Saturday, October 20 Martinsville Speedway Martinsville, Virginia

Mike Skinner crosses the finish line to take the checkered flag for the Kroger 200.

Skinner Triples At Martinsville

MARTINSVILLE, Va. (October 20, 2007) -- Mike Skinner drove through an open door for the lead and never looked back.

Skinner earned his third career Martinsville victory and clinched the manufacturer's title for Toyota, regaining his points lead in winning Saturday's Kroger 200 Craftsman Truck Series race.

"When Jack (Sprague) and Terry (Cook) got together (on Lap 134), it really opened the door for me," Skinner said. "I didn't think I had a truck that was strong enough to stay up front. . . The 60 (Sprague) was the best truck on the long greens, but those cautions kept flying and we came out victorious."

But behind Skinner, tension rose and tempers flared as trucks slammed into each other and the wall.

It started on Lap 193 when Tim Sauter got turned coming off Turn 4 with Travis Kvapil and Todd Bodine. When the smoke cleared, another six trucks were involved and the track was essentially blocked with Sauter's destroyed truck against the outside wall.

After a 17-minute red flag for cleanup, the green flag flew on Lap 197 of the 200-lap race, and contact between Matt Crafton and polesitter Jack Sprague started to muddle the front of the field. Ron Hornaday jumped up on the outside and raced from fifth to third by the white flag lap. Then Crafton spun off Turn 4, setting off another huge pileup as Skinner took the checkered flag.

Skinner, Sprague and Hornaday were the first three across the line while David Starr and Rick Crawford slipped through the smoke to round out the top five.

"I don't know. I'm not happy, but it was a great run," said Sprague, making his 400th career NASCAR start. "I think I had a shot at Skinner, but Crafton turned me sideways with two to go. Man, I wanted that bad."

"We just came through it, that's all we can say," said Hornaday, who lost his points lead and now trails Skinner by 11 as the lead changed hands for the fourth time in the last five races.

Sprague led the first 26 laps when nearly all the leaders made their only stop -- most for fuel only -- on Lap 27, while Terry Cook stayed out to try to go the distance without stopping. Cook led the next 108 laps until Sprague got into the back of Cook's Toyota on Lap 134, getting Cook out of shape. After Sprague completed the pass, Cook returned the contact, but instead of a run for the lead, it opened the bottom and Skinner took it, passing Cook and pulling alongside Sprague for the lead.

Broadcast Times

• Qualifying: Saturday, October 20 (SPEED at 12 p.m./AT)
• Pre-Race Show: Saturday, October 20 (SPEED at 3:30 p.m./AT)
• Race: Saturday, October 20 (SPEED at 4 p.m. AT)

Event Stats PDF files unless noted otherwise

Entry List

Starting Lineup

Race Results

Point Standings

Green Flag Fast Facts
The Race: Kroger 200
The Place: Martinsville Speedway
The Date: Oct. 20
Track Layout: .526-mile oval speedway
Race Purse: $451,204
2006 Winner: Jack Sprague
2006 Pole: Jack Sprague
Schedule (local track time/ET): Friday: Practice 11-11:50 a.m.; Rookie practice 1:40-2:10 p.m.; Final practice 2:15-3:30 p.m. Saturday: Qualifying 11:10 a.m.
Year-To-Date Standings: click here

