LOUDON, N.H. – It’s been a difficult racing season for Newburgh’s Ricky Craven and it didn’t get any better during the Sylvania 200 NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series race Saturday.

After almost a four-hour rain delay, Craven started ninth at the Magic Mile for his Truck Series debut and ran strong for the first 80 laps of the race, climbing to as high as third after pit stops on lap 67.

On lap 82, Craven was racing side-by-side with Matt Crafton for third on the inside when Craven got loose and spun out trying to avoid Crafton and hit the outside wall, crumpling the front end of his ACXIOM/Leanne Rimes Chevrolet Silverado and ending his day prematurely.

“I wanted to race well, but I just made one mistake,” said Craven “I got together with the 6 [Crafton] getting into the corner. It’s just one of those deals. I’d like to have it over again. It’s a shame that we’re not here for the end of it because we had a truck capable of winning, but it just made me hungry to come back.”

Although Craven was disappointed with the crash, he was able to be positive.

“I’ve had more fun today than I’ve had all year. There was absolutely no pressure. I came here to have fun and I did,” he said.

Travis Kvapil went on to win the race.

Even though Craven was excited about his first Truck Series start, it’s not his focus for next season.

“I would love the opportunity to race some NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series races, but I have some unfinished business on the NEXTEL Cup side,” he said.

Craven raced in the No. 47 Chevrolet for Morgan Dollar Motorsports. He is the fourth of seven drivers to take the wheel of the Silverado. Michael Waltrip, Robby Gordon, and Tony Stewart had run it previously with Bobby Labonte, Ron Hornaday, and Ward Burton receiving opportunities later this season.

Another Maine-based race team had a much better showing on Saturday.

EJP Racing of Gardiner, fielded the No. 03 Chevrolet with Joe Gibbs Performance driver Denny Hamlin in the seat.

Hamlin, a Chesterfield, Va., native, had an impressive showing for only his third career start in the series. He started in 19th position and quickly moved his way to the front and ran as high as second on lap 120. Hamlin ran in the top three for 18 laps before pitting under caution on lap 138, dropping him to 21st. He worked his way back through traffic for the remaining laps to claim 11th.

“If it wasn’t for fuel mileage, we would’ve won this race,” said Hamlin. “Everybody in front of us pitted on lap 117 and we pitted later. Guys were running out [of fuel], but, unfortunately due to the darkness, it didn’t work out for us. I really feel like we could’ve won this race.”

Due to the impending darkness and a wreck on lap 198, the final two laps were run under the caution flag and there wasn’t the standard green/white checkered flag finish.

Truck owner Steve Prescott was equally as impressed with Hamlin’s effort.

“If we didn’t have those last two cautions, we would have had [passed] three, maybe four more trucks,” said Prescott. “We had a top-five truck. He ran a strong third and second on old tires. I’m happy for all the guys, we had a good race in front of the hometown fans.”

Hamlin finished 10th at Indianapolis Raceway Park in August and 16th at Richmond last week in his only other Truck Series starts.

While rain looked like it was going to be the only winner on the day, Kvapil emerged victorious on the darkening track after an exciting race against the fuel gauge. Kvapil took the lead from Jamie McMurray with 12 laps to go, only to have McMurray run out of fuel with five laps to go.

Shane Hmiel took advantage, taking over the runner-up spot, but his tank ran dry on the next lap. Kvapil took the win, his second of the season and second ever for Toyota. Pole-sitter Jack Sprague finished second, Johnny Benson was third, Carl Edwards was fourth, and rookie David Reutimann rounded out the top five.