KANSAS CITY, Kan.— Strong winds, rain and hail, even tornadoes weren’t enough to stop Mike Skinner from giving football star Randy Moss his first win as a NASCAR truck owner.
Waiting through two days, a pair of weather delays and a tornado scare, Skinner won the rain-shortened O’Reilly Auto Parts 250 trucks race at Kansas Speedway on Monday — the first victory for Randy Moss Motorsports.
“We got us one. It’s just really, really cool,” Skinner said. “We have a lot of effort going on here to build this whole program at Randy Moss Motorsports. We’re just going to keep digging and hopefully we can get another one or two of these things before the year is out.”
Skinner’s RMM teammate, Tayler Malsam of Mill Creek, ran near the front during both days of racing and finished 11th.
Skinner led when the race was postponed after 52 laps on Saturday. He fell behind defending champion Roy Hornaday Jr. in the pits Monday, then went back up front just before the second rain delay hit. With the drivers in the pits and a handful of fans in the stands, Skinner was declared the winner after 132 laps — 35 short of the finish — for his 26th career victory in the NASCAR Camping World Trucks Series.
Johnny Benson finished second and Brian Scott was third in the first rain-shortened trucks race since 2001 at Darlington. Hornaday ended up fourth and trucks rookie Brian Ickler finished fifth driving in place of series points leader Kyle Busch, who was at the NASCAR race in Talladega.
Skinner had the fastest car all day, thanks to a pit gamble by crew chief Eric Phillips, and drove away with the first victory for Moss, the New England Patriots receiver who bought 50 percent of fledgling Morgan-Dollar Motorsports last year.
“It’s always exciting to bring my co-owner his first win,” David Dollar said. “It’s been a whole lot of changes for us and it feels so dang good to be on Victory Lane.”
The weather made it difficult.
Wind hampered practice and qualifying early Saturday, then storms washed out the race after 52 laps that afternoon. It got downright scary a little while later, when tornado sirens went off at the track and a twister was reported on the ground not far from the track.
The tornado dissipated before it reached the track and no one was hurt, but it made for some tense moments for the drivers and their teams, most of whom had huddled in the infield media center to watch the tornado on TV.
“It’s been an interesting weekend with the weather and the tornado being close by,” Benson said. “It was close, I think within a mile, mile and a half, and a lot of fans didn’t have a place to go. I think everybody’s glad it didn’t hit here.”
With a day off, some of the truck drivers spent Sunday at the Kansas City Royals game and others watched the Talladega race from their RVs or hotel rooms. Sunday’s IRL race went off without a hitch, but more storms hit the area overnight and the rain continued Monday morning, delaying the start by another four hours.
Once the race resumed, the drivers weren’t sure what to expect.
“It definitely changes the feeling you have going into the first corner when you know it’s been raining and you go into a restart,” Scott said. “I guess the pucker factor goes up a bit.”
Skinner got the first crack at the first corner and had no trouble, leading 33 laps after the restart before two trips through the pits during a caution on lap 85 dropped him to ninth.
Hornaday, the pole-sitter, took the lead on that pit stop, but ended up ninth after a long pit during another caution on lap 113. Skinner regained the lead, moving up to second out of the pits and quickly passing Stacy Compton.
Then — of course — the rain came again.
It was only a sprinkle, but enough to bring out the caution flag on lap 122. The trucks puttered around behind the pace car for 10 more laps before the red flag came out, sending everyone off the track. Fifty minutes later, with rain still falling and temperatures dropping, Skinner was declared the winner, ending the long, wild weekend.
Saturday at Kansas Speedway
Kansas City, Kan.
Lap length: 1.5 miles
(Start position in parentheses)
1. (2) Mike Skinner, Toyota, 132 laps, 136.3 rating, 195 points, $57,875.
2. (5) Johnny Benson, Toyota, 132, 112.6, 170, $38,745.
3. (7) Brian Scott, Toyota, 132, 115.4, 170, $25,715.
4. (1) Ron Hornaday Jr., Chevrolet, 132, 136.7, 165, $21,005.
5. (9) Brian Ickler, Toyota, 132, 95.4, 155, $16,355.
6. (6) Colin Braun, Ford, 132, 101.1, 150, $16,005.
