Craven has spotlight in New England 300

LOUDON, N.H. – There are two times a year when Jeff Gordon, Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Tony Stewart get pushed aside as NASCAR’s most popular drivers.

It happens when the Winston Cup Series travels to New Hampshire, and native New Englander Ricky Craven becomes the star of the show. Fans scream his name and everyone wants an autograph.

“It has existed since I began racing in 1982, and I have the advantage of being one of only a few drivers from New England,” said Craven, who will be the center of NASCAR’s spotlight in the New England 300 on Sunday. “It’s important to me to bring my family closer to New England and remind everyone that I am a New England boy.

“That’s of a certain value to me and I think people appreciate that.”

So he tries to do as much as possible on a New Hampshire race weekend, spending time with old friends, visiting old hangouts – and this time, living out a childhood fantasy.

Craven will throw out the first pitch at the Boston Red Sox game Monday. That might actually be the most exciting thing about being home again.

“I remember listening to the Sox games when I was a little kid, sitting on the porch with my grandfather,” Craven said. “I’ve followed the Sox religiously ever since, so this is a big deal for my family and I. To get to go to Fenway Park and step out on that field is going to be a huge thrill.”

It may be even more thrilling than his door-to-door battle with Kurt Busch earlier this season at Darlington, S.C.

Craven won that race in the closest finish in NASCAR history, and the drama of it was quite similar to his first career victory – the year before in a down-to-the wire battle with Dale Jarrett in Martinsville, Va.

But the March win in Darlington is the one that will always stick out in Craven’s mind.

“The first one was a bit of a relief – it took me longer than I would have liked, and I had a lot of time to prepare for what it might be like to win a race,” Craven said. “The win at Darlington was special because it legitimized the first one and brought more confidence to the Tide team and me.”

The 37-year-old Craven has slipped to 17th in the points since that March victory, his only one of the season. The team is still adjusting to a series of offseason changes, when they switched from Fords to Pontiac and hired new crew chief Scott Miller.

Including the Darlington victory, Craven has five other top-five finishes, but team owner Cal Wells wants more.

“I think (the season) could be better,” Wells said. “The first seven, eight, 10 races, I was very encouraged. We were significantly ahead of our point total from last year and things were going pretty well.”