Mike Skinner (racing Driver) - RCR

RCR

Skinner was selected by Richard Childress Racing to drive the #3 GM Goodwrench Chevrolet S-10 for the first NASCAR SuperTruck Series season. He won the first race in the series, and collected 7 more victories en route to winning the first championship in series history. He equaled his win total the following season, but fell to 3rd in the standings. That year, he ran 5 races for RCR in the Winston Cup Series, qualifying in the top-ten 3 times and having a best finish of 12th in the #31 Realtree 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 #31 with Lowe's sponsorship. He won poles at both of the season's races at Daytona International Speedway, and had 3 top-ten finishes. Despite failing to qualify for 1 race and a 30th place points finish, he won the Rookie of the Year award. He had 9 top-tens his sophomore season, but finished 21st in points after being forced sit out three races due to injury. He also won a pair of exhibition races in Japan during those two seasons, when NASCAR raced in Asia for the first time since its inception. He finished no worse than 6th in the first four races of the 1999 NASCAR Sprint Cup season, and held the points lead briefly during the early portion of the season. He had a total of 14 top-tens and ended the year a career-high 10th in points. He also returned to the Busch Series, driving the #19 Yellow Freight Systems Chevy for Emerald Performance Group. He won his only career race at Atlanta after being disqualified for a rules infraction, before NASCAR overturned its decision.

Skinner had 11 top-tens in the 2000 NASCAR Sprint Cup season, but fell to 12th in points and lost crew chief Larry McReynolds. In the 2001 NASCAR Winston Cup season, he had only 1 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, blacking out for 30+ seconds. He was forced to miss the next 5 races. Skinner had another wreck at Darlington Raceway before that. He would return and soon after had to undergo season-ending knee surgery and Robby Gordon took over, beginning at Kansas Speedway and for the rest of the season. Gordon had taken over before during that period of time that Skinner missed because of the accident.