and Mike Skinner? UPDATE: It was what Richard Childress didn’t say about Mike Skinner on Saturday that will only fuel speculation about the driver’s future in the #31 Chevy. During the announcement that Jeff Green will drive the #30 car sponsored by America Online for Richard Childress Racing next year, the car owner was asked about Skinner. “We have another year with Mike Skinner and another year with (sponsor) Lowe’s,” Childress said. “What we’re doing now is just revisiting our whole RCR organization. …We might be able to make more announcements like that next month.” Asked specifically if Skinner’s contract meant he would definitely be in the car next year, Childress gave a similarly non-definitive answer.(That’s Racin’) UPDATE: Richard Childress clarified one piece of his ongoing Winston Cup jigsaw puzzle Saturday when he announced Jeff Green would drive his #30 AOL Chevy in 2002. That still left the status of #31 Lowes Chevrolet driver Mike Skinner up in the air. Childress, who at Sears Point last month said he and Skinner would discuss their options and decide if they wanted to make a change in the next few weeks, seemingly extended that deadline Saturday. We have another year with Mike Skinner and another year with Lowe’s, Childress said. What we’re doing now is just revisiting our whole RCR organization. We’re in the mix of trying some things that I don’t think other teams have done. We’re going to put all three teams together. We’re going to have all the crew chiefs together. Right now, we’ve got several other things that we’re trying at RCR and this was a huge step to go with AOL and all. AOL was so good to work with through what happened in Daytona and us taking Kevin out of that car and putting him into the No. 29 car and put Jeff into it. We have a lot of things like that to work out. We might be able to make more announcements like that (regarding the No. 31 team) next month.(NASCAR.com Buzz)(7-15-2001)
