Ricky Craven’s desire to put together a string of impressive Winston Cup finishes was short-circuited at the Kmart 400 at Michigan International Speedway Sunday.

Literally.

Craven’s battery failed and had to be changed on lap 118, costing him three laps and resulting in a 35th-place finish. He finished four laps behind winner Jeff Gordon.

The Newburgh native, whose fourth-place finish at the MBNA Platinum 400 at Dover Downs International Speedway the previous week was the best ever for the second-year PPI Motorsports team, had qualified fifth for the Michigan race.

But race day was a lesson in frustration.

The car was tight for most of the race and suffered some slight damage to the nose from on-track contact. The crew hammered out the dent in the nose on lap 82 and kept Craven on the lead lap. He exited the pits in 35th place.

Craven worked his way up to 29th when he began noticing that the engine was skipping. That led to the discovery of a faulty battery and prompted the battery change.

He returned to the track in 39th position but was able to move up to 35th by the checkered flag.

“The guys did a great job tuning on the car,” said Craven in a PPI Motorsports Team press release. “They were really able to get it back to where we were competitive. Unfortunately, we had a problem with the battery and that really set us back. I’m proud of the job all the guys did today.

“We had a great Tide Ford and didn’t have the chance to really show it.”

Craven slipped one spot in the points standings to 27th after 14 of the 36 races but he is only 156 points away from cracking the top 20. His average starting spot has been 22.9 and his average finish has been 24.4.

He has four top-15 finishes but four others in which he wound up 35th or worst.

Next up is the Pocono 500 at Pocono Raceway (Pa.). on Sunday at 12:30 p.m.