Ricky Craven - 1999-2006

1999-2006

For 1999, Craven signed to drive the #58 Turbine Solutions Ford Taurus for Scott Barbour's SBIII Motorsports, a brand new team in NASCAR. Craven did not finish any better than 19th while he drove the car, and after he failed to qualify for the Coca-Cola 600, he was replaced by Loy Allen Jr.. Several weeks later, he signed up with another new team, Midwest Transit Racing replacing rookie Dan Pardus in the #50 and finished the season with them. Craven returned to the team in 2000, but after failing to qualify for four of the first nine races of the season, the team switched to a part-time schedule. Following this decision, Craven had four top-twenty finishes but finished 44th in points.

In January the next year, it was announced he would replace Scott Pruett in PPI Motorsports's #32 Tide Ford. Craven won the pole at the summer race at Michigan International Speedway, and at the Old Dominion 500 at Martinsville Speedway, Craven held off Dale Jarrett in the closing laps for his first career Winston Cup win. In 2002, he won two poles, finished in the top-ten nine times, and finished a career-best 15th in points. In 2003, Craven's team switched to Pontiac and with an in-house engine platform, and at the Carolina Dodge Dealers 400 at Darlington Raceway, he battled Kurt Busch for the win, defeating him by .002 seconds in what was voted in December 2009 as the Finish of the 2000s in the Sprint Cup Series. That race he became the last-ever person to win in a Pontiac. Craven failed to visit victory lane again that season, and dropped twelve spots in points. After he did not post a single top-ten finish three-quarters of the way through the 2004 season, he was replaced by Bobby Hamilton Jr., and only returned to run at his home track at New Hampshire. His final Cup race he participated in was the 2004 EA Sports 500 at Talladega where he drove in a Joe Gibbs development car, the number 11 Old Spice Chevrolet.

In 2005, Craven moved to the Craftsman Truck Series to drive the #99 Superchips Ford for Roush Racing. Despite a win at Martinsville Speedway and a fourteenth place finish in points, he and Roush parted ways when the season came to a close. His final start in NASCAR came at the Goody's 250 in the Busch Series for FitzBradshaw Racing. He finished 39th after the brakes on his #14 Family Dollar Dodge failed.