Craven joins Hendrick racing team

The long-anticipated announcement that Newburgh’s Ricky Craven will leave the Craven-Larry Hedrick Motorsports Team to join the Rick Hendrick team after this NASCAR Winston Cup season will be made today.

That was the word from Dan Lohwasser, the vice president of Muhleman Marketing.

Craven, who became co-owner of the Hedrick Motorsports team earlier this summer, could not be reached for comment.

The 30-year-old Craven will drive the No. 25 Budweiser car, a Chevy Monte Carlo, that is being driven by Ken Schrader this year.

Craven is currently driving the No. 41 Kodiak car which will be taken over by Steve Grissom next season. His Kodiak car is also a Chevy Monte Carlo.

The Hendrick team features Jeff Gordon and Terry Labonte, who are currently first and second in the Winston Cup NASCAR points race.

Craven has slipped to 20th.

Following his spectacular accident at the Talladega Superspeedway on April 28, Craven hasn’t had a Top 10 finish. He had four Top 10 finishes in his first eight races.

“This will be a tremendous boost for the team,” said Lohwasser. “Ricky has a lot of talent. It’ll be a challenge for Ricky to keep up with those two guys.”

Gordon, last year’s points winner, and Craven, the 1995 Rookie of the Year, have been longtime friends.