Food City 500 - Ricky Craven Notes

Ricky Craven Event Preview
No. 32 Tide Chevrolet Monte Carlo
Round 6 of 36 - Food City 500
Bristol Motor Speedway

HICKORY, NC (March 23, 2004) - Ricky Craven, driver of the No. 32 Tide Chevrolet, posted a 15th place and eighth-place finish in the 2003 events at Bristol Motor Speedway.

Ricky Craven, driver of the No. 32 Tide Chevrolet:

Take me for a lap around Bristol.
"It's a fun place to race particularly by yourself, because you need most of the racetrack to run fast. But the straightaways seem so short and you get the sensation of throwing the car into turn one and almost simultaneously with the car compressing into the banking you go back to the accelerator. And because you are into the banking, you don't see the backstretch until you actually start coming off turn two. You are wide open off of two and then you just repeat turns three and four."

What's your best analogy for racing at Bristol?
"A lap there is sort of like a ride at the carnival. It's just that quick and that exciting. It's like a roller coaster ride where you say, 'how do you stay in this thing?' It can take your breath away, so you have to learn to relax there. If you don't, you're done. You can't run 500 miles there that tense."

What do you think about your chances for this weekend's race?
"It hasn't been a place that has produced great finishes for us. We finished top-10 there last year. It is probably the most vulnerable track on the circuit. You probably control 60% to 70% of the day. There is 30% to 40% of the race, even if you are leading it, that you can't predict."

Dave Charpentier, crew chief of the No. 32 Tide Chevrolet:

"Bristol is unique. There is nothing like it on the circuit. It's concrete, half-mile, 36-degree banking. Sometimes you can run better there with the fenders knocked off than with the whole car, as aerodynamics are not important. You've got to keep the car off the race track, keep it rolling through the center of the corners and hooked up off the corners."

Team Notes:
· Craven and the Tide team tested on Tuesday, March 23rd and Wednesday, March 24th at Nashville Superspeedway in Lebanon, Tennessee.

Chassis No. 46: The Tide Racing team is taking Chassis No. 46 to Bristol this weekend. It is the same car they competed with at both Bristol races in 2003, posting a 15th-place and eighth-place finish respectively.

Appearances:
· Craven will sign autographs at his souvenir rig on Saturday, March 27th from 1:00 p.m. to 2:00 p.m. Please check with the souvenir rig in advance for ticket distribution.