Twenty years is a long time, but Ricky Craven remembers the sequence of events vividly. The same goes for Kurt Busch. And both are playing their respective roles in one of the most memorable results in NASCAR history.
It was the 2003 Spring Cup Series race at Darlington Raceway, a race Craven thought he had won but wasn’t 100% sure. It was far from clear if he had actually beaten Busch in a side-by-side photo finish, so he waited for confirmation. Busch was also unsure. So he also waited for his team to update him on the result, although he suspected Craven had just overtaken him because looking left at Craven’s car he thought his window mesh didn’t exactly match Craven’s.
For a while, then another, they both waited for official news from NASCAR. A few seconds felt significantly longer.
“I did not know it. I had no idea,” Craven said.
“I always hoped that (my team) would announce over the radio that I won,” Busch said.
When news of the score tower broke, Craven was declared the winner. The lead to victory was 0.002 seconds. That was the closest target in Cup Series history to have been met since (April 2011 at Talladega Superspeedway) but never surpassed.
The goal has been shown countless times on television. It has become a staple of NASCAR and is considered the epitome of stock car racing at its finest because the surface, with its full-contact physical texture, looked like something straight out of a Hollywood blockbuster.
“I watched the race a lot and Dad and I talked about it,” said Ryan Blaney, whose father Dave finished third that afternoon. “A few more laps (Dad) might have won, he kind of tracked these guys down when they were racing hard. But of course this is a historic conclusion.”
The conclusion of the 2003 race also marks another event in the lives of Craven and Busch – it forged a bond between two men inseparably bound by an event bigger than themselves.
Much like brothers Bobby and Donnie Allison are forever linked to Cale Yarborough due to their infamous fight at the 1979 Daytona 500, which took place in front of a national TV audience, Darlington is often mentioned when Craven and Busch’s respective careers are discussed.
From this connection grew a real friendship that lasts to this day.
“(Kurt) had a brilliant, brilliant career. He’s a champion,” said Craven. “But I just think it’s amazing how he’s been married up to this moment and because of that he and I are a lot closer than we would have been.
“It’s mutual respect, there’s nothing I wouldn’t do for Kurt. If he calls and says he’s in a bind, I’ll do my best to help.”
If there had been any hurt feelings between Craven and Busch, that would have been understandable. Losing a race like that hurts. This becomes even clearer when you consider that Darlington, NASCAR’s oldest track, is revered by drivers as the track where they best showcase their skills. Winning the Too Tough to Tame route carries special meaning.
Then, as now, Craven is surprised that Busch never seemed upset. If anyone had a reason, it would have been the rider who finished second that day. With 15 laps to go, Busch had a three-second lead, but it evaporated due to a power steering problem. When Craven actually caught him and tried to pass, he pinned Busch against the outside wall.
As Craven – so sure Busch would get angry – saw Busch heading towards the winning streak, he began to look for an escape route.
“I was very skeptical of Kurt when I first saw him coming,” Craven said. “He comes alone, not to celebrate; He marches towards me on the victory road. My kids were with me, and I figured that might probably be salty, so actually, a little defensively, I started getting off the winning streak in front of him. And when we got within 20 feet of each other he said it was amazing. It was the opposite of what I expected Kurt to do.”
Kurt Busch (above) battles Ricky Craven on the final lap of the 2003 spring race at Darlington. Craven’s 0.002 second win is the closest NASCAR win ever. (Jamie Squire/Getty Images)
Remembering his feelings that day, Busch paused to calm himself. Not once, he explained, was he angry about the defeat. On the contrary, actually.
That day, Busch understood the significance of what had just happened. So when Busch got out of his car, he went down the road to victory, not to confront Craven, but to congratulate him. Busch respected that Craven put up a tough but flawless encounter against him. And although Craven Busch could have hit or even flipped him over, he didn’t.
“I was like, ‘How damn cool,'” Busch said. “I knew immediately that something special was happening. That’s why I’ve set myself the goal of walking down the road to victory with a smile on my face.”
Both Craven and Busch say they’ve seen the target countless times. When Craven watches the replay, he thinks of his childhood in Newburgh, Maine, watching the 1975 World Series between the Boston Red Sox and the Cincinnati Reds, where Carlton Fisk, his favorite player, appeared to swing a potential foulball into a walk– Off home run in game 6.
From Craven’s point of view, Darlington was similar to Fisk’s home run. Something that cements his name in the NASCAR record well beyond the fact that he’s a driver who has won two cup races. (He started his final Cup race in 2004, then retired from NASCAR entirely after the 2006 season.)
“I didn’t break any records,” Craven said. “But competing in one of the tightest finishes, one of the most exciting finishes, gave people a reason to remember me. … I experienced a walk-off home run at the end of the 11th inning. And the fans reacted the same way.”
Busch looks at the race from different perspectives.
Looking back, Busch wouldn’t change the way he tried to fend off Craven. It would have helped not to lose the power steering, but that was out of his control. That day Craven defeated him.
“It still feels like it happened yesterday and I still feel like I’m going to win,” said Busch, laughing.
Another perspective: While he has a Hall of Famer-worthy career that includes a Cup championship and a Daytona 500 win, Busch also played a starring role in the closest finish in Cup history. This gives him a unique accolade, a high point in his career, even if he didn’t leave with the trophy.
“It was a very special day,” said Busch. “And I never tire of telling the story. It really is so much fun to come second in this story.”
Both Craven and Busch will compete in the Cup race at Darlington on Sunday and will be honorary starters. Everyone looks forward to the other with enthusiasm. No doubt they will remember the two rounds that gave them an all-time classic finish that bound them together forever.
“It’s quite common and expected and to some extent easy to celebrate Jeff Gordon, Jimmie Johnson, Dale Earnhardt, David Pearson, Cale Yarborough and others,” Craven said. “It might not be as easy to celebrate me, Ricky Craven, and celebrate Kurt Busch for runner-up. But what sets this race apart from all the others is that it wasn’t so much about two riders as it was about the moment. And I think the proof of that is that Kurt Busch probably celebrated that race as much as I did. It was just remarkable.”
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(Top Photo: ISC Archives/CQ-Roll Call Group via Getty Images)