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NASCAR History: Car Number 32 and Ricky Craven

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by James Jones, Special To NASCAR commentary,NASCAR video,NASCAR pictures, Bench Racing With Steve and Charlie

Sundays of my youth consisted of NASCAR racing and cold bottles of Mountain Dew. Thirty years later not much has changed for me. However, nearly everything has changed in NASCAR.

January 16, 2010 9:56 pm CST No Comments

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Over the next several weeks we’ll be featuring car numbers in NASCAR history. We started with #50 and are working our way down the line. With each car number we’ll take a brief look at a couple stats related to the featured car number, NASCAR Driver Ricky Craven car number 32but we’ll primarily spotlight either a driver, sponsor, car owner, manufacturer or other significant subject closely tied to the car number of the day.

One of the best NASCAR Cup series finishes in recent history involved car number 32 at one of my all-time favorite race tracks, Darlington. For that reason, I must confess that I didn’t even give consideration to any other possible sponsor, car owner or past driver of car number 32 than Ricky Craven.

NASCAR Cup Driver Ricky Craven

Stats for all cars running the #32:

  • Number of Races: 641
  • Number of Wins: 2
  • Number of Top 5s: 35
  • Number of Top 10s: 109
  • Number of Poles: 3

Check out current NASCAR race statistics here at On Pit Row!

Spotlight Subject: Driver Ricky Craven

Ricky Craven’s Cup Series career spanned 11 years. He has two Cup wins to his name, and both of those came in car #32 (Martinsville & Darlington); making Ricky the only driver to put the #32 in victory lane. In 278 Cup races, Ricky recorded 6 poles, 17 top fives and 41 top tens. But Ricky also holds the distinction of being part of two great and historic finishes in Cup Series racing.NASCAR Driver Ricky Craven and Kurt Busch dramatic finish at Darlington Raceway

The first historic finish would come in the 1997 Daytona 500. While he didn’t win the race or lead any laps, he would be part of a 1-2-3 finish for owner Rick Hendrick’s multi-car team. Jeff Gordon would win the race with teammates Terry Labonte in second and Ricky Craven in third. That third place finish stands as Ricky’s only top ten finish at Daytona in Cup Series competition.

The second finish is a very special one. For one, it came at one of my favorite tracks “The Lady in Black,” Darlington Raceway. A track with such rich history and deep roots in NASCAR racing, it’s only fitting that the track was the site for what now stands as the closest margin of victory and one of the most exciting finishes ever! Kurt Busch and Ricky Craven battling it out hard the last few laps of the race, nose to tail rubbing, fenders smacking the outside walls, tires sliding and smoking, drivers sawing the steering wheel as they put it all out on the line for the final laps of the race. It all came down to Ricky being scored as the leader for one lap, the final one. Literally nose-by-nose Craven and Busch crossed the line with a margin of victory of .002 seconds in favor of the the #32 Tide car.

The win would be Craven’s last and he hasn’t raced in Cup Series since 2004. However, it sure was a great win to go along with the 1992 Busch Series and 1995 Cup Series Rookie of the Year titles. That victory at Darlington was one of the most exciting finishes making me jump up off the edge of my seat as I watched Craven and Busch battle it out. To then see Kurt Busch visit Ricky in victory lane to congratulate him on the win was just awesome. I guess perhaps the two of them knew then that they just put on an awesome show for the fans, and in the process made a mark in the history books. Either way, it was a great show of sportsmanship by Kurt Busch and his stock went up dramatically in my book that day.

Ricky Craven Battles Kurt Busch at Darlington Raceway

There is no way possible to do this spotlight without also posting the video clip of this record setting finish.

Filed under: Darlington Speedway, James Jones, NASCAR, NASCAR History 

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Kyle Busch a Gallon Short at Texas

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by Steve Wronkowicz

I am co-host of the syndicated radio show: ON PIT ROW. Charlie likes to call me an "idiot". I'm not an "idiot"; I just prefer not to let the facts get in the way of my opinions.

November 8, 2009 10:59 pm CST 2 Comments

In a season that started so promising for Kyle Busch; the thought of saving some face, after not making The Chase was a real possibility if he could pull off the triple at Texas.

Rowdy won the first two races this weekend at The Great American Speedway; dominating both the Camping World Truck race on Friday and the Nationwide race on Saturday.   He set himself up to do something that has never been done before in NASCAR.  It seems almost impossible to think that the feat has never been done, but Kyle had the fans believing that it would happen on this warm November day.

