Craven’s back home Racer looks to Daytona

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Ricky Craven has returned to his roots.

The race car driver’s career has been a series of highs and lows, and the Newburgh native has decided the best approach to this NASCAR Winston Cup series season is to embrace the work ethic of the people in his native state.

After spending the last two seasons with financially strapped and undermanned race teams that left him watching too many Winston Cup races on television and not enough as a participant, Craven has landed with a progressive second-year team under the direction of Cal Wells III, owner and president of Precision Preparation Inc.

He had the 10th-best time in qualifying last week which means his No. 32 Ford Taurus is a virtual lock to be included in the starting grid for the Daytona 500 on Sunday. The event often called the Super Bowl of auto racing kicks off the 36-race Winston Cup schedule.

Craven, backed by Tide, one of the most reputable sponsors in the business, had the second-best time among the Fords, and he pointed out that their practice times have been “among the best in the Ford camp.” He had the second-fastest lap in practice on Tuesday.

Craven will start in the fifth spot in Thursday’s second Twin 125 race which will dictate qualifying spots 3 through 30 for Sunday’s event. Bill Elliott has already earned the pole and Stacy Compton will start alongside him on the front row.

The top 14 finishers in each of the two Thursday races will qualify. Last week’s time trials will determine the next six spots. There will be seven provisional starters.

In other words, even if Craven fails to qualify on Thursday, his time trial performance should earn him a spot.

He has spent the past 45 days devoting himself to his new team, which, according to Craven, has “more depth than any team I’ve ever been with.”

“I’ve always been at my best when I’ve been busy and when I’ve had a challenge,” said the 34-year-old Craven. “I’m not an eternal optimist and I’m not a pessimist.

“I’m a realist and this is something to be excited about.”

He said he has thought about his grandfather Vinal Smith, who used to work in the woods for eight to 10 hours a day.

“And I’ve thought about how hard my family and friends have worked all of their lives. I believe that if you work hard, you will be rewarded. It’s healthy for me to think about my family growing up in Newburgh. There are no free lunches in this world. You have to earn everything,” Craven said.

“Occasionally, you are given a great opportunity for whatever reason. You have to make good on that opportunity,” added Craven.

He sees this as being one of those opportunities.

He had one with Hendrick Motorsports as the No. 3 driver behind Jeff Gordon and Terry Labonte, but when he was sidelined for four months with post-concussion syndrome and an inner ear problem, it set him back. He was fired shortly after returning to the circuit in 1998.

Fledgling team SBIII hired him and he qualified for 12 of 13 races despite being on a team without a primary sponsor.

He was released by SBIII, but Craven quickly hooked on with Midwest Transit and spent a year and a half with that team.

When owner Hal Hicks was unable to secure a primary sponsor during this past off-season, Craven quit the team. He had said all along he wanted to run a full schedule in Winston Cup this coming season, and he got his wish when he was hired by Wells in December.

“Based on our testing at Rockingham, Daytona and Las Vegas and the way we’ve performed during Speed Weeks, we’ve had a very productive start,” said Craven. “The crew is fantastic.”

Craven, the 1995 NASCAR Winston Cup Rookie of the Year, finished 19th in the final points standings for Hendrick Motorsports in 1997 and expects to be just as competitive as soon as possible.

“In 1997, we had the potential to win. We were contenders in a half-dozen races,” said Craven. “My objective is to get back to that level. I’ve re-established that kind of focus and commitment. I’ve spent the last 45 days eliminating distractions and trying to simplify my life.

“My wife [K.K.] and I have hired people to help us with some of our projects. Every ounce of effort is being put into being a professional race car driver and what’s left over I’ll spend with [children] Riley and Everett,” said Craven.

He said Wells is “very professional” and that “we have established standards and requirements for everyone on the team.”

“We debrief after every test and practice,” said Craven. “Mike Beam and I have spent a lot of personal time discussing how our careers have gone well and where we may have underachieved. We hope to use those experiences to capitalize on this opportunity.”

Craven said it has nice having great facilities and a budget that allows them to test as frequently as necessary and to send the cars for wind tunnel testing.

He added that it has been beneficial having a teammate in Andy Houston, who will drive the McDonald’s No. 96 Taurus.

“It’s been good to have dialogue with another driver where there are no hidden agendas. We work together,” said Craven, who posted three top-20 finishes in his last five races with Midwest Transit last year en route to a 44th-place finish in the points standings.

He ran in only 16 of the 34 races. The man he is replacing, Scott Pruett, finished 37th while running 28 races.

Wells said Craven has been “a huge asset to us and has also been an invaluable help to Andy Houston. I’m very, very pleased.”

Craven, who has 17 top-10 finishes in 144 races, including a third-place finish at the 1997 Daytona 500, feels his team is capable of winning this year and of finishing in the top 20 in points.

Wells is also optimistic.

“I made a lot of goals last year, but we didn’t reach any of them,” said Wells. “My hope is that we earn respect, we run credibly every week, we qualify for every race, and provide the best cars we can for Ricky and Andy to race.

“We still have a ways to go, but we’re so far ahead of where we were at this time last year. I would grade us an eight out of 10 right now. Everybody has worked very, very hard,” said Wells.

Craven said that because of his strong qualifying time, he intends to “race Thursday with the idea of seeing how much muscle we have. It’s going to be fun. I’m real excited about it.”

Craven believes he is at a good point in his career.

“I’m 34 and I have a lot of racing left. My best races are ahead of me. The next six years should be the best of my career,” said Craven.