CHASING THE TITLE.(Competition)

Byline: AL PEARCE

Bill Davis Racing has built an impressive resume in 21 years of NASCAR racing. The North Carolina-based company has won poles and races in all three major NASCAR series and has had top-10 drivers in the final standings of each. Among its full-schedule drivers from years past are Mark Martin, Jeff Gordon, Bobby Labonte, Michael Waltrip and Dave Blaney. In 2002, Ward Burton gave team owners Gail and Bill Davis their signature victory in the Daytona 500.

But there's still space in their office for the one trophy they don't have: a series championship. It will happen this year if Mike Skinner and crew chief Jeff Hensley have another solid season in the Craftsman Truck Series. They finished second last year, losing the title to Ron Hornaday by 54 points in the season finale at Homestead, Florida. (Hornaday finished seventh, and Skinner was 35th, slowed by suspension problems while running well enough to take the title.)

Those old rivals are among a handful of drivers capable of winning the final Craftsman Series title. (The truck-based series gets a new sponsor in 2009.) Hornaday expects to run all 25 races in a Chevy owned and prepared by Kevin Harvick and led by crew chief Rick Ren. A year ago, the No. 33 team won one pole and four races and had 13 top-fives and 22 top-10s in 25 starts. Its average finish of 5.7 was astonishing.

The Davis/Skinner/Hensley entry will be a Toyota. Their No. 5 team won 11 poles and five races last year, had 17 top-fives and 20 top-10s and averaged 7.3 per finish. They went to Homestead ...