Ricky Craven: Pennsylvania 500 preview

HICKORY, N.C. -- Ricky Craven, driver of the No. 32 Tide Chevrolet, returns to Pocono Raceway for his 15th appearance at the uniquely shaped track. Coming off a great qualifying effort last weekend, the Tide Racing team is looking forward to this weekend's event at Pocono.

With Dale Earnhardt, Jr.'s injury last week at Infineon Raceway, there has been much discussion regarding fire-safety. What are you thoughts on this topic and what do you do to keep yourself safe in the race car?

"My team protects me well with all the essentials. It would be wise to wear the protective underwear, but I haven't before due to the heat. I haven't talked to Dale Jr. to see some of the challenges he had with his wreck in Sonoma. It was a severe fire, so sometimes it is nice to talk about those situations to educate yourself. I'm glad he's okay and look forward to he being back and well as soon as possible."

It seems like many teams had problems with motors at Pocono during the first race this year, including the Tide Racing team. Will the teams be more conservative with their motor programs this weekend or will you do anything different this weekend to extend the motor during the race?

"No, I'll drive the same way I always have. A few years ago at Pocono, I missed a shift and blew the engine. I felt really, really bad. I drove to the shop in Hickory the next day and apologized to the team because it was a driver error. At the race earlier this year at Pocono, it was just an engine failure. The day of being conservative is gone. If you are conservative, you are going to get beat and get beat bad. We're going to have to go there, muscle up and run it hard, but I have confidence in the guys and believe they can do it."