Prior to the NASCAR Winston Cup season opener, 1995 Rookie of the Year Ricky Craven of Newburgh said he didn’t feel he and his team would quite have what it takes to win a Winston Cup race this year.

Instead, he looked for improvement over last year’s 24th place finish in the point standings.

Craven still isn’t making any bold predictions but after his third place finish at the TranSouth Financial 400 in Darlington, S.C. on Sunday, which elevated him to fourth in the points standings, but he said a victory may be closer than originally thought.

“It was only my 36th Winston Cup Race on Sunday and I was chasing the defending Winstop Cup points champ [Jeff Gordon]. We’re becoming believers and that’s such a powerful tool,” said Craven. “There’s no question we can win this year but are we going to win? Heck, you never know. I’m not bold enough to make that assessment.

“We don’t intend to get in over our heads. We aren’t going to apply too much pressure to ourselves because we aren’t ready for it,” added Craven. “But if we keep doing what we’ve been doing, if we can keep knocking on the door, we’ll eventually beat it in. Our opportunity will come. We’re way ahead of where I expected us to be.”

Craven knows there is a long way to go this season but he couldn’t be happier with his start and the performance of his crew.

“This is the best group I’ve been around in a long, long time,” said Craven. “This group has the potential to be the best I’ve ever been around. We really enjoy each other and they work very hard. We’re all very focused.”

Craven said his crew worked on pit stops for nine straight days between the Purolator 500 in Atlanta on March 10 and Sunday’s race in Darlington.

“Sunday was self-redemption,” said Craven. “We had a really good opportunity in Atlanta to run as well as we did in Darlington but we had a real tough day in the pits.

“We didn’t have to make them practice, they wanted to practice. As a result, we may have had the best pit stops of any team [in Darlington]. It was a classic example of hard work paying off,” said Craven.

Craven said he benefited from running in the Busch Grand National Dura-Lube 200 on Saturday. Craven finished fourth.

“We used our Busch Grand National car to experiment a little and some of the things I tried on Saturday worked on Sunday,” said Craven, referring to springs and shock absorbers.

Craven has won $203,087 so far in five races on the Winston Cup circuit this year and his next stop will be the Food City 500 in Bristol, Tenn. on Sunday.

“We qualified fourth and sixth there in the two Bristol races last year but I wrecked in both races,” said Craven. “It’s the fastest short track around and it has a high bank.

“It requires a tremendous level of concentration. You’re always racing on the end of a hood. There’s always a car right in front of you. You’re going so fast and the track is so small that if there is a wreck half a track ahead of you, you have a hard time stopping for it,” said Craven of the half-mile oval.

Can he and his crew stay among the top four in the points standings?

“I’m not going to get caught up in that deal. We aren’t strong enough yet and we’re way too young,” said the Hampden Academy graduate. “But we’re fourth in points right now and we’re enjoying it.

“It’s like a dream come true. There were times earlier in my career when I wondered if it was really all worth it. This answers that question,” said Craven.