a best finish of 12th in the No. 31 Realtree-sponsored car. He also filled in for teammate Dale Earnhardt when Earnhardt was recovering from injuries suffered in a wreck at Talladega, where he flipped after contact with Sterling Marlin. In the 1997 NASCAR Winston Cup season, Skinner was promoted to full-time, driving the No. 31 with a sponsorship from Lowe's. He won poles at both of the season's races at Daytona International Speedway and had three top ten finishes. Despite failing to qualify for one race and a 30th-place points finish, he won the Rookie of the Year award. He had nine Top 10's during his sophomore season, but finished 21st in points after being forced sit out three races due to injury. He also won two exhibition races in Japan during those two seasons, when NASCAR held races in Asia for the first time. He finished no worse than sixth in the first four races of the 1999 season, and held the points lead briefly during the early portion of the season. He had a total of five Top 5 finishes, 14 Top 10 finishes, two poles, and ended the year with a career-best 10th place in the point standings. He also raced in 13 races in the Busch Series, driving the No. 19 Yellow Freight Systems-sponsored Chevy for Emerald Performance Group. He won his only career Busch Series race at Atlanta after being disqualified for a rules infraction, before NASCAR overturned its decision. Skinner had 11 Top 10s in the 2000 season, but fell to twelfth in points and lost his crew chief Larry McReynolds, who retired from NASCAR to broadcast the series on Fox Sports. In the 2001 season, he had only one top ten and suffered severe injuries in a wreck at Chicagoland Speedway after cutting a right-front tire and crashing head-first in turn 1. He was forced to miss the next five races because he suffered a concussion, a broken ankle, and a torn ACL in the crash. Free agent driver Robby Gordon was tapped to replace him and had a few Top 10s. Then the news broke out that Gordon would replace Skinner in the No. 31 Chevy after the 2001 season, and that Lowe's resigned from RCR to sponsor Jeff Gordon and Rick Hendrick's co-owned team for the rookie Jimmie Johnson in 2002. Skinner returned at Michigan, but after another accident at Richmond,