So Craven is suddenly the villain?

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stridsberry

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Craven Plays the Villain at Martinsville


Apr 13, 8:27 PM (ET)

By HANK KURZ Jr.
MARTINSVILLE, Va. (AP) - Ricky Craven earned his first career victory at Martinsville Speedway in the fall of 2001, ending a 173-race winless streak and producing one of the most emotional stories of the year.

Craven again sparked many emotions Sunday, but this time for possibly costing Dale Earnhardt Jr. a chance at his second straight victory.

The problem came on a restart with 55 laps to go, when Earnhardt's car was running second behind Bobby Labonte's.

Entering Turns 1 and 2 in the double-line restart, Earnhardt slammed his Chevrolet into the back of Craven's suddenly struggling Chevy, causing them both to slide up the track as three contenders passed by.

"I really couldn't do much about it," Earnhardt said. "We were both real lucky we didn't wreck, or tear our cars up worse than we did."


Both cars eventually raced away, but when Craven came back around into the area of the accident, his car stalled up against the wall, prompting Earnhardt's rabid fans to jeer and point fingers at their newest villain.

Earnhardt rallied again to finish third.

"I like this old track," he said of Martinsville, where his father won six times. "One of these days I'm going to get a win here. Where else can you tear your car all to hell and have everybody be pretty happy about it?"

Craven still had the highest-finishing Pontiac. He was 27th.
 
In my opinion, this writer is trying to make something out of nothing. Simply put, Ricky had a bad tire on, either flat or the wrong air pressure (according to his website), and that doesn't exactly give you much grip in the corners. When he slid up in the turn, Junior just happened to be there. It's just a racing deal. At the end of any race, you can point to any of a dozen drivers and say that they would have won the race if such-and-such hadn't happened. You can also point to at least half a dozen drivers and say that they cost someone else the win. The only reason this is a major story is because it happened to be Junior that was there when Ricky went up the track. It's no one's fault, just something that happens at short tracks. There's 35 other races to make up for bad fortune in one of them.
 
On a simliar note, did you see Junior's pit crew clapping and cheering when it appeared that Ricky had stalled the car a couple laps later? And I thought it was just some of Junior's fans that had no class.
 
Ricky Craven should have his hind part handed to him. He!! boy, if you gonna take out Lil'E at least have the cojones to get the job done right. You would have become an instant hero at least in this tired old fan's eyes.

I can only look back at 'Dega and ask why Front Row Joe didn't take one for the team. The Hendrick's team was running #1-4 with Lil'E beside Joe. All he had to do was take a hard right. That would have taken out Lil'E and probably the rest of the field. But, no Joe went on only to see his engine die a few laps later. What ever happened to the notion of team racing?

Better luck next time Ricky. :)
 
Who is Hank Kurz Jr.? Name does not ring a bell with me....

Anyways, no story here and certainly Jr did not make any type issue with Ricky following the race.

As to the Jr's crew, probably wrong here but I thought they were cheering the caution that let Jr catch back up in line...........He got back quite a ways following the incident and the crew members were circling their hands in the air which to me meant for Jr to come on around to the leaders.
 
I just read an article that said the pit crew for the 32 got the right side tires on the left and visa-vera. That might make it a little hard to drive on a left hand oval. :D
 
Originally posted by JarrettFan@Apr 14 2003, 12:30 PM
I just read an article that said the pit crew for the 32 got the right side tires on the left and visa-vera. That might make it a little hard to drive on a left hand oval. :D
Click to expand...
Yeah I read that too..but it was Mr. Mulhern who wrote it so its validity is questionable for me.....

Interesting as to the effect it would have on the car though. At a short track like Martinsville it would be detrimental to the car's performance in that the stagger would be reversed. The car would not want to turn.

OTOH, the softer tires (grippier) would now be on the outside and might give the car a cornering advantage. They would not last as long, but the race was only about 50 laps from over so they might last long enough.

If true this is against the rules, but not being a top 5 finisher the car might have escaped post race scrutiny.
 
Ricky had a little bit of bad luck and Junior got caught up in it. Thats Racin' :dual9mm:
 
I figured this would be coming. Crap happens when you race. This time the crap happened to NASCAR's chosen one. These things tend to even out in over the course of a season. Let's see in the past two weeks, he was given a win he clearly did not deserve at 'Dega and lost a grand total of 2 spots he might (I repeat might) have gotten if Ricky hadn't lost that tire. He gets 60+ points handed to him by NASCAR and loses a total of 15 POSSIBLE points at Martinsville. it sounds like he is ahead already.
 
I had no issue with Ricky's flat tire, and I didn't see Junior having one either. I also had the impression that the Bud crew was cheering the caution flag, not the fact that Ricky stopped to bring it out.

On a short track, chit happens.

Sounds like another hack trying to make a mountain out of a molehill.
 
Possibly the Bud crew was cheering the caution....and possibly we didn't land on the moon either.Maybe a non-story here,but it sure looked like those guys were cheering because Craven was against the wall.The very reason the cameras got a close up of the action,imo.

:) Regardless ,Craven is carrying Pontiac and the single-car banner.Nice to see.
 
Originally posted by 97forever@Apr 14 2003, 02:59 PM
but it sure looked like those guys were cheering because Craven was against the wall.The very reason the cameras got a close up of the action,imo.
Click to expand...
the reason they got up close like that was too create somethin outta nothin..come on..it fox for heavens sakes....they do this stuff all the time..just look at their prime time line up.... :lol:




this is all too funny..Jr is a good sport and just calls it racin, some reporter puts his own weak twist on it and in the end Jr and/or his crew are comin out lookin bad yet again to some of ya..... :lol:


i just wanna thank all that keep me laughin on here..keeps me sane!!...... :D
 
Obviously, that guy needed something to write about. To bad he picked a non issue.....OK folks, nothing to see here, just a racin' deal.....let's all move along now. <_<
 
It seems to me that there are alot of people here that think all of Jr'sfans are the same. I have heard a few things like, Jr fans are crash happy idiots, I thought it was just some of Jr's fans that had no class, just for a few. I just want everybody to know that I don't cheer when someone crashes. I have been going to WC races with about 20 people for the last 11 years and none of them do either. The reason that Jr's fans seem that way is because there are more of them than anybody else. But if you have ever attended a race you will see that the fans of every driver are like that. Do you think the fans of every other driver in WC would have cried if Dale Jr would have crashed at Talladega, would you have cried? Probably not, so think before you lump us WC fans who happen to also be Jr fans in one group with the rude people that attend races that I don't call fans.
 
I dont see why a lot of people react that way to it, I mean Jeff Gordon was strong anyways, and would have probably passed Dale. Junior finished 3rd and he wasn't complaining much about it, so It really shouldn't be considered an issue! Like some have said before, thats racin!

:salute:
 
If it had been someone's else crew cheering and faveing. Nothing would have been said about it. Not one thing. This hatered for JR is gettisn out of hand. :D
 
I was a tad bit upset with craven at first but when i realized he had a flat tire i was ok with what happend. I dont think junior had anything for gordon though. Once bobby, junior, and gordon got out of traffic i think gordon would have gotten by junior and the 18 eventually.
 
IMO a non -issue, Gordon had the car to beat all day, Junior was good on short runs ,but Gordon was better. Craven got caught up in a racing deal and Jr didn't seem too upset, just a lot of BS stirred up by some bored writer trying to make a name for himself. As far as Fox goes....of course they are going to try to make something of the deal....controversy sells.....get over it people.
 
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