Craven pulls off track, takes provisional

FORT WORTH, Texas -- Ricky Craven was forced to take a provisional for Sunday's Samsung/RadioShack 500 after pulling off the track during his qualifying lap.

Craven took the green flag during Bud Pole Qualifying following a brief delay to clean the track for oil that was dropped during a run by Jeff Green.

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Craven thought he spotted oil in the middle of Turns 1 and 2 and slowed up. He then took his car to the garage, where he sat for 15 minutes while his team attempted to plead their case with NASCAR officials.

Craven's team, PPI Motorsports, even prepared the No. 32 Tide Pontiac the car for a second qualifying attempt, but NASCAR said that he had already taken the green flag. Therefore, they would not be allowed to make another run.

"We changed oil for qualifying, and we must have just put too much in," said Green. "I hate to have messed the track up, but it seems like they got it cleaned up."

It is the second provisional Craven has taken in 2003. He had practiced 31st-quickest earlier in the day.