Craven eager to make case for ride in 2005

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Refreshed after a recent fly-fishing excursion with his father-in-law, Jimmy Grotton, on the Roach River east of Greenville, Newburgh’s Ricky Craven has an important weekend on tap as he climbs back into a Nextel Cup ride.

Craven will drive the No. 11 Old Spice Chevy for Joe Gibbs Racing in the EA Sports 500 at Talladega Superspeedway this weekend. It is JGR’s third car and has been run only a few times this season.

His teammates will be Tony Stewart (No. 20 Home Depot Chevy) and Bobby Labonte (No. 18 Interstate Batteries car).

Stewart is one of the 10 drivers in the chase for the points championship.

Craven parted ways with PPI Motorsports and the No. 32 Tide Chevy team following the Sharpie 500 at Bristol Motor Speedway on Aug. 28.

He and team owner Cal Wells III had decided to go their separate ways in July effective at the end of the season, but the date was moved up so Bobby Hamilton Jr. could earn seat time for next year.

Craven did drive the No. 32 Tide Chevy one last time on Sept. 19, finishing 17th in the Sylvania 300 at his home track, New Hampshire International Speedway.

The No. 11 Old Spice ride is a one-race deal.

Craven admits he is “contradicting myself” by taking a one-race deal after telling his expectant wife, K.K., he wouldn’t, but the couple agreed it was a worthwhile venture.

“Here’s an opportunity to go to Talladega, have fun, race competitively, and be seen, which is critical,” said the 38-year-old Craven.

“I’ll have a chance to be in the garage area and explore opportunities. And, let’s face it, I’ve reached a critical point here,” Craven said. “The windows will close shortly. After Talladega, I hope to have a clearer picture of where I might or might not be next year.”

Gibbs will run the No. 11 car full time next season but hasn’t announced a driver or crew chief yet.

Craven wants to drive for a competitive multi-car Nextel Cup team in 2005 and he could thrust himself into contention for that ride with a good showing.

“There’s still several innings left in the game. I’m not ready to retire. I have a passion to compete,” added Craven, the only driver in a single-car program to win over the last four seasons. He did it twice.

This will mark the first time Craven has had a teammate since Andy Houston drove for PPI Motorsports in 2001 and the first time he has had more than one teammate since he was with Jeff Gordon and Terry Labonte at Hendrick Motorsports in 1998.

“That’s part of what made the decision for me. There’s no question the common denominator in today’s game is the bigger, multi-car teams are at the top of the standings and the single-car teams are at the bottom of the standings,” said Craven. “This is an opportunity to be seen in a quality situation.”

Teammates are especially important at restrictor-plate tracks such as Talladega where drafting is a critical part of the equation.

“When I finished fourth at Talladega last year, the only thing that prevented me from finishing higher was a teammate,” said Craven. “Late in the game, I had to play the hand I was dealt. I had to force the issue in some cases, so I wasn’t in position to make a run at Junior [Dale Earnhardt Jr.].”

“I didn’t have the opportunity to work with another driver in a way you see [Dale Earnhardt Inc. teammates] Junior and Michael Waltrip work together. They’ve had a lot of success by working together,” Craven added.

He knows he will be called upon to help his new teammates and he is looking forward to race day.

“There’s a team aspect to this I haven’t experienced in a while,” said Craven. “But it’s still the same old game. My objective will be to find my way to the front of the pack and ultimately win the race.”

Veteran mechanic Philippe Lopez will act as Craven’s crew chief.

He said it will be tough adapting to a new car and crew chief in an abbreviated schedule.

“But Joe Gibbs Racing is a very successful operation with good equipment and good employees,” said Craven.

PASS, Unity races on tap

There are two intriguing races scheduled on Saturday with the Octoberfest 100 at Thompson International Speed-way (Conn.) concluding the Pro All-Stars Series season and the 100-lap New England DNK Street/Super Street Championship at Unity Raceway.

Qualifying for the PASS finale will begin at 1 p.m. and the race will start at 6 with Farmingdale’s Johnny Clark holding a 52-point advantage over defending two-time champ Ben Rowe of Turner in the chase for the title.

At Unity Raceway, Denmark’s Carey Martin is the defending champ in the third annual race, which will pay $6,000 to the winner.

There will be several other races on the card and qualifying starts at noon.