Track Map



Green Flag Notes

• Kroger 200 Defender Sprague Will Make 400th Start...Thirteen – as in starts – was Jack Sprague’s (No. 60 Con-way Freight Toyota) lucky number when the three-time champion finally won at Martinsville Speedway in October 2006. Sprague will reach another racing milestone when he starts this week’s race. The Kroger 200 is the 400th NASCAR national series race for the 43-year-old veteran. In 399 starts in NASCAR NEXTEL Cup, Busch Series and Craftsman Trucks, Sprague has won 29 times with winnings of $9,451,208. Todd Bodine (No. 30 Lumber Liquidators Toyota) has the most national series starts by a current fulltime competitor: 633.
• Strategy Pays Dividends At Martinsville … Or, how far can you go on a 22 gallons of Sunoco fuel? Ted Musgrave (No. 9 Team ASE Toyota) was on a no-pit-stop strategy a year ago but couldn’t quite make it and wound up buried in the pack. “There will be some folks that try to make it this year but I think you really need to stop,” said Musgrave. Dennis Setzer won at Mansfield by going the 125-mile distance without visiting pit road. The Kroger 200’s distance is 105.2 miles.
• Champions Win At Martinsville But … None of the three – Mike Skinner (1996), Bobby Hamilton (2000) and Jack Sprague (2006) – won in their championship seasons.
• Quick Studies … As opposed to Jack Sprague needing 13 races to claim a Martinsville victory, two drivers – Joe Ruttman (1995) and Jamie McMurray (2004) won in their first trip the southern Virginia track.
• Chase Drivers On The Same Team … There will be three members of the 2007 Chase for the NASCAR NEXTEL Cup class competing in the Kroger 200, two on the same team. Kyle Busch (No. 51 Flanders Beef Patties Chevrolet) will partner with Denny Hamlin Hamlin (No. 15 Flanders Beef Patties Chevrolet) out of the Billy Ballew Motorsports stable. They’ll be joined by Clint Bowyer (No. 2 Camping World Chevrolet.) “I think the truck race will be valuable for us in the Cup race on Sunday due to the COT and the Craftsman Trucks being very similar,” said Hamlin. “On the competition side, it will be valuable for both Kyle and me as we can learn a lot on pit strategy and the draft with a vehicle that doesn’t turn real well like the trucks because of the long wheel base.” Added Busch, “We’re going to be teammates next year but we’re great friends off the track so it will be kind of the first time that we will be comparing notes and actually on the same team. It’s going to be pretty cool.”
• Winners In The Field … Six Martinsville winners are expected to compete in the Kroger 200. They are Mike Skinner (1996, 2007), Dennis Setzer (2002-03), Jon Wood (2003), Rick Crawford (2004), David Starr (No. 10 International MAXXFORCE Diesel Ford) (2005) and Jack Sprague (2006).
• Top Five The Place To Be … Ten of 17 Martinsville winners have started fifth or better. The Bud Pole driver has won three times including Skinner on March 31.
• If Dario Franchitti (No. 41 Target Dodge) qualifies for the Kroger 200, it will mark the first time a reigning Indianapolis 500 winner has started a NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series race. Franchitti would join fellow “500” winner Jacques Villeneuve (No. 27Bill Davis Racing Toyota) in the field and become the fifth Indianapolis champion to compete in a series race. The others are A.J. Foyt, Buddy Lazier and Buddy Rice. Foyt is the only driver to win the “500” and a NASCAR national series race in the same season – 1964, when the Texan won at Daytona International Speedway a few weeks after his Brickyard victory. Franchitti made his stock car debut in an ARCA race at Talladega Superspeedway. “Obviously, Martinsville will be a completely different animal than Talladega,” he said.
• This week’s Martinsville race caps this season’s slate of six short-track races. The first five events have produced five different winners. In fact, there hasn’t been a repeat short-track winner in eight races beginning with Rick Crawford’s (No. 14 Power Stroke Diesel by International Ford) Aug. 4, 2006 victory at O’Reilly Raceway Park in Indianapolis. This year’s winners are Mike Skinner, Martinsville; Dennis Setzer (No. 18 Fastenal Dodge), Mansfield Motorsports Park; Travis Kvapil (No. 6 K&N Filters Ford), Memphis; Ron Hornaday Jr. (O’Reilly) and Johnny Benson (No. 23 Toyota Certified Used Vehicles Toyota), Bristol. The past two season’s champions – Bodine and Ted Musgrave – won the title without a short-track victory.

IMPORTANT: All information, schedules and/or scheduled events is/are subject to change without notice. Please check with the source to confirm.