Leading 232 of the 334 laps at times it looked the the days before; Busch would have his way with the rest of the field.  He was toying with the other competitors at times and it seemed that victory was imminent until The Dickies 500 turned into a fuel mileage race and Rowdy wasn’t going to have enough.  “Three laps short” was the call to Rowdy over the radio and for the want of about a gallon of racing fuel went his trip to the record books.

The driver who was there to pick up the win was the other Busch; Kurt who took his Miller Lite Dodge to the win by running the last 120 laps on only two stops for fuel.  He has this to say about racing his brother for the win:

It’s bittersweet to beat Kyle.  He was going for the sweep.  We took it away from him.  I don’t think he could have picked a better driver to lose to tonight.  So it’s fun.  It’s really fun.  We race each other to the bone, but we pat each other on the back at the end of the day.

So Kyle will have to wait to have a shot to take the triple again.  That, and only that could be what turns a season of high hopes and disappointment into something to remember.

Photo credit: BethAnne Heisler/ON PIT ROW

Filed under: Kurt Busch, Kyle Busch, Texas Motor Speedway 

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One and Done: AMP Energy 500

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by Chris Leone, Special To NASCAR commentary,NASCAR video,NASCAR pictures, Bench Racing With Steve and Charlie

If OnPitRow.com was a NASCAR team, I’d be the development driver of the bunch. In the same way that young hotshots like Joey Logano have been driving since they were in grade school, I’ve been following and writing about all forms of motorsports since I was barely old enough to talk.

October 29, 2009 12:35 pm CDT 2 Comments

For the first time in its history, Talladega Superspeedway hosts a race in the Chase for the Sprint Cup, as NASCAR’s premiere series heads to Alabama this weekend for the AMP Energy 500.

Of the ten tracks in this year’s Chase, Talladega is by far the most unpredictable. Only four drivers boast an average finish better than 10.0 at the track, and they have a combined four starts - all of which occurred in this spring’s race. That event featured a wacky finish in which Brad Keselowski found himself in victory lane, but Carl Edwards found himself airborne.

At a massive track like Talladega, where the cars reach some of their highest speeds and restrictor plates bunch up the field, the “big one,” a massive 20-something car pileup, is looming around every corner, on every straightaway, in every drag race to the finish line. For that reason, picking this race is a crapshoot. Take everything with a full shaker of salt, and go with any hunch you might have.

Seriously. Scott Speed finished 5th here in the spring. Think about that.

If there’s any weekend where staying within the confines of Chase drivers isn’t necessary, it would be this one, because of the likelihood that an incident will wipe out half the field. Whoever survives the wreck, if it happens, probably won’t have the best car in the field, just the best luck, and luck doesn’t discriminate based on the points standings. But week in and week out, the Chase drivers give fantasy players the best chance of scoring a lot of points, so we might as well stick with the established system, no?

The five Chase drivers with the best records at Talladega:

Kurt Busch (avg. fn. 12.1): The older Busch brother has quietly assembled a solid Talladega record, with 12 top-10s in 17 starts. He has also led at least one lap in 13 of his 17 Talladega starts. Only two of his last 10 Talladega starts have been worse than eighth. While he’s never won a Cup race at the track, the first thing you look to do at Talladega is survive, and he’s only crashed out twice.

Tony Stewart (avg. fn. 13.8): Smoke “won” this race in controversial fashion last year (and as far as I’m concerned, that still should have been Regan Smith’s win). He’s led laps in 10 of the past 11 Talladega races, with the lone exception being this spring’s race. Smoke’s crashed out in four of his 21 starts, a slightly worse percentage than Busch, but he’s also been able to do something that Busch can’t say: finish better than third (one win and six second place finishes).

Mark Martin (avg. fn. 16.1): Martin only has five crashes at Talladega in 43 starts, a slightly better percentage than Busch, and both of his wins came after his horrendous 1994 incident, proving that bad crashes don’t negatively affect everybody. But the last of those wins came in 1997, and Martin only has six laps at Talladega under race conditions in the new car: he skipped the track altogether in 2007 and 2008, and his spring race was cut short by an early incident.

