Advice from a legend can be golden. Mike Skinner is one such legend in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series. The former driver was one of the pioneers of the sport’s third tier, winning the series’ inaugural race at Phoenix Raceway on February 5th, 1995. That year, Skinner went on to win seven more races en route to his championship. But besides missing those times of glory, Skinner also misses the culture that pushed him to win.
In present-day NASCAR, there are many legends on the racetrack. Off the top of one’s head, 2021 Cup Series champion Kyle Larson and road course racing god Shane van Gisbergen are just two examples. However, Skinner believes they are not realizing their full potential.
NASCAR’s gap with its past
Well, Mike Skinner raced in an era that was jam-packed with rivalries. The 68-year-old Truck veteran was in his heyday in the mid-1990s, when face-offs between Dale Earnhardt and Jeff Gordon or Cale Yarborough and Donnie Allison. Contrary to most racers’ backgrounds today, drivers like Skinner had to work their way up through the ranks. Skinner coaches youngsters in the Truck garage and took a jab at them in March this year. He said that they were not “raised in a single-wide trailer house and mop the floors at their mother’s cantina to help her get by.” This hardship, which Skinner faced, gives him a unique perspective on today’s drivers.
In a recent episode of ‘Kevin Harvick’s Happy Hour’, Mike Skinner did not mince his words. “In ’95, ’96, you had men. You don’t have men anymore,” he said. Well, the traditional tinge in these words aside, the legend has a solid point. He continued that with the modern-day technology at their disposal, drivers can do a whole lot more. “I love the car that they have in the Cup Series…the Trucks, you can still work on and get a little bit of an aero advantage if you work really, really hard…You have a lot of guys that are really high technical, their fitness program is impeccable today. But they fall out of the seat way more than we probably did. And it’s insane with all the tools that they have in the toolbox, it’s that hard.”
What is more, the lack of rivalries is another upsetting point for Mike Skinner. True, Kyle Larson has had occasional beef with Denny Hamlin, and Carson Hocevar seems to be ruffling feathers every other week. But Skinner wants more, as he continued: “There are little guys that are finding out all the time that the smaller frame, the less weight you have, and the shorter you are, you’re like a jockey. Kyle Larson should win every race, right? …It’s really crazy…We need more of those rivalries…It’s fun to watch…You would play games, and you were really good at it. And it gave you an advantage at times. So we don’t see enough of that in my opinion today.”
Clearly, the NASCAR Truck Series legend wants to instill more life into today’s racing. One of his favorite drivers is aiming to do exactly that in the following weekend, with another veteran rooting for him.
Seeking to wake up from his slumber
Yes, Kyle Larson was in a deep slumber for over two months. He won his last race at Kansas Speedway in mid-May, and his Double heartbreak followed not long after. The Hendrick Motorsports star crashed out of both the Indy 500 and the Coca-Cola 600, and thereafter entered a dismal streak. He recorded two DNFs in Mexico City and Sonoma Raceway, besides accruing a few top 20 results. This hardly exemplifies Larson’s usual glorious habit, so his fans were concerned. He broke that slumber in Dover, fetching a 4th-place finish. Now, all eyes are on him for defending his Brickyard 400 crown.
According to DraftKings Sportsbook, the ‘golden boy’ is tied with Denny Hamlin as the favorite to win at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. NASCAR veteran Dale Earnhardt Jr is also rooting for Larson: “Indy might be the race where he goes out there and jams the flag.” Dale Jr traced the evidence back to Larson’s Dover run, where he climbed from a 25th-place starting spot. “He struggled like everybody else with dirty air, trying to work his way through the field, but eventually, his car had pretty decent speed,” Dale Jr said. “And I feel like that’s a sign to me that they’re regrouping and getting back to the basics.”
Kyle Larson is setting his sights on winning this weekend. Who knows, maybe he will make Mike Skinner feel more in touch with the legend’s roots as well?
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