page_title: Mike Skinner (racing driver)
section_title: Richard Childress Racing
hierarchical_section_title: Mike Skinner (racing driver) / Racing career / Richard Childress Racing
caption_attribution_description: NASCAR driver w:Mike Skinner (NASCAR) at Pocono in 1997.
context_page_description: Michael Skinner is an American former stock car racing driver. He has competed in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series, NASCAR Busch Series and NASCAR Camping World Truck Series. He has most recently driven the No. 98 Ford Fusion for Phil Parsons Racing in the Cup Series. He is the father of former NASCAR drivers Jamie Skinner and Dustin Skinner. He was born in Susanville, California.
  Skinner starred as the test driver for the first series of The Grand Tour. He was known as "The American," in humorous contrast to the main presenters, who are British.
context_section_description: Skinner was selected by Richard Childress Racing to drive the No. 3 GM Goodwrench-sponsored Chevrolet Silverado for the first NASCAR SuperTruck Series season. He won the first race in the series, and collected a total of 8 wins, 17 top 5 finishes, 18 top 10 finishes, 10 poles, an average start of 3.9 and an average finish of 4.8, en route to winning the first championship. He equaled his win total the following season, but fell to third in the standings. That year, he ran five races for RCR in the Winston Cup Series, qualifying in the top-ten three times and having a best finish of twelfth in the No. 31 Realtree-sponsored car. He also filled in for teammate Dale Earnhardt when Earnhardt was recovering from injuries suffered in a wreck at Talladega, where he flipped after contact with Sterling Marlin.
  In the 1997 NASCAR Winston Cup season, Skinner was promoted to full-time, driving the No. 31 with a sponsorship from Lowe's. He won poles at both of the season's races at Daytona International Speedway and had three top ten finishes. Despite failing to qualify for one race and a 30th-place points finish, he won the Rookie of the Year award. He had nine top tens during his sophomore season, but finished 21st in points after being forced sit out three races due to injury. He also won two exhibition races in Japan during those two seasons, when NASCAR held races in Asia for the first time. He finished no worse than sixth in the first four races of the 1999 season, and held the points lead briefly during the early portion of the season. He had a total of 5 top five finishes, 14 top ten finishes, 2 poles, and ended the year with a career-best 10th place in the point standings. He also raced in 13 races in the Busch Series, driving the No. 19 Yellow Freight Systems-sponsored Chevy for Emerald Performance Group. He won his only career Busch Series race at Atlanta after being disqualified for a rules infraction, before NASCAR overturned its decision.
  Skinner had eleven top 10s in the 2000 season, but fell to twelfth in points and lost his crew chief Larry McReynolds, who retired from NASCAR to broadcast the series on Fox Sports.
  In the 2001 season, he had only one top ten and suffered severe injuries in a wreck at Chicagoland Speedway after cutting a right-front tire and crashing head-first in turn 1. He was forced to miss the next five races because he suffered a concussion, a broken ankle, and a torn ACL in the crash. Free agent driver Robby Gordon was tapped to replace him and had a few top tens. Then the news broke out that Gordon would replace Skinner in the No. 31 Chevy after the 2001 season, and that Lowe's resigned from RCR to sponsor Jeff Gordon and Rick Hendrick's co-owned team for the rookie Jimmie Johnson in 2002. Skinner returned at Michigan, but after another accident at Richmond, Skinner opted for surgery to repair his ACL. He announced the next morning after the accident that he would miss the remainder of the season. In his announcement, he bid farewell to Richard Childress and his team; he also announced that Robby Gordon would replace him again and wished him luck.
  Robby Gordon finished off the season with an upset victory at New Hampshire.
caption: 1997 Cup racecar
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