(Photo by Jones Sports Media)
Inside Line Promotions – BYRAM, Miss. (April 30, 2019) – Marshall Skinner kicked off his 29th season of racing with a solid top-five run Saturday night at Jackson Motor Speedway during an ASCS Mid-South Region and ASCS Gulf South Region event.
“We decided to go to Jackson at the last minute,” he said. “We hadn’t planned on racing there on Friday, even though that got canceled. My dad’s in the hospital and we were waiting to see what was going to happen with him. When we found out they weren’t going to do surgery on him we decided to go.”
Skinner began shaking off about six months of driving rust in his heat race during the King of the Wings event.
“I didn’t do so well in the heat race and messed up a bit,” he said. “I started fifth and finished fifth. I found out I was real rusty and out of shape. We struggled with the water pump drive in the heat race, but I was able to get it fixed for the feature.”
The heat race finish slotted Skinner 13th on the starting grid for the night’s 22-car main event.
“The track was really racy for me,” he said. “I just ran where the others weren’t. I was able to get by quite a few good cars on the top and the bottom of the track. I had a hard time getting by Channin (Tankersley). Once I did, I was able to run down (Tim) Crawley. But it was just a 25-lap race and I ran out of laps and finished fourth.”
Skinner’s achievement was more notable given that many of his competitors already had a number of races under their belts this year.
“I had my car ready to race earlier this year,” he said. “But I’ve just been too busy with other things. Work has been crazy busy this year. We just can’t keep up. Plus my wife is a CPA so she’s been really busy with taxes. And I have kids who have things going on.”
Skinner has an indefinite racing schedule for 2019 that will revolve around when time allows.
“I’d love to race a lot, but it’s difficult to with work being so busy,” he said. “We’ll just take things as they come and race when we can.”
He tentatively plans on returning to action on May 11 at I-30 Speedway in Little Rock, Ark., with the Lucas Oil ASCS National Tour and ASCS Mid-South Region.
QUICK RESULTS –
April 27 – Jackson Motor Speedway in Byram, Miss. – Heat race: 5 (5); Feature: 4 (13).
SEASON STATS –
1 races, 0 wins, 1 top five, 1 top 10, 1 top 15, 1 top 20
UP NEXT –
May 11 at I-30 Speedway in Little Rock, Ark., with the Lucas Oil ASCS National Tour and ASCS Mid-South Region
MEDIA LINKS –
Twitter: https://twitter.com/sprint26
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Marshall-Skinner-Motorsports-207879425896412/
SPONSOR SPOTLIGHT – J&J Auto Racing
Located in McKenzie, Tenn., J&J Auto Racing has manufactured sprint car chassis and racing parts for more than 40 years. For more information, visit http://www.JandJAutoRacing.com.
“I’ve been running J&J’s for about 14 years now,” Skinner said. “Their craftsmanship and quality are the best, bar none. Bonnie and Jack are super good people and are our friends. They help us out tremendously. If we go over there to do some business they want to take us out to dinner and we do the same when they’re around here. They’re just wonderful people who are great to do business with.”
Skinner would also like to thank Stinson’s Industrial, Final Touch Auto Collision Center, Gant Concrete Pumping, Big Earl Farms, B&D Towing and Recovery, DHR Suspensions, Robert Thorne Landscaping, American Outdoor Inc., CnB Chubby, West Tennessee Expediting, West Tennessee Expediting, Xtreme Race Graphics, Water & Wastewater Services, Cooper Racing Enterprises, BB&T Racing, FSR Radiators, Hinchman Racewear, FK Rod Ends, Killer Coatings, Bell Helmets, Engler Machine & Tool, Inc., Schoenfeld Headers, DMI, Huggins Cams, PAC Racing Springs, Brown & Miller Racing Solutions, KDN Promotions, Stealth Recovery, I-55 Towing, Oval Paints, Huntington’s Disease Awareness, OMP America and Deatherage Opticians for their continued support.
INSIDE LINE PROMOTIONS –
Inside Line Promotions specializes in affordable public relations and media management for motor sports drivers, teams, sponsors, tracks, series, events, organizations and manufacturers. ILP Founder Shawn Miller leverages professional journalism with new media technologies and social networking to improve your exposure and the return on investment for your sponsors.
To meet the media relations needs of your program by joining Team ILP, contact Shawn at 541-510-3663 or Shawn@InsideLinePromotions.com. For more information on Inside Line Promotions, visit http://www.InsideLinePromotions.com.