Skinner jump-starts team in Bud Pole qualifying

BRISTOL, Tenn. -- Mike Skinner stumbled into the MB2 Motorsports hauler Friday evening having just qualified fourth for the Sharpie 500 at Bristol Motor Speedway.

	Mike Skinner has finished 35th and 22nd in his two events with MB2.

But rather than the usual congratulatory pat on the back, he received a telling query from general manager Jay Frye.

"Need a wipe?"

Yes, it was that fast.

As is customary these days during Bristol time trials, Skinner's 15.089-second lap required complete fearlessness and absolutely no conscience. He managed, albeit barely.

"I scared myself to death on the first lap," Skinner said. "You have to do that here now unless your car is just extremely perfect. I told my guys the scratches on the quarter panel happened in practice and the scratches in my jeans happened in qualifying."

Sharpie 500  Lineup  Happy Hour Speeds  1st Practice Speeds

Skinner's effort was just five-hundredths of a second off pole-sitter Jeff Gordon's quick pace, and marked Skinner's best starting position of the season and his first top-five qualifying run of the year. In fact, it's the first time he's started among the top-10.

All that, and it could have been better.

Skinner missed a significant portion of the morning practice session after clipping the wall early on, and was forced to qualify under bright sunlight when those just before him qualified in cooler -- and faster -- air.

	Mike Skinner

"If you take that same lap in that nice, cool air that came over right before it started raining, I can't help but think it would have made up a couple thousandths, anyway," Skinner said. "You've got five or six cars there in the same few thousandths of a second.

"Our Pontiac was really loose getting into the corner during practice, then when I got in the middle it wouldn't turn and I was wrecking coming off.

"We finally hit the wall. Not hard, but just hard enough to bend some trailing arms and things. We missed 40 minutes of practice with the guys working hard putting the car back together. They did a great job, obviously."

MB2 hasn't qualified in the top-five since Boris Said earned the pole at Infineon Raceway in June.

"When you go out to qualify at this place, man, you just totally focus on trying to get a lap," Skinner said. "After running three-quarters a lap, I was totally out of air. I couldn't hardly breathe anymore."