NASCAR Cup
Garage Chatter: Pocono II
Craven to make first 2006 NASCAR start: Ricky Craven is back racing NASCAR this weekend at the Martinsville Speedway Busch race. Craven, whose last NASCAR start came in 2005 in the Truck series, is making his debut with the No. 15 FitzBradshaw ...
Published: Jul 29, 2006, 4:02 PM
Copy link
Share on Viber
Craven to make first 2006 NASCAR start: Ricky Craven is back racing NASCAR this weekend at the Martinsville Speedway Busch race. Craven, whose last NASCAR start came in 2005 in the Truck series, is making his debut with the No. 15 FitzBradshaw team.
Craven has two career wins at Martinsville, a Cup series win in 2001 and a Truck series victory last season. Despite dipping into some of NASCAR's other series, Craven still hopes that one day he can return full time to the Cup leagues. His last Nextel Cup series start was in 2004.
I think a lot of moves are going to be made in the series when Silly Season really gets started this fall," Craven said. "I hope [racing at Martinsville] will be the start of my preparation to be in a position to take advantage of some of those opportunities."
Kahne turns quickest lap: Kasey Kahne knocked off the quickest lap during initial practice for Cup teams at Pocono International Raceway. Denny Hamlin, Robby Gordon and Scott Riggs complete the top five times.
Kahne currently leads the circuit with four wins this season, he sits sixth in points.
"I'm sixth in points and feel like we can stay about where we're at," Kahne commented. "We just need to have good races every week and be consistent. It's tight. You make a mistake and you're going to be out of the top 10. It's really close. I'm pretty comfortable with all the tracks we go to anymore. It's just a matter of figuring it out and doing it right that weekend. I really like this track, Indianapolis, Watkins Glen, California, Bristol, Michigan. I'm looking forward to all of them."
Crew chief changes at the 21: Michael "Fatback" McSwain will take over as the crew chief for Ken Schrader's #21 Nextel Cup car. David Hyder will take over Crew Chief duties for Jon Wood's #47 Busch Series car, and Jay Guy, Jon Wood's Busch Series Crew Chief will move to teammate Stacy Compton's #59 Busch Series car.
"Our goal is to improve our performance this year, while giving our drivers and crew chiefs an opportunity to work together in preparation for next year," said Eddie Wood. "We have made a lot of changes this season, including the merger with ST Motorsports' Busch Series teams and the expansion of a driver development program in the Truck Series. We have been playing catch up and wanted to get a jump on next year to see how everyone progresses with these management moves."
Sadler says a lot more going on behind the scenes than you think: Apparently, Elliott Sadler was quite surprised at whose been ringing up his cell phone just days after announcing that he had asked for, and was granted a release from Robert Yates Racing.
"There are a lot more seats open than there are drivers available I think, and that's what caught me off guard this week with some of the phone calls I got," said Sadler. "You don't realize who is looking for drivers and who is not. There are a lot more people stirring the pot underneath than you really think, so it's great to be a driver like this. I'm not in any hurry to try to make a decision."
It has been widely thought that Sadler was in final discussions with Ray Evernham to take over the No. 19 Dodge, a few other offers, however, may have Sadler taking a beat to weigh his options.
Several sources have confirmed that Sadler has had inquiries to his availability from Bill Davis and Roush Racing.
We want your opinion!
What would you like to see on Motorsport.com?
Take our 5 minute survey.
- The Motorsport.com Team
Read and post comments
Read also :
Share Or Save This Story
Copy link
Share on Viber
Previous article Yates ready to move forward
Next article Hamlin snatches Pocono pole late in the game
Top Comments
There are no comments at the moment. Would you like to write one?
View More & Comment
More from
Kasey Kahne
It's Kasey Kahne Friday every other week in the 2027 NASCAR Truck season
NASCAR Truck
NASCAR Truck
Charlotte II
It's Kasey Kahne Friday every other week in the 2027 NASCAR Truck season
Kasey Kahne officially ends NASCAR retirement for full-time Spire Truck ride
NASCAR Truck
NASCAR Truck
Kasey Kahne officially ends NASCAR retirement for full-time Spire Truck ride
Kasey Kahne is as passionate and competitive as ever at Knoxville Nationals
Sprint Car
Sprint Car
Kasey Kahne is as passionate and competitive as ever at Knoxville Nationals
More from
Yates Racing
Bullins back with Wood Brothers
NASCAR Cup
NASCAR Cup
Bullins back with Wood Brothers
Want to build engines like Roush and Yates? There's a school for that
NASCAR Cup
NASCAR Cup
Want to build engines like Roush and Yates? There's a school for that
Roush Fenway Racing provides fresh start for Sadler
NASCAR O'Reilly
NASCAR O'Reilly
Roush Fenway Racing provides fresh start for Sadler
Latest news
Joan Mir returns without revealing illness that kept him out for 44 days: "It hasn't been an easy period"
MotoGP
MGP MotoGP
Malaysian GP
20 min
Joan Mir returns without revealing illness that kept him out for 44 days: "It hasn't been an easy period"
F1-level excess: How Manuel Reuter won the ITC title with Opel 30 years ago
DTM
DTM DTM 54 min
F1-level excess: How Manuel Reuter won the ITC title with Opel 30 years ago
Subscribe and access Motorsport.com with your ad-blocker.
From Formula 1 to MotoGP we report straight from the paddock because we love our sport, just like you. In order to keep delivering our expert journalism, our website uses advertising. Still, we want to give you the opportunity to enjoy an ad-free and tracker-free website and to continue using your adblocker.
You have 2 options:
- Become a subscriber.
- Disable your adblocker.
Subscribe now Already subscribed? Sign in here
Already disabled your adblocker?
Reload page
Manage Alerts
Subscribe