LOUDON, N.H. – It is his favorite track. It is his home track.

But, based on his finishes at New Hampshire International Speedway, Winston Cup driver Ricky Craven of Newburgh couldn’t exactly say the feeling was mutual.

Sunday was different.

Craven, whose average finish in his 12 previous NHIS Winston Cup races was 26th, ran in the top eight all day and crossed the finish line in sixth place in the rain-shortened New Hampshire 300. They ran 207 of the 300 laps at the Magic Mile and there were two rain delays, including one that lasted almost two hours.

It is his first top 10 finish since he finished seventh in the MBNA Platinum 400 at Dover International Speedway (Del.) on June 2.

“I felt like I’ve underachieved here, relative to expectations,” said Craven, who started eighth which is three spots higher than his average starting position at NHIS. “My expectations here are so high and I’ve left disappointed, the fans have left disappointed and, although my family would never tell me, they’ve left here disappointed.

“Today, we were able to correct that. Today was a legitimate run. We ran strong, we were among the leaders and we gave ourselves a chance [to win]. I really feel we will be better because of this next July [for the next Winston Cup race at NHIS],” Craven added.

It was his second best finish at NHIS. His previous best was a fifth on Sept. 14, 1997. He has had just the two top 10s.

“We led a bunch of laps in ’97,” recalled Craven. “We didn’t have the kind of strength today that you need to win the race. But we had a good car and Mike [crew chief Mike Beam] and Roy [team engineer] and the gang did a good job giving us a chance [to win].”

Beam was satisfied with the performance.

“I’m happy with it. It was OK. We struggled a little bit but we got back on track. We could have been better but we’ve been down for so long now, to finally get back, it felt good to do that,” said Beam. “We can’t complain about that.”

Rookie Ryan Newman won the race.

Craven said he was pleasantly surprised by his performance.

“I didn’t expect us to go from where we had been running to a point where we were actually running away from the pack. And we actually had a chance [to win]. It was another game of track position,” said Craven whose pit crew turned in a solid performance.

“There were points during the race when we had a car capable of leading. But we had [lapped] traffic and track position [issues]. Then, at the end, we finished where we deserved to finish,” added Craven, who remainined 16th in the points but closed to within 26 points of 15th-place Michael Waltrip, who wound up eighth.

“If the lapped traffic had been a little more respectful, we could have finished in the top five. The 77 [Dave Blaney] cost us the last [fifth] spot,” Craven said.

As for his No. 32 Tide Ford Taurus, the 1995 Winston Cup Rookie of the Year said, “The car was tight in the middle and it was loose on entry into the corners, under braking. I lost the back getting in [so I had to be gentle on the brakes]. I had to be very careful. That’s why my car looked so smooth. If I had driven it really aggressively [into the corners], I would have been in big, big trouble. That was probably my greatest challenge. If I could have gotten in deeper under braking, it would have been a world of difference.”

He added that he adjusted to the track “and drove across the apron” to compensate for the condition of the car.

“I was driving a different line on entry [into the corners] for 150 of the 200 laps,” said Craven whose top 10 finish was his sixth in 27 races. He now has 18 top 20 finishes.