Jeff Gordon (avg. fn. 16.4): The spring race didn’t go well for Gordon, as he finished 60 laps off the pace in 37th. But he swept the track in 2007, and generally finds himself up front: he’s led laps in 12 of the last 14 Talladega races (including six of the last eight). A statistic that should bring pause, however: In 11 starts since 2004, Gordon has won four, but has not finished better than 15th in the other seven.

Ryan Newman (avg. fn. 18.5): Well, Newman ran well and led laps in the wacky spring race… He also hasn’t wrecked out of a Talladega race since 2005, as he kept the car going during the Edwards wreck and scored his career best finish at the track (third). Here’s a question for you: If taking another stock car off the hood meant improving by another couple of spots, think he would take it?

Filed under: One and Done NASCAR Fantasy Racing, Talladega Superspeedway 

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NASCAR’s Crumpled Fenders and Bruised Egos

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by Steve Wronkowicz

I am co-host of the syndicated radio show: ON PIT ROW. Charlie likes to call me an "idiot". I'm not an "idiot"; I just prefer not to let the facts get in the way of my opinions.

July 14, 2009 5:54 am CDT No Comments

There seems to be some dissension in the ranks as drivers aren’t liking the double file restarts as much as initially claimed.

Veteran  Jeff Burton was not thrilled at all with the consequences of the new restart program.  He went so far as to allude to not wanting to participate any more if the new program continues,

“I know it’s exciting for fans. But I’m tired of it. I’m about done with it.”

Would Burton really be done with double file restarts?  What are his options?  He could go to a series that doesn’t use the rule–the Camping World Truck Series hasn’t adopted the rule –yet.  He could move to the ARCA Re/Max Series where they still do single file restarts with less than ten laps remaining.  Neither option is likely to happen.  The fact is that the fans love the new restarts and NASCAR would be committing public relations suicide to change back.

The fact is that NASCAR fans have something to look forward to at the end of a long race–some excitement.  While I can enjoy a fuel mileage finish as much as the next guy; a couple of side by side restarts with less than thirty laps to go is what will bring fans back to the sport.  Good tight racing for a win is what fans want to see and if there happens to be some bumping and grinding along the way, then so much the better.

Without double file restarts the on track incident between Kurt Busch and Jimmie Johnson would never have occurred.  Regardless of who was at fault, it led to not only exciting racing but great post race fodder.  Busch’s comments questioning a three time champion’s abilities on the race track are priceless.  NASCAR can’t afford not to let that type of controversy and calling out of fellow drivers continue.

That leads us to this week’s BUZZ ON PIT ROW:

Who was to blame for the Busch/Johnson incident and will the feud continue?

Let us know what you think and we could use your answer on this week’s ON PIT ROW radio show.  Listen live, every Tuesday from 5-7pm ET at www.onpitrow.com.  Call us during the show at 1-800-645-2946 and you could win a Kevin Harvick bobblehead courtesy of Shell Gasolines if you are The Shell Nitrogen Enriched Call of the Day.

photo credit:  Icon Sports Media, Inc

Filed under: Chicagoland Speedway, How to fix NASCAR, Jeff Burton, Jimmy Johnson, Kevin Harvick, Kurt Busch, NASCAR, NASCAR Bidness, NASCAR officials, On Pit Row The Fastest Two Hours on Radio, jimmie johnson 

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A Much Different Race At New Hampshire This Time Around

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by Chris Leone, Special To NASCAR commentary,NASCAR video,NASCAR pictures, Bench Racing With Steve and Charlie

If OnPitRow.com was a NASCAR team, I’d be the development driver of the bunch. In the same way that young hotshots like Joey Logano have been driving since they were in grade school, I’ve been following and writing about all forms of motorsports since I was barely old enough to talk.

June 28, 2009 7:59 pm CDT 2 Comments

It’s difficult to knock your home racetrack for usually putting on a boring show, but I frequently find myself complaining about the New Hampshire Motor Speedway. Sprint Cup’s answer to the Milwaukee Mile, the 1-mile flat track has put on plenty of snoozefests or rain-shortened tilts over the past few years. As a fan who attends both Sprint Cup races at the track every year, and having been a ticket holder at the track for more than ten years, I often find myself wondering on the drive home whether or not the race I just saw was worth the price of admission.

Today’s event, however, might have finally sold me on Loudon.

Remember that when I wrote about “fixing” NASCAR, I wanted a shorter schedule for the Sprint Cup boys, and that NHMS was one of the first tracks I wanted to go. Despite the fact that it almost always sells out (owing to its status as the only Cup track in New England), there’s always been a negative aura over the track ever since Adam Petty and Kenny Irwin Jr.’s accidents. Remember the 2001 race run on Thanksgiving weekend? Do you have any idea how frigid that was?