7. (14) Matt Crafton, Chevrolet, 132, 99.6, 146, $13,955.
8. (4) Chad McCumbee, Chevrolet, 132, 95.4, 142, $13,880.
9. (12) Johnny Sauter, Chevrolet, 132, 85.7, 138, $14,805.
10. (21) Jason White, Dodge, 132, 78.6, 134, $15,105.
11. (10) Tayler Malsam, Toyota, 132, 93.1, 130, $13,705.
12. (8) James Buescher, Ford, 132, 73.9, 127, $13,580.
13. (15) Stacy Compton, Toyota, 132, 75.3, 129, $13,505.
14. (13) Rick Crawford, Ford, 132, 81.2, 121, $13,455.
15. (19) Dennis Setzer, Chevrolet, 132, 71.3, 118, $12,305.
16. (25) J.J. Yeley, Chevrolet, 132, 57.1, 115, $11,280.
17. (18) David Starr, Toyota, 132, 77.1, 112, $13,255.
18. (22) Gabi DiCarlo, Toyota, steering, 131, 51.2, 109, $10,955.
19. (24) Shane Sieg, Toyota, 130, 64.1, 106, $13,155.
20. (16) Terry Cook, Toyota, accident, 110, 91.3, 103, $13,780.
21. (17) Todd Bodine, Toyota, 88, 44.4, 100, $13,055.
22. (20) T.J. Bell, Toyota, 80, 56.7, 97, $11,780.
23. (3) Ricky Carmichael, Chevrolet, 77, 51.3, 94, $11,755.
24. (11) Timothy Peters, Toyota, engine, 72, 62.9, 91, $10,730.
25. (28) Ben Stancill, Ford, transmission, 51, 44.7, 88, $10,705.
26. (34) Jennifer Jo Cobb, Dodge, ignition, 48, 37.9, 85, $10,680.
27. (31) Brandon Knupp, Chevrolet, transmission, 35, 36.7, 82, $10,655.
28. (35) Ryan Hackett, Ford, electrical, 32, 43.6, 79, $10,630.
29. (26) Butch Miller, Chevrolet, rear end, 25, 39.4, 76, $10,580.
30. (30) Marc Mitchell, Chevrolet, brakes, 22, 40.4, 73, $11,055.
31. (32) Norm Benning, Chevrolet, ignition, 17, 35.3, 70, $10,530.
32. (29) Chris Fontaine, Dodge, vibration, 6, 38, 67, $10,505.
33. (33) Chris Jones, Dodge, clutch, 6, 35.9, 64, $10,480.
34. (23) Frank Deiny Jr., Dodge, electrical, 5, 34.2, 61, $10,455.
35. (27) Brent Raymer, Ford, accident, 0, 35, 58, $10,430.
Race Statistics
Average Speed of Race Winner: 92.680 mph.
Time of Race: 2 hours, 8 minutes, 11 seconds.
Margin of Victory: Under Caution.
Caution Flags: 10 for 51 laps.
Lead Changes: 7 among 4 drivers.
Lap Leaders: M.Skinner 1-6; R.Hornaday Jr. 7-40; M.Skinner 41-87; B.Scott 88-90; R.Hornaday Jr. 91-114; S.Compton 115-118; M.Skinner 119-132.
Leaders Summary (Driver, Times Led, Laps Led): M.Skinner, 3 times for 67 laps; R.Hornaday Jr., 2 times for 58 laps; S.Compton, 1 time for 4 laps; B.Scott, 1 time for 3 laps.
Top 10 in Points
1. M.Skinner, 801; 2. R.Hornaday Jr., 776; 3. T.Bodine, 744; 4. M.Crafton, 707; 5. J.Benson, 685; 6. K.Busch, 682; 7. B.Scott, 659; 8. C.McCumbee, 647; 9. T.Cook, 631; 10. S.Compton, 624.
NASCAR Driver Rating Formula
A maximum of 150 points can be attained in a race.
The formula combines the following categories: Wins, Finishes, Top-15 Finishes, Average Running Position While on Lead Lap, Average Speed Under Green, Fastest Lap, Led Most Laps, Lead-Lap Finish.
Talk to us
> Give us your news tips.
> Send us a letter to the editor.
> More Herald contact information.
