansfield

Alex Meshkin: 23-Year-Old Owner Starts Season Off With A Bang! Bang Racing’s owner, the youngest in NASCAR to date, has turned a few heads in the industry with impressive out-of-the box performances by drivers Mike Skinner, Travis Kvapil and Toyota. The team has accumulated four top-five’s and four top-10’s in only four starts. The two drivers also sit comfortably inside the top-10 in points.

Noteables: Silver Oak on Track at Lowe’s
Mike Skinner is getting in the spirit naming his Toyota Tundra chasses after different wines this season. A long-time aficionado, Skinner and his No. 42 Toyota Tundra team will be taking Silver Oak to Lowe’s Motor Speedway. The chassis was named after his favorite Cabernet Sauvignon and favorite winery, Silver Oak Cellars, with vineyards in Napa and Alexander Valleys in California. “I’m hoping my performance on track will be as smooth as their cabernets,” he said. He’s also hoping that the name will bring good luck and a win for the team. If so, he’ll be opening a special six liter bottle of ’89 Silver Oak that he purchased as a bet with Andy Petree during a 2002 visit to the vineyards. Wisconsin teammate Travis Kvapil will pay homage to his home state by naming his chasses after different cheeses this season.

Skinner has one pole, one top-five and six top-10’s in 20 Busch and Cup starts at Lowe’s.

Skinner recently tested at Chicago in preparation for the Charlotte race.
 
Vice President Larry McReynolds will serve dual roles this weekend as Skinner’s spotter.

Looking back at Mansfield:
We had a great truck in practice and figured that we could win the race or finish third or fourth at worst.  We elected to scuff tires and didn’t find out until about 12 minutes left in practice that a right front spring had collapsed in the truck. Prior to that, we had made so many changes on the truck to try and fix the problems that we had simply over-adjusted our truck. This made for an extremely long day, but our guys were awesome in the pits. It was just a matter of track position, and unfortunately we got hit late in the race which made us lose track position.  Cautions have been our biggest nemesis this year, and it’s never the No. 42 that actually needs the caution.  Luck has definitely not been in our favor this year when it has come to the caution flag.  But, the truck was great and the motor was great.  As far as the track goes, I was very impressed.  You can tell that they have made a lot of changes to the track which has made it even better than some places we have run. It was a neat little short track, and I had a lot of fun racing on it.

How are you feeling about Charlotte this weekend?
I’ve always liked Charlotte and have had some success when running there. I won a pole there in Cup and have been in contention to win the race a couple of times with my highest finish being third. As far as the race track goes, Charlotte is a very unique venue. Turns 1 and 2 are wide open and pretty awesome but Turns 3 and 4 are completely different. Turns 3 and 4 are very line sensitive, meaning you really have to run a certain line if you want to get the best result. I have always found that the bottom is the fastest, but it’s also very bumpy and can do a lot of damage to a chassis. When qualifying, the bottom line seems to work the best, but during the race it seems like you can start to run a little higher on the track. Our team is so strong that when we feel like our truck isn’t the best, we tend to survive. We communicate well and listen to each other, and I feel that this is one of our strongest suits coming into the racetrack every weekend. For all the work that TRD has done, and especially all the guys back at the shop, we believe that we have a truck that could win the race. All in all, I’ve run well at Charlotte and look forward to coming back up to North Carolina. For everyone else, Charlotte is home, but since Angie and I live in Florida, it’s just another place on the schedule, except for the fact that I feel like I can bond with the guys on the team by being at the shop and hanging out with them more.

What are your thoughts on TRD’s progression this year?
Each week I am more and more impressed by the guys at TRD. They have researched tirelessly on things that would help improve our truck and have gone to the ends of the country in their research and development to try and make these trucks win. They actually wanted to put a gear in our truck at Mansfield, but Rick and I decided against it. They had researched and done many tests on the gear, but we thought it was too risky. About halfway through we wished we would have used it. The guys at TRD really seem to know what they are doing and are committed to making this a winning team.

Crew Chief Rick Ren’s thoughts on Charlotte:
I have a lot of experience at Charlotte. I’ve had some poles there in Cup and Busch. I’ve always seemed to have good runs there, but not all the finishes have reflected that. As a team, we feel confident going into Friday night because we’ve had some successful tests. We tested very well at Texas and we’re bringing a brand new truck that we tested at Chicago so we’re pretty excited. I think that between the two of us we have experience at the track, which doesn’t mean we will run as well as expected, but it’s always an added benefit to have the top decision makers know the track inside and out.

Skinner Appearances at LMS
Mike Skinner and teammate Travis Kvapil will stop in for a short Q & A session at the Toyota Tent on Friday, May 21 from 5-5:15 p.m.

No. 42 Toyota Tundra Crew Members
Crew Chief: Rick Ren
Truck Chief/Rear Tire Changer: Chad Rainey
Front Tire Changer: Ryan Langley
Front Tire Carrier: Ryan Crellin
Rear Tire Carrier: Chris “Goose” Burger
Gasman: Jimmy Sprinkle (Hiddenite, NC)
Catchcan: Hughston Caldwell (Concord, NC)
2nd Can/Runner/Hauler Driver: Tom Czoka
Spotter: Larry McReynolds

North Carolina Natives
The No. 42 Toyota Tundra team has several North Carolina natives on board this season. Gasman Jimmy Sprinkle hails from Hiddenite and tends to his farm and horses when not traveling on the road with the team. Catchcan man Hughston Caldwell is from Concord and recalls his best racing memory working with Ricky Craven as his Jackman in his first Daytona 500 event in 1996. The Bang Racing shop is also located in Mooresville the heart of the NASCAR racing industry.