Ricky Craven: Food City 500 preview

HICKORY, N.C. -- Ricky Craven, driver of the No. 32 Tide Chevrolet, posted a 15th place and eighth-place finish in the 2003 events at

Bristol Motor Speedway.

Ricky Craven, driver of the No. 32 Tide Chevrolet:

Take me for a lap around Bristol...

"It's a fun place to race particularly by yourself, because you need most of the racetrack to run fast. But the straightaways seem so short and you get the sensation of throwing the car into turn one and almost simultaneously with the car compressing into the banking you go back to the accelerator. And because you are into the banking, you don't see the backstretch until you actually start coming off turn two. You are wide open off of two and then you just repeat turns three and four."

What's your best analogy for racing at Bristol?

"A lap there is sort of like a ride at the carnival. It's just that quick and that exciting. It's like a roller coaster ride where you say, 'how do you stay in this thing?' It can take your breath away, so you have to learn to relax there. If you don't, you're done. You can't run 500 miles there that tense."

What do you think about your chances for this weekend's race?

"It hasn't been a place that has produced great finishes for us. We finished top-10 there last year. It is probably the most vulnerable track on the circuit. You probably control 60% to 70% of the day. There is 30% to 40% of the race, even if you are leading it, that you can't predict."