Skinner to move on in 2002.

Neither Mike Skinner or Lowe's Home Improvements will be a part of the No.31 Richard Childress Racing stable during the 2002 NASCAR Winston Cup campaign it was confirmed at Michigan where Skinner qualified the Chevrolet Monte Carlo 19th on his return from injury.

It had been widely predicted for some time but only on Friday was it conformed that Lowe's and Mike Skinner would be moving on from Richard Childress' NASCAR Winston Cup operation at the end of 2001 following five years together with the No.31 Chevrolet Monte Carlo team.

Skinner, who won the 1997 Raybestos Rookie of the Year award, has yet to win his first Winston Cup event despite coming very close on several occasions and his performances have tailed off somewhat in the past year and a half. In 2001 Skinner was hit harder than most by the loss of team-mate Dale Earnhardt and appeared to enter a run of bad luck.

At the Chicagoland Speedway in July Skinner crashed badly and broke bones in his ankle forcing him to miss four races and he now sits a lowly 34th in the Winston Cup standings with just one top ten finish in 18 starts so far this year. No news has been given on Skinner's replacement with RCR although Cingular Wireless, current sponsors of Jason Leffler's Ganassi Racing Dodge have already signed as the primary sponsor of the No.31 car next year. Lowe's are expected to move into the newly expanded Hendrick Motorsports stable for rookie Ricky Hendrick.

Despite the constant flow of rumours at the Michigan International Speedway this weekend, where Skinner will start 19th for Sunday's Pepsi 400 Presented by Meijer, the driver tried to stay focused on racing and scoring some good end of year results as he touts for a new vacancy on the Winston Cup grid.

"That was the third lap on the racetrack for the Lowe's Chevrolet," said Skinner of his final qualifying effort, a 38.684-second lap that followed a somewhat chaotic morning practice session. "In our second time out this morning, the right rear tire started going down in (turn) two, and then halfway up the backstretch the motor broke. So that was actually our third lap on the racetrack. I can't say enough about this guys that worked their tails off to get a back-up engine in the racecar and to get it back out there without anything falling off of it and get a lap. I kind of wish I'd have run a second lap now. I felt like I got through (turns) one and two pretty good on the second lap. And when they told me the lap (speed), I decided I'd held my breath long enough. It's good."