MARTINSVILLE, Va. – Ricky Craven needed more than 10 years and 211 Winston Cup races before he earned the right to return to a track as defending champion.

That’s what they’ll call him Sunday before the Old Dominion 500 at Martinsville Speedway, and Craven can’t help but feel good about how he became a first-time winner in NASCAR’s top series.

“We had to race as hard as we’ve ever raced the last 15 laps,” he said, recalling his side-by-side battle last October with Dale Jarrett. “That’s very important to me.

“I would not have wanted to win my first race on fuel mileage. I would have taken it. I wouldn’t have complained, but I sure appreciate how we won that race.”

In a career that has included much disappointment and a bout with post concussion syndrome that made it questionable whether Craven would race again, the victory fulfilled his idea of how winning should feel.

Not long after climbing from his car, Craven called his daughter at school to tell her he’d won. He received congratulations from Jarrett and many other drivers who knew of Craven’s difficult journey to the winner’s circle.

The 36-year-old driver from Newburgh still relishes the way the fight to the finish played out.

Only one lap remained when Jarrett pulled his Ford to the outside of Craven’s, inches or less away from being able to knock the leader aside.

It never happened, and Craven beat Jarrett to the checkered flag by .141 seconds. Craven was a winner in his 174th start, and his emotion was magnified by how a beaten Jarrett reacted.

“The satisfaction for me was not just winning the race and how we won it, but the fact that the first driver to get to me was Dale Jarrett,” Craven said. “That secured in my mind that I raced him the way he would have raced me and that’s exactly what happened. We raced each other the way we should have. That was a great way to finish the race.”

Craven had hoped the breakthrough victory would have led to others by now, but that hasn’t been the case. He’s 16th in points this year with seven top-10 finishes, but views Martinsville as a place where he could win again.

“We’ve had some very good days in 2002, but we just haven’t had that perfect day,” he said. “But I believe that could happen at any time.”

Craven will bring the same No. 32 Tide Ford Taurus to Martinsville that took the checkered flag here a year ago. He qualified 14th on Friday. He also drove this Taurus in the spring Martinsville race, the Virginia 500, and in the New Hampshire 300 at Loudon, N.H., last month. He finished 30th and sixth, respectively.

He reiterated that the PPI-Motorsports team’s goal is to finish in the top 15.

“We have shown great improvement across the board and we want to finish strong,” said Craven, who will join his team in the move to Pontiac next season.

Craven is 145 points behind 15th-place Michael Waltrip but Sterling Marlin, who is in 12th place, won’t race again this season due to a neck injury. He holds a 356-point lead on Craven, who is just 47 points ahead of 17th-place Jeff Green.

Earlier this week, Craven announced that VIP Discount Auto Center has come on board as a sponsor.

The Lewiston-headquartered company has 47 stores throughout New England.

“It’s really exciting. This brings me back to Maine and representing a Maine product is my primary interest,” said Craven. “I remember going to VIP when I was a kid. When I began racing, I would get my ignition parts at VIP. I always viewed it as a high-end automotive store.”