RICKY CRAVEN
DARES DARLINGTON
Darlington, SC: After hanging around in the top 10 for most of the day, Ricky Craven takes a chance in the #32 Tide Pontiac and edges past Kurt Busch to win the Carolina Dodge Dealers 400.
It seemed as though the "Lady in Black" would once again prove to be "Too Tough to Tame" when the race started with 4 cautions in the first 33 laps. Jerry Nadeau spun the #01 U.S. Army Pontiac without incident. But as Matt Kenseth moved his #17 DeWalt Ford down the track to avoid contact with Nadeau, he clipped Jamie McMurray in the #42 Havoline Dodge. Although forced to pit early at this point, Matt recovered nicely to finish 9th in the race.
On lap 22, Jimmie Johnson's #48 Lowes Chevrolet got together with Sterling Marlin's #40 Coors Light Dodge during an attempted pass. Sterling hit the wall and the ensuing melee collected last week's winner, Bobby Labonte in the #18 Interstate Batteries Chevrolet, Kevin Harvick in the #29 Goodwrench Chevrolet, Jack Sprague in the #0 NetZero Pontiac, Todd Bodine in the #54 Army National Guard Ford, and Tony Raines in the #74 Staff America Chevrolet.
The Roush engine woes continued when Jeff Burton went out on lap 22 in the #99 Citgo Ford. However, team mate, Mark Martin took the lead on lap 117 and was able to keep the #6 Viagra Ford up front until Jeff Gordon took over after a pit stop. Later, on lap 237 when Mark pitted again, a lug nut was left off and he was forced to pit again coming out 11th for the restart. Mark did finish the race in 4th.
Jeff now seemed to be in command of the race in his #24 DuPont Chevrolet. But a charge by pole sitter, Elliott Sadler, in the #38 M&M's Ford caused Jeff to wear out his tires early and Kurt Busch swung past in the #97 Rubbermaid Ford to take the lead with 19 laps remaining. Jeff later hit the wall and finished the race 33rd. Elliott finished 7th.
Unfortunately, Kurt had no opportunity to relax as Ricky Craven & Dave Blaney were charging to
the front. Ricky's lap times were faster than Kurt's and he closed the distance quickly. The
excitement began with 5 laps remaining as Ricky edged to the inside of Kurt, pressing for the
advantage. Now, with 3 laps left, Ricky attempted to pass, but Kurt shot ahead once again. Then,
when the white flag came out, Ricky surged forward, beating & banging until he nosed in and with
hundreds of a second and scant inches crossed the finish line ahead of Kurt for the best finish of
the 2003 season.
Article by S. Kipple
3/16/03
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