Today’s race, though - there was something different about it, compared to the past few years. It didn’t feel like a chore to sit through this race the way it has in some years past. For one, with the starting lineup set by owners’ points, it was fun to watch the guys who were fast in happy hour work their way through the field. In particular, Martin Truex Jr. was showing his stuff early on, working his way into the top 10.

Even the commercialism seemed to be toned down this weekend. The $ouvenir price$ were $till the $ame (if you were enough of a $ucker to $pend $25 on a t-$hirt), but there were far fewer trailers on track grounds selling new gear. Aside from the Aaron’s Lucky Dog and ServiceMaster Cautions, there weren’t too many ads on the three big screens placed around the track.

That made it a lot easier to focus on the racing at hand - and boy, were there some highlights. I’m a little peeved at Kyle Busch for taking out Truex, my One and Done pick this weekend, and causing one of the biggest wrecks at the track in recent memory. The double-file restarts (I refuse to call them that cheesy name that Brian France gave them) completely changed the race, and produced some pretty good battles between Jeff Gordon and Kurt Busch.

And how about Joey Logano winning his first career Sprint Cup race? In a way, this is Sliced Bread’s home track - although he relocated to Georgia to further his career around the turn of the decade, he’s originally from Connecticut. Same goes for crew chief Greg Zipadelli, a Berlin, CT native. It’s always a great feeling to get your first win, and it’s great, too, to win at your home track. Combining both must be a dream come true for the No. 20 team.

Sure, the win’s a little controversial due to the race ending early, but either way, it etches Logano into the record books as the youngest Sprint Cup winner ever. And even as driver development contracts are starting earlier and earlier in drivers’ lives and careers, it’s unlikely that anyone is going to win another Sprint Cup race at 19 years old anytime soon.

Today’s Lenox Industrial Tools 301, although rain-shortened (do you think they’ll ever go “the extra mile”?), was the best Sprint Cup race at New Hampshire Motor Speedway in a long time. More than ever, I can say that I’m looking forward to the start of the Chase ten weeks from now. Hopefully that race will deliver as much entertainment as this one did.

Filed under: New Hampshire International Speedway 

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Kurt Busch Out Runs the Competition with Help from a Gasman

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by Steve Wronkowicz

I am co-host of the syndicated radio show: ON PIT ROW. Charlie likes to call me an "idiot". I'm not an "idiot"; I just prefer not to let the facts get in the way of my opinions.

March 10, 2009 7:04 am CDT 3 Comments

The complexion of the race in Atlanta on Sunday changed faster than a teenager with a Hershey bar.

Jimmy Watts, gasman for Marcos Ambrose, took off after an errant tire that was headed for the racing surface.  NASCAR saw Watts sprinting after the Goodyear and threw a caution flag during the round of green flag pit stops.  The caution threw a monkey wrench into many teams strategies as some very good race cars went a lap down to the leaders.

Only nine cars remained on the lead lap after the Watts inspired caution.  Thanks to the “lucky dog rule” those nine swelled back to fourteen later in the race, but Kurt Busch help off late race challenges from Jeff Gordon and Carl Edwards to gain the win.  Busch dominated the activities on Sunday leading on six different occasions for more laps than anyone.

Busch’s crew chief Pat Tryson had Kurt still on the race track when the Watts caution was thrown by NASCAR–good luck.  Luck plays a part in all of racing.  Just ask Bill Elliott who was caught up in an accident that was not of his doing–bad luck.  But, that is part of racing and how teams deal with adversity is what will separate winners from also rans.

Did luck need to play into this race however; as we look at this week’s BUZZ ON PIT ROW:

Did NASCAR over react with its yellow flag for the loose tire chased down by Marcos Ambrose’s gasman Jimmy Watts?

Let us know what you think and we could use your thoughts on this weeks ON PIT ROW.  Listen live from 5-7pm ET every Tuesday at www.onpitrow.com.

photo credit:  Icon Sports Media

Filed under: Atlanta Motor Speedway, Carl Edwards, It's Only Cheating if You Get Caught, Kurt Busch, NASCAR, NASCAR Bidness, NASCAR officials, On Pit Row The Fastest Two Hours on Radio, Penske Racing 

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