DON McDERMOTT / PVTMike Skinner, in a Toyota, leads Ted Musgrave's Toyota down the front straight two laps from the finish in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck-Smith's Las Vegas 350 at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway Saturday. Skinner's pit crew celebrates the victory. Skinner enjoys the moment in Victory Lane. Advertisement

LAS VEGAS -- Which was the bigger star -- Mike Skinner, who won the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series race, or the new and improved 1.5-mile Las Vegas Motor Speedway's now high-banked oval?

Call it a draw ... a fast draw.

Skinner, in the Tundra Toyota, passed Ted Musgrave with 20 laps left, then avoided trouble in the stretch drive to win the Smith's Las Vegas 350 Saturday night before 60,000 fans who got their first look at the reconstructed speedway.

Skinner, who had started from the pole five times previously without winning, finally made being out front pay off, winning the 146-lap, 219-mile race in 1 hour, 51 minutes, 32 seconds and earning $54,675. He finished 0.309 seconds ahead of the veteran Musgrave, who was also driving a Toyota in the race slowed only by seven caution flags that affected 31 laps and reduced the winning speed to 117.812 miles per hour.

Skinner's win was his first since Sept. 8 at Richmond. Mike Bliss prevented a 1-2-3-4 rout by Toyota, driving his Chevrolet to a third-place finish. Johnny Benson was fourth in a Toyota, with Ron Hornaday Jr. fifth in a Chevrolet.

"We had an awesome truck,'' said Skinner, after a wild celebration in Victory Lane. "We quit practice an hour early last night (Friday) and we quit practice an hour early today to save laps on the motor.

"I knew if things stayed green long enough we had a truck that was going to be hard to beat," said Skinner. "I was getting beat on restarts ... I wanted it to stay green."

The race was the first at the north Las Vegas super speedway since the track changes.

The NASCAR Nextel Cup race will be contested in March 2007, so race fans are eager to see how fast the big cars go.

Skinner's qualifying speed was 178.065 miles per hour on the track, which had the banking increased from 12 to 20 degrees in the turns. Both the front and backstretches are now banked 9 degrees and pit road has been moved 275 feet closer to the grandstand.

"I want to be politically correct here ... I loved the old track,'' said Skinner, who led four times for 114 laps. "But they did a phenomenal job here."

In practice last week, Chase Miller, driving a Dodge, completed a lap in 30.37 seconds, or 177.807 mph. The previous truck record was 165.320, set by Skinner last year. The Nextel Cup record is 174.904 mph, established by Kasey Kahne in 2004. The Cup cars return for testing Jan. 28-31, and will compete in the UAW Daimler-Chryster 400 March 11.

After a practice session Friday night, Jack Sprague, in a Toyota, said the redefined track was "fast ... wickedly fast."

Musgrave said he "kind of liked the old one, but this one will come together. It is very fast on the trucks. You can run wide open. The new groove wasn't as treacherous as everyone thought. Let it age and the groove will keep growing."

"It was a little intimidating," said Bliss. "It has some speed bumps ... in all of the turns."

Series leader Todd Bodine finished 12th, as his points advantage dwindled to 91 points over Benson (2,911 to 2,820). David Reutiman, sixth in Saturday's race, is third with 2,671 points. Musgrave is fourth and Hornaday seventh.

The remaining races are Oct. 7 at Talladega, Oct. 21 at Martinsville, Oct. 28 at Atlanta, Nov. 3 at Texas, Nov. 10 at Phoenix and Nov. 17 at Homestead, Fla.

NOTES -- Kraig Kinser, the son of World of Outlaws star Steve Kinser, finished ninth in a Chevrolet, earning $11,350 ... Erin Crocker, driving the Ray Evernham-owned Dodge, was 24th ... Las Vegan Brendan Gaughan, was 15th ... Veteran driver Tim Fedewa, who has competed in almost every class of race car there is in his 20-year career, was 29th; his Chevy was sent back to the garage by ignition problems ... There were nine lead changes among six drivers, including Marco Ambrose once for 12 laps, Musgrave once for nine laps, Hornaday twice for six laps, Bliss once for four laps, and Travis Kittleson, for one lap, before he went to the garage with ignition problems 117 laps into the race.