What a day for the #01 team of Mike Skinner. Hows about wrecking on your first lap in practice? Then, your team busts their butt getting the backup ready and you grab the pole! Then, you wreck in Happy Hour and you’re now waiting for another car to come from the shop in Charlotte. Down, Up, & Down again. And, all this at the track where regular driver Jerry Nadeau had his bad accident in Happy Hour last May. For Skinner, it’s his 6th career Bud Pole….and it will gain him entry (the 14th driver qualified thus far) into next February’s Budweiser Shootout. If they decide to go to the backup car, he’ll have to relinquish that top-spot however. Mike’s last pole was at California Speedway in April of 2000 (back in the RCR #31 era). Skinner will be joined on the front-row by #16-Greg Biffle (who ties his career-best starting spot….he was outside the front row at Watkins Glen last month). #40-Sterling Marlin (6th) has his best starting spot since he lined up 4th at Daytona in July. #99-Jeff Burton (7th) has his best starting spot since he lined up 7th at Las Vegas in March. #10-Johnny Benson (9th) had his best qualifying run since he had the outside pole at Rockingham in Febraury. #45-Kyle Petty (10th) has his best starting spot since he lined up 8th when we were here in May. #54-Todd Bodine (12th) has his best starting spot since he qualified 10th at Darlington in March. STREAKIN….Ryan Newman has 6 Top-10 starts in the last 7 races. Mark Martin has 4 Top-10 starts in the last 5 races. 45 cars on hand…two on the Trouble Train. Larry Foyt and Billy Bigley get the early outs. Provisionals were taken by: Dale Jarrett (non-charged), Dave Blaney, Steve Park, Jason Leffler, Christian Fittipaldi, Mike Wallace, and Hermie Sadler. We had 15 cautions when we were here last (but we did dodge a lot of rain that night), so we should find out once again why they call this place the “Action Track”.( StockCarFans.Com Winston Cup Newsletter )(9-5-2003)
