Roush: Craven won’t replace Martin; Mainer to stay in trucks

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LOUDON, N.H. – Newburgh’s Ricky Craven won’t replace Mark Martin in the No. 6 Viagra Ford for Roush Racing next year.

Team owner Jack Roush indicated Friday that Craven will be back in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series next season and that he is hopeful he can convince Martin to return for one more season in the No. 6 car before Jamie McMurray assumes the ride for 2007.

Craven is in the first year of a two-year deal.

The 46-year-old Martin had announced his intention to retire from the Nextel Cup series to run in the truck series next year.

“Ricky’s future is and really has been in the truck series in my world,” said Roush. “Mark has agreed to come back in 2006 if I need him for the 6 car. Ricky was on the short list but he wasn’t the only choice I had for the 6 car for 2006. I had to look at Ricky’s progress and had to look at a number of things to make that final decision.

“But right now [it] looks like it’s off the table. Mark has said he’s coming back,” said Roush.

Craven said from his home in Greenville that he was “a little disappointed” that he won’t be in the No. 6 car next year but he completely supports Martin and that if Martin returns, it would be an “excellent announcement” for Roush Racing.

“That would be pretty exciting. He’s a pillar of the sport. He could win the points championship this year and if he does, he should come back and defend his title,” said Craven.

Martin is sixth in points entering Sunday’s New England 300 at New Hampshire International Speedway.

Roush said he has been satisfied with Craven despite Craven’s recent struggles that have seen him fall from a close second in the points race to a distant fifth.

“Ricky has done a good job,” said Roush. “My truck team really wasn’t ready for the task that we assigned to it in terms of running for a championship. So we threw Mike Beam together as a crew chief for it and Ricky together with our Ford trucks that he hadn’t had any experience with. And we just had a building time. Ricky has been able to do everything I hoped he would do. But I just haven’t gotten my program to where it can showcase his ability. But I’m working on it.”

Beam, Craven’s longtime friend who was his crew chief in the Nextel Cup series with the No. 32 Tide car, was involved in a Roush crew chief swap a few weeks ago as he left Craven’s No. 99 Superchips Ford for rookie Todd Kluever’s No. 50 truck and John Monsam came over to head up Craven’s crew.

Monsam used to be Craven’s crew chief in the Busch series.

Roush said the crew chief swap is the “first thing I’ll do as I continue to do things until I can fix it.”

Craven said “we aren’t satisfied with our performance” but he is optimistic the team will start running consistently well and climb back into the points race.

He said he enjoys racing for Roush and still has a burning desire to return to the Nextel Cup ranks some day.

Kenseth, Busch eye OPS race

Nextel Cup drivers Matt Kenseth and Kyle Busch said they’re looking forward to the Banknorth Oxford 250 at Oxford Plains Speedway on July 31.

Kenseth finishing third last year after starting 41st. Busch will be making his debut in the race. His brother, Kurt, ran in the race a year ago and finished 13th after starting 35th.

Kurt Busch had another commitment and couldn’t return.

“It’s going to be pretty fun. I’m looking forward to it,” said Kyle Busch, who is 20th in the Nextel Cup points and has also run in Busch and Craftsman Truck Series events. He has two truck wins.

“Hopefully, in a couple of weeks, we’re going to go up there and test and see how it is and just kinda get a feel for the place and the car and everything else. We’ll see how it goes,” said the 20-year-old Busch. “I heard it’s a bunch of rough times up there sometimes if you get too much fender on somebody. But, hopefully, we can keep it clean.”

He said his brother had fun in the race last year and “I talked to Matt Kenseth a little bit about it last week. So we’re going to try to go up there and do it.”

He said driving on a one-third mile oval won’t be anything new.

“Everybody comes from short tracks pretty much. I grew up on a three-eighths mile bull ring in Las Vegas and it was pretty tight quarters there. It was fun,” said Kyle Busch.

“It’s going to be great to get back in a late model and just kind of do something for fun instead of having a job,” he added.

Kenseth said he “had a blast last year. It was fun.”

“It was definitely a challenge,” said Kenseth, the 2003 Nextel Cup points champion who is currently running 16th in points. “We had a great car. So I’m looking forward to going back this year and trying it one more time. We had a car almost good enough to win there.”

He called Oxford Plains Speedway an “awesome track. It was cool.”