DATE: Wednesday, October 29, 1997           TAG: 9710290528

SECTION: SPORTS                  PAGE: C3   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY BOB ZELLER, STAFF WRITER 

                                            LENGTH:   60 lines

UP-AND-DOWN CRAVEN FINDING GROOVE AGAIN THIRD-PLACE FINISH IN THE AC DELCO 400 FEELS GOOD AFTER AN 8-MONTH DRY SPELL.

The NASCAR Winston Cup season that started out so hot for Ricky Craven, then turned mean before going stone-dead cold, finally is warming up again as the end approaches.

His third-place finish in the rain-delayed AC Delco 400 at North Carolina Motor Speedway was his best since he finished third in the Daytona 500 eight long months ago.

``I felt great during the race, but I'm a little disappointed now,'' Craven told reporters after crawling out of his No. 25 Budweiser Chevrolet at the gas pumps after the race. ``This was our best chance to win. But it's good to be disappointed with third.''

The only thing longer than NASCAR races are NASCAR seasons. And for a driver, there's plenty of time in both for things to go bad and, sometimes, get good again.

As Craven's rookie crew chief, Andy Graves, put it, ``You just go through cycles in this deal. You have your good times and your bad times. Right now, we're on a good cycle.''

Craven is the third driver - with Jeff Gordon and Terry Labonte - in the powerful Hendrick Motorsports conglomerate, driving for a team that hasn't found victory lane like the other two Hendrick teams.

Ken Schrader, winless in five years, finally left for another car and Craven eagerly took over. Right out of the box, he was a contender. His third at Daytona completed for Hendrick a one-two-three, Gordon-Labonte-Craven finish. He was fifth at Rockingham, 14th at Richmond. He went to Atlanta fifth in the points chase.

Then he hit the wall. Several times. He crashed out at Atlanta, crashed at Darlington and had the unfortunate luck of being the first driver injured at Texas Motor Speedway.

He pounded the wall in the controversial turn four during practice and suffered a concussion, a contusion on his brain and a broken right shoulder.

He missed Texas and Bristol before returning to race at Martinsville. But he struggled. In the next 17 races, he had only one top 10. At one point, after dropping out of the Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway with rear-end failure, he was 34th in points.

Now, in the last six races, he has four top 10s. He's 18th in points.

``You've got to knock on the door before you can win, and I haven't knocked on the door enough this year, I guess,'' Craven said. ``We've had an up-and-down year for various reasons, but we're finishing off strong, and I don't see why that can't continue at Phoenix.''

As any racer will tell you, a good run makes the next race that much more enticing. And it is especially so for Craven because he had the opportunity to prepare for this weekend's Dura Lube 500 at Phoenix International Raceway by testing there on Oct. 20 and 21.

Terry Labonte, on his way home after competing in the Busch race at California Speedway on Oct. 19, stopped by to assist.

``The test was really beneficial for me,'' Craven said. ``I learned a few things that translated into speed. We concentrated on making qualifying laps. I've raced twice at Phoenix and never really got the opportunity to get things going, so I got a little help from a friend this time.''

``Phoenix is one of Terry's best tracks,'' Craven said. ``He pointed out some things that should help us when we race there.''

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