Craven on top, but still reaching higher

Ricky Craven has reached the highest plateau in his young racing career. Yet, he is still staring up at the mountains he has yet to conquer.

Craven’s recent fifth-place finish at Dover Downs International Speedway in Dover, Del., has put him atop the NASCAR Grand National point standings with 15 races left in the 1994 season.

But the 28-year-old Newburgh driver is not resting on his recent laurels. There are more peaks to climb, he says, and his team is making sure it will not spend time looking at how far they have come.

“It feels really good, but we’ve got to remember what got us here,” Craven said Monday in a telephone interview from his Concord, N.C., shop. “We’ve come a long way. It’s hard to find a group of winners like we have (in the crew). They’re a great group and they want to win.”

Craven picked up his second victory of the season three weeks ago at Nazereth (Pa.) Speedway. He then finished 11th at Charlotte (N.C.) Motor Speedway before last Saturday’s fifth-place showing at Dover.

Craven’s recent string of successes – in the last four races he’s jumped from fifth to first in the points – has also brought with it talk of his hopping into a Winston Cup car. Craven said one of the biggest rumors he has heard has him replacing a retiring Darrell Waltrip.

“It seems like everybody is talking about it except for me and Darrell,” Craven said. “It’s great to speculate and I can deny rumors and I can deny opportunities from other race teams. But, if an opportunity came from Darrell Waltrip Racing, it would get my attention.”

Craven admitted he has had offers this season, but would not disclose how many he has had or with which teams they came from.

“They wouldn’t have been in my best interest,” he said.

He also said the possibility is good he’d be climbing into a Cup car before the end of the season, just for the experience and without hurtithe end of the season, just for the experience and without hurting a possible run for Rookie of the Year in 1995.

While Craven has never kept it a secret that a Winston Cup ride is his ultimate goal, he is taking a first-things-first attitude.

“I want to win a second championship,” Craven said. “That would be such a great feeling. The focus right now is the title.”

The points race has been so tight that Kenny Wallace, who had been leading the points two weeks ago, fell to fourth with 42nd- and 34th-place showings in the last two weeks.

Craven knows his team must work hard to avoid those type of things happening.

“It seems nobody has really wanted to keep the points lead,” Craven said. “We’re staring at it in the face. We’ll see in the next couple of races if we’re prepared for this new challenge.”

Currently, Craven has 1,670 points while David Green has 1,622. Hermie Sadler is third at 1,587 and Wallace is fourth at 1,566.

Craven will look to build on his points lead this weekend at Myrtle Beach, S.C. – a .538-mile oval that Craven says, “New England prepared me well for.”

After Myrtle Beach, the tour takes a week off before heading to the road course at Watkins Glen, N.Y.

“If we can maintain our program that way we’ve run the last 10 races, I like our chances,” said Craven, who is trying to stay hot and remain the talk of the nation’s stock car racing scene.