Bass Pro Shops MBNA 500 - Ricky Craven Notes

Bass Pro Shops 500 Preview - Ricky Craven - No. 32 Tide Pontiac

2003 Best Finish: 1st- Darlington, S.C. - 3/16/03 2003 Best Start: 6th- North Carolina Speedway- 2/23/03
2003 Stats: 1 Win (Darlington, S.C.- 3/16/03); 3 Top-5 Finishes; 8 Top-10 Finishes; 0 Bud Pole Awards
2003 Average Starting Spot: 24.7 2003 Average Finish: 22.4
Points Standing: 24th Winston Cup Career Wins: Two (Darlington 3/16/03; Martinsville, 10/15/01)
Career Pole Positions: 6 (Martinsville, 1996; New Hampshire, 1996 & 1998; Michigan, 2001; Rockingham & Darlington, 2002)

Subway 500 Recap: Ricky Craven drove his No. 32 Tide Pontiac to a 32nd-place finish at Martinsville Speedway. Starting 27th, Craven moved up as high as 12th position before losing several laps when the team had to repair a loose shock absorber.

The Chassis: The chassis Ricky Craven will drive at Atlanta Motor Speedway (AMS) is chassis No. 38. This car has been driven in races in Texas, California, Michigan, Chicago and Kansas in 2003. The best finish for chassis No. 38 this season was a 12th-place result in the March 9 race at AMS.

Last Race at Atlanta Motor Speedway (AMS): Ricky Craven and the No. 32 Tide Pontiac team finished 12th in the March 9 event. Starting 22nd, Craven put together a strong run, even after going a lap down to the race leaders early in the event.

Ricky Craven’s stats at Atlanta Motor Speedway: Avg. Start: 24.8; Avg. Finish: 25.5

Give Kids The World Car - Race fans may still purchase a special 1/64-scale limited edition die cast of the No. 32 “Give Kids The World” Tide Pontiac Ricky Craven drove at Darlington Raceway in September. Give Kids The World (GKTW) is a non-profit resort in Florida that creates magical memories for children with life-threatening illnesses and their families. Wish-granting organizations coordinate transportation to Orlando, while GKTW provides accommodations at its whimsical resort, attraction tickets, and meals for a weeklong fantasy vacation for more than 5,000 families annually. Cars are available online at Blair.com, and all proceeds go directly to Give Kids The World. Over the past five years, Tide has donated over $1.3 million to GKTW. For more info on the resort, visit www.gktw.org.

Winning Ways- PPI Motorsports’ sponsor, Tide, visited Victory Lane at Atlanta Motor Speedway with driver Darrell Waltrip on April 23, 1989.

Ride Like The Wind - PPI Motorsports will take two cars to the Aerodyne Wind Tunnel in Mooresville, N.C. on Wed., Oct. 22. The two new chassis (No. 50 and No. 51) have bodies that incorporate the rules changes NASCAR has instituted for the 2004 season.

Crew Chief Scott Miller, on the Wind Tunnel Test: “We’re taking two ‘down force’ cars to the tunnel. The main reason we’re doing that is just that that’s the way it shook out in terms of scheduling. This is a baseline test to see the difference in down force the new rules package creates. We expect to see less down force than we presently have, due to the tighter tolerances on the templates and the smaller rear spoilers. We’ll use this test as a benchmark to determine which areas we need to improve on.”

Q&A With PPI Motorsports Crew Chief Scott Miller

Do you like the Atlanta track better the way it is now, or the way it was before it was reconfigured? Miller: “Well, it’s definitely different. It was good then, and it’s good now. The great thing about Atlanta is that it’s a multi-groove track and has a little less grip than it did when they first changed it. It’s not as much of a ‘white knuckle ride’ as it was those first couple of years, but it’s still really, really fast.”

What unique challenges does the Atlanta track provide you as a crew chief? Miller: “It’s such a fast track, you have to make sure your car has a lot of stability getting into the corners. The problem with getting that stability going in is you have a tendency to be too tight coming off the turns. So, it’s a bit of a compromise between making the car stable getting in, but still turn coming off.”

“The entry to turn one has some bumps in it, so your shock package is critical. You could conceivably run a softer spring setup, if not for those bumps.”

Are turns one and two drastically different from turns three and four at Atlanta? Miller: “The two ends of the track are unique. Coming off the tri-oval, turn one is kind of open as you get in, but it tightens up coming off turn two. When you get down to three, it’s still tight, but then it opens up again coming off turn four as you head back to the tri-oval. So yeah, you have to compromise a little on your setup to deal with that as well.”

What are your goals for the remainder of the 2003 season? Miller: “We’re just going to try and do our (best) to finish the season on a high note. Martinsville was a letdown, because we’ve been successful there in the past. Atlanta is a place where Ricky’s had some good runs and we’ve really run well at Rockingham. Homestead is an unknown for everybody. I think we can pull off some strong finishes at all four of the final races, and I think we have a very real shot at winning Rockingham. Putting together a string of top-10’s here at the end of the year would really help our momentum heading into the off-season.”

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