WELCOME, N.C. - Richard Childress Racing (RCR) and Mike Skinner have come to a mutual agreement to forego the final year of their contract together and part ways at the end of the 2001 NASCAR season.
"This was a very tough decision because Mike and I are friends and he's been a part of the RCR family for the past seven years," said Richard Childress, president and CEO of Richard Childress Racing Enterprises, Inc. "Mike is one of the most talented drivers out there but, for some reason, we haven't been able to win. We've had some great runs but this sport is about winning.
"Mike and I talked back in January and decided that if the program wasn't going well by mid-season, we would go our separate ways at the end of the year. I don't want to hold his career back or this race team's so I think it 's best that we make this move now to give Mike as much time as possible to put a deal together with another team."
Skinner began his career at RCR in 1995, winning the inaugural NASCAR Truck Series that year and 16 races overall in two seasons before stepping up to the Winston Cup Series in 1997. He earned that series' rookie-of-the-year honors. To date, he has 10 top-five and 38 top-10 finishes in 153 Winston Cup starts with RCR. He earned victories in NASCAR exhibition races in Japan in 1997 and 1998.
"We've been together for seven years and, for whatever reason, haven't won a Winston Cup points race," said Skinner. "We've won every other kind of race -- a Truck Series championship, two Japan races, all sorts of non-points races including one of this year's 125-mile qualifying races at Daytona, rookie of the year and finished in the top 10 and top 12 in the points. It's just been a lot of things that have kept us from getting the moon and the stars lined up. But, if it's not meant to be, it's not meant to be. I have a lot of respect for Richard and Judy Childress and I love them to death. We'll move on down the road and turn this into a positive. We're still going to win races. I'm still planning on running up front and I'm going to make somebody a good race car driver."