Skyler quickly had some handling issues, including dealing with a large rock slowly surfacing in turn 3 (see photos), and fell back to third.  The heat field strung out, and that's where he finished.

After a long intermission wherein drivers met kids and fans close up to sign autographs and photos, the feature began with Skyler third row outside.  However, as the cars came onto the track to line up two-by-two, Skyler stalled.  A push truck came and got him going, but I could tell something was wrong.  After a slow, positioning lap, Skyler headed into the pits.  There crew chief Bill and the rest of the gang worked frantically to figure out what was wrong.  Turns out that a spark plug wire or two had come loose.  As the rest of the field gave Skyler a courtesy lap, he sped back onto the track but was waved "tailback" or to the rear.

Starting last among 13 cars, he took only a couple of laps to get into 9th position, thanks to a some good driving.  But on the next yellow flag, Skyler again headed to the pits!  This time he had a flat tire, which had to be changed the old-fashioned way.  The flat left insufficient clearance for the car jack, so Billy Smith and some helpful fellows nearby yanked the front end off the ground and held it while Bill spun the tire wrench.  Skyler was able to make it back onto the track before the restart, but again was waved to last place.

Then the race got serious, with Skyler pushing hard and driving smart.  One by one he picked off cars, and put on a crowd-pleasing duel with No. 11x, driven by 18 year old Brandon Bahr.  Skyler worked, high, low, and showed himself beside Brandon's door again and again. The crowd cheered for both drivers.  Finally Skyler got by Brandon on the inside and the two went side by side deep in the turns, with Skyler eventually pulling away to finish a very respectable 4th place.

Final results:  3rd in the heat, 4th in the feature, in a true test of the pit crew and Skyler's ability to come from the rear. We'll take it.