- Ricky Craven
Infobox NASCAR driver
Name = Richard Allen Craven
Birthdate = birth date and age|1966|5|24
Birthplace =Newburgh, Maine
Cup_Car_Team =
Previous_Year = 2004
Prev_Cup_Pos = 34th
Best_Cup_Pos = 15th - 2002 (Winston Cup)
Cup_Wins = 2
Cup_Top_Tens = 41
Cup_Poles = 6
First_Cup_Race = 1991 AC Delco 500 (Rockingham)
First_Cup_Win = 2001 Old Dominion 500 (Martinsville)
Last_Cup_Win = 2003 Carolina Dodge Dealers 400 (Darlington)
Last_Cup_Race = 2004EA Sports 500 (Talladega )
Busch_Car_Team = #114Family Dollar FitzBradshaw Racing
First_Busch_Race = 1986Oxford 250
First_Busch_Win = 1991True Value 250
Last_Busch_Win = 1994Meridian Advantage 200
Busch_Wins = 4
Busch_Top_Tens = 57
Busch_Poles = 7
Truck_Car_Team = #99Superchips Ford Roush Racing
First_Truck_Race = 2004Sylvania 200 Presented By Lowe's
First_Truck_Win = 2005 Kroger 200
Last_Truck_Win =2005 Kroger 200
Truck_Wins = 1
Truck_Top_Tens = 9
Truck_Poles = 0
Awards = 1990 Busch North Rookie of the Year1991 Busch North Champion
1992 NASCAR Busch Series Rookie of the Year
1995 NASCAR Winston Cup Rookie of the Year
Updated_On = =June 26 ,2008 Richard Allen Craven (born
May 24 1966 inNewburgh, Maine ) is a formerNASCAR driver. He last drove in theSprint Cup in 2004 and raced in theCraftsman Truck Series in 2005. He does not have a racing job at this time. He is currently a NASCAR analyst forYahoo! Sports and occasionally makes appearances on ESPN2'sNASCAR Now . [cite web |url=http://sports.yahoo.com/nascar/news?slug=rc-tonystewart041807&prov=yhoo&type=lgns |title= Where there's Smoke |accessdate=2007-04-22 |author=Ricky Craven |authorlink=Ricky Craven |date=April 18 2007 |publisher=Yahoo]Beginnings
Growing up in Maine, racing wasn't the first thing on Craven's mind. But at the age of 15, he began racing at Unity Raceway, winning twice as well as the Rookie of the Year award. The next year, he won 12 feature events and the track championship. After that, he began running in the Canadian-American tour, where he had rampant success. In 1986, he made his NASCAR debut at
Oxford Plains Speedway in his own #12, finishing 25th after suffering engine failure. Four years later, he began running the Busch North Series, winning the Rookie of the Year award. In 1991, he was named the champion in that series. In addition, he made his Winston Cup debut at Rockingham, starting and finishing 34th, as well as winning two races in theBusch Series running a limited schedule. He moved to the Busch Series full-time in 1992, and once again was named Rookie of the Year. In 1993 & 1994, he finished runner-up toSteve Grissom and David Green, respectively, in the championship standings. This performance caught the eye of several Winston Cup team owners.Hedrick/Hendrick
In 1995, Craven teamed up with
Larry Hedrick Motorsports andKodiak to run for Winston Cup Rookie of the Year. Craven qualified for all 31 races, finished in the top-ten four times, and was able to defeatRobert Pressley for the top rookie award. For his efforts, he was rewarded with a partial ownership share in the team. His performance improved even more in 1996, winning two poles and nailing down a 20th place finish in points. Also in 1996, he walked away from a vicious crash at Talladega in which his car was launched into the air and impacted with the catch fence above the wall before being thrown back onto the track and hit by another car. At the end of the year, he was given the opportunity of a lifetime, to drive the #25 for the premierHendrick Motorsports team. Craven obviously signed immediately, and at first, the future seemed bright, as Craven finished in the top-five in the first two races. He finished 3rd in the 1997 Daytona 500 behind his teammates Terry Labonte in 2nd and Jeff Gordon in 1st giving Hendrick Motorsports a 1-2-3 sweep of the Daytona 500. While practicing for the inauguralInterstate Batteries 500 , Craven crashed hard into the wall. He missed two races due to a concussion suffered from the wreck. It didn't seem to affect him at first, as he won the Winston Open and finished a career-best 19th in points and a total of $1,139,860 in winnings for 1997. Hopes were high in 1998, but after the season started, the side effects of the concussion began to creep out, and Craven was forced onto the sidelines until he got better. He returned at his home track atNew Hampshire International Speedway later that year, and to the surprise of everyone, won the pole. After four races however, it was obvious he had rushed his return and left Hendrick permanently, and didn't return until the final three races of the season, filling in forErnie Irvan atMB2 Motorsports .Victory Lane
For 1999, Craven decided to sign up to drive the #58
Ford Taurus for SBIII Motorsports, a brand new team in NASCAR. The result was disappointing, as Craven did not finish any better than 19th while he drove the car. After he failed to qualify for theCoca-Cola 600 , he was replaced byLoy Allen Jr. in the car, and he was once again unemployed. Not too long after that, he signed up with another new team,Midwest Transit Racing who had struggled with rookieDan Pardus at the wheel. The combination had satisfactory results, and the combo immediately decided to sign up again for 2000. Unfortunately, thanks to DNQ's and a tight budget, Craven didn't even run half the races that year. By the end of the season, he was already talking toCal Wells , owner ofPPI Motorsports . In January the next year, it was announced he would replaceScott Pruett in PPI's #32 Tide Ford. This time, success was more evident, as Craven shockingly won the pole at the summer race atMichigan International Speedway . And at theOld Dominion 500 atMartinsville Speedway , Craven held offDale Jarrett in the closing laps for his first career Winston Cup win. 2002 was even better, as he won two poles, finished in the top-ten nine times, and finished a career-best 15th in points. Craven would forever become a part of NASCAR history in 2003, when at the 2003 Carolina Dodge Dealers 400 at Darlington Speedway, he battledKurt Busch for the win, defeating him by a mere fraction of a second in what is considered by many to be the most exciting finish in NASCAR history. Unfortunately, Craven couldn't carry that milestone over for the rest of the year, and dropped twelve spots in points. After he didn't post a single top-ten finish three-quarters of the way through the 2004 season, he was replaced byBobby Hamilton Jr. , and only returned to run at his home track at New Hampshire. Still Craven was able to land another job, just in another series. He signed to drive the #99Superchips Ford forRoush Racing in theCraftsman Truck Series . Despite a win at Martinsville Speedway and a fourteenth place finish in points, he and Roush parted ways when the season came to a close.References
* [http://www.racing-reference.info/driver?id=craveri01 Ricky's stats on Racing Reference]
* [http://www.racingone.com/driver.asp?driverid=64&subseries=1 Ricky Craven Biography] s]
* [http://www.ppi-racing.com/trackside_and_news/trackside_reports/tide_racing/wtr20031111.html Homestead-Miami 2003 Trackside Report]
* [http://www.bangornews.com/news/templates/?a=127988&z=28%20class= Family, the outdoors bigger now for Craven]External links
* [http://www.rickycraven.com Official Website]
Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.