Skinner heads to Fontana riding a new-found spirit

Mike Skinner was sent scrambling to find a new team when Bill Davis Racing was sold in late December and announced it would not race in the Camping World Truck Series this season.

Skinner landed on his feet at Randy Moss Motorsports, finishing seventh in the opener last week at Daytona. The strong performance has buoyed his spirits going into Saturday's San Bernardino County 200 (3 p.m. ET, FOX) at Auto Club Speedway.

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"I couldn't be more excited," Skinner said. "You can get up in the morning and dread to go to the race track, or you can get up and be excited to go to the race track. I'm definitely excited to head to the race track each week."

Skinner, 51, was the champion of the series in the inaugural season of 1995 and drove regularly in Cup from 1997 until returning to the Truck Series with Davis, a Toyota-backed team, in 2004. Last season, he finished sixth in the point standings and won the 25th race of his Truck career.

Davis' decision to sell the team along with his Toyota engine and chassis-building operation caught Skinner by surprise. Skinner was able to take Toyota with him to RMM, which previously had raced with Chevrolet.

"Due to the cards dealt to Angie [wife], myself and Randy Moss Motorsports, there was a lot of work that had to come together quickly before Daytona," Skinner said. "There were some hard cards to play. I mean, my team found out I was going to drive for them 2 1/2 weeks before the season started. They had to change manufacturers, get Daytona trucks ready and get California trucks ready in a short amount of time.

Skinner

"It is easy for a team to get that amount of work done when you can start right after Homestead [the 2008 season finale in November], but my team did a fantastic job of getting everything done and giving me a fast, competitive truck to drive in Daytona. It says a lot about Eric [crew chief Phillips] and David [co-owner Dollar] and all of those guys."

Skinner won the Truck race at Fontana in 2007 and finished eighth last year. He sat on the pole there for the Cup race in 2000 and led 64 laps en route to finishing seventh. It is a hometown track of sorts for Skinner, who was born in the adjacent community of Ontario but was raised in the far northern California town of Susanville.

Todd Bodine, in Germain Racing's unsponsored Toyota, won at Daytona and will be going for his third consecutive victory in the series. Bodine closed out 2008 with a victory at Homestead.

Bodine also has a strong record at Fontana. He was second to Kyle Busch last season, second in 2006 and won in 2004.

San Bernardino County 200
• Speeds: Practice 1 | Practice 2