He has certainly done well with his 199 Truck starts, winning the inaugural series championship in 1995 and 28 races (third all time) in two stints. Three of those wins came at half-mile Martinsville Speedway, where Skinner will mark his 200th race Saturday, thankful to have driven his truck through doors of opportunity.

"I love the trucks, and I do not regret that we left from 1997-2004 and went Cup racing," said Skinner, who will become the 10th driver with at least 200 Truck starts. "But I have to think that I could easily be making my 400th start or however many races there have been and some of the stats that we could have put up there.

"It's pretty awesome; it's an honor. I don't know if I'll be around to make 300 or not, but it sure as heck looks like I'm going to make the 200th one (Saturday)."

And after some uncertainty this summer, it also appears Skinner will continue driving a Toyota for Randy Moss Motorsports, the two-truck team purchased last year by the New England Patriots' Pro Bowl wide receiver. Skinner said that Moss and co-owner David Dollar have told him they want to re-sign him for 2010 even as they try to line up sponsorship.

Skinner enters the Kroger 200 a distant third to points leader and three-time champion Ron Hornaday Jr., but he has three victories this season and has five races left to make up a 58-point deficit to second-place Matt Crafton.

If nothing else, it could help Skinner close a deficit to Hornaday that he considers uncommon given the series' recent pattern for deciding the champion in the final races. Just two years ago Skinner entered the finale at Homestead leading Hornaday by 29 points before he lost a wheel late in the race and finished 54 points behind Hornaday in the standings.

While a title's out of reach this year, Skinner takes heart in watching the series grow beyond its entry-level creation into one also featuring current and former Cup drivers such as himself.

"We've had a lot of fun memories, and hopefully it won't end anytime soon," said Skinner, 52. "I planned on retiring a couple of years (ago), and we almost won the championship, so I decided to I was just having too much fun to retire. I guess I will when it's no fun anymore."

Enlarge By Jason Smith, Getty Images for NASCAR Mike Skinner appears to be staying with Randy Moss Motorsports after being told the team would like to re-sign him for next year.