Bad luck plagues Craven Maine driver places 38th after engine fails

LOUDON, N.H. – New Hampshire International Speedway is considered the home track for Newburgh’s Ricky Craven. But the home cooking has left something to be desired as evidenced by his average finish of 27th in his nine NASCAR Winston Cup series races prior to Sunday’s New Hampshire 300.

It was more of the same Sunday afternoon. It may have been even more frustrating than usual.

Craven had spent the entire race waiting for an opportunity to gain track position and it came with 85 laps remaining when he moved up from 16th to third.

Craven had pitted on a lap 155 caution for right-side tires while most of the cars ahead of him had remained on the track.

So, when the leaders had to pit during green-flag racing between laps 215-218, Craven catapulted from 16th to third.

But a camshaft on his Tide No. 32 car broke on lap 224 and Craven’s day was done after he had spent most of the race maneuvering between 16th and 19th place.

Craven finished 38th and earned $38,935. Dale Jarrett won the race, his first triumph at NHIS in 13 career Winston Cup races here.

Over his last four Winston Cup races at Loudon, Craven has finished 36th or below in three of them. Transmission problems resulted in 36th place in the Dura-Lube/Kmart 300 last Sept. 17 and an accident caused a last-place finish in the Dura Lube/Kmart 400 on Sept. 19, 1999. He was 17th in the Thatlook.com 300 last July 9.

“I’m going to have to start believing in luck. We’ve had our share of bad [luck],” said the 35-year-old Craven, who remained 29th in the points standings. “This racetrack is a track-position racetrack. We finally got it by coming in [to the pits] early and it was going to pay off. Then we lost the engine.”

Craven said his Tide No. 32 Ford Taurus “was good but not great.

“But you know what? Today, with the sealer and rubber build-up, you didn’t have to have a great car. You just needed track position. We had a good car so once we got track position, we were as good as any of them. I think we had a top five car. Mike [crew chief Mike Beam] reeled off our times and I was matching the leader. All I had to do was get to the leader.”

If the camshaft hadn’t broken, Craven said he would have pitted “in another 20 laps.”

Craven would have been able to pit on a caution 11 laps later when Bill Elliott hit the wall in turn three. That could have set him up for a top 10 finish.

“I’m very discouraged. But, tomorrow, Riley, Everett, Mommy and I will be floating on Moosehead Lake. We’ll take a couple of days off to relax and then we’ll head to Pocono [for Sunday’s Pennsylvania 500],” said Craven.

He remains upbeat about his future with PPI-Motorsports. On Friday, he announced he had received a contract extension for next season with the second-year team.

“I still think we took some positives away from today. It’s going to work out. Things are looking good. I signed on through next year and I expect that we’ll sign on beyond that,” said Craven.

The die-hard Red Sox fan compared himself to Boston knuckleballing righthander Tim Wakefield.

“He was on the outside looking in. The Red Sox gave him a chance and he’s had some good years. He has put up some good numbers. He’s having a good year this year. I’m having a good year, not a great year, but a good year,” Craven said.

His 38th-place finish was his eighth of 31st or below in 19 races. He also has five top 20s and two top fives.

What does his team need over the final 17 races?

“Consistency. We’ve got to find it. That’s the key. We run well but we don’t finish the job. We need consistency.”