Ford 400 - Ricky Craven Notes

Ford 400 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: 25.2 2003 Average Finish: 23.6 Drivers' Points Standing: 27th
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)

Pop Secret 400 Recap: Ricky Craven drove his No. 32 Tide Pontiac to a 39th-place finish at North Carolina Motor Speedway. Starting 30th, Craven had worked his way to ninth position before a caution flag came out just after the Tide team had completed a green flag pit stop, putting Craven two laps down to the leaders. Later in the race, the No. 32 was collected in an incident involving the cars of Brian Vickers and Ricky Rudd.

The Chassis: The chassis Ricky Craven will drive at Homestead-Miami Speedway is chassis No. 40. This chassis was most recently driven to a 17th-place finish in the Brickyard 400 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway in August.

Ricky Craven's stats at Homestead-Miami Speedway: Avg. Start: 27.75 ; Avg. Finish 26:

For a Good Cause - In addition to his on-track responsibilities, Ricky Craven will be kept busy off-track on Friday, helping to raise money for two worthy causes. On Friday morning, Craven will show off his skills as an Angler when he participates in the Hot Rods and Reels Charity Fishing Tournament, being held on the Infield lake at Homestead-Miami Speedway. The event will raise money for the Darrell Gwynn Foundation, a charity that helps to fund research on spinal cord paralysis, and the Betty Jane France Pediatric Center, Speediatrics, at Homestead Hospital.

That evening, Craven will take part in the Betty Jane France Pineapple Gala Charity event at the Speedway's Chalet Village. Craven will be teamed up with a child to paint a picture of his No. 32 Tide Pontiac. When the artwork is completed, it will be auctioned off, with the funds going to Speediatrics.

Off-Season? - While a number of teams may take a few days off to relax following this weekend's season-ending event at Homestead-Miami Speedway, the No. 32 Tide PPI Motorsports (PPIM) crew will not be among that group. Instead, the PPIM team will head to Kentucky Speedway on Wed. and Thurs., Nov. 19-20, for a test session in preparation for the 2004 season.

Ricky Craven, on what he expects at Homestead-Miami Speedway - "I spoke with (Dave) Blaney and (Johnny) Benson (two of the drivers who recently participated in a Goodyear tire test at the reconfigured speedway), and they gave the track good reviews. I think the new banking will definitely help to eventually get some side-by-side racing going, which is encouraging. I do know it's very unusual for a new track surface to be conducive to side-by-side racing, but once it gets some seasoning, it should be a lot of fun to race on. All the testing that's going on this week will certainly help to get some rubber down on the track, which should help us on Sunday. I'm excited to see how it turned out."

Ricky Craven, on his team's goals this weekend - "We're just going to run as hard as we can run and try and finish the season on a positive note. We've just had a ton of bad luck during the last half of the season, so we'd like to get a strong finish at Homestead and get some momentum going for 2004."

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