First career win for Craven.

Ricky Craven, a driver who returned to racing last season after nearly two years of inactivity due to injuries, earned his first Winston Cup victory Monday at Martinsville Speedway in the Old Dominion 500.

The race was run yesterday after being rained out Sunday. Craven grabbed the win in a side-by-side dual to the finish line with Dale Jarrett. Craven, who gives Cal Wells his first win as a Winston Cup team owner, beat Jarrett by a margin of 0.141 seconds.

Dale Earnhardt Jr. and the No. 8 Budweiser team ran strong early, running as high as second place before handling difficulties dropped them deep in the field. Dale Jr. spun out and crashed hard into the wall in turn two on lap 276, and later spun his heavily damaged race car on lap 379. The Bud team completed 496 of the 500 laps.

Dale Jr said: "It's like trying to run a foot race, but you have to be on crutches or something. It felt like the car broke a shock in the right rear. There was something really wrong with it, and I just couldn't drive it fast at all. I'd just go into the corner and it would bounce and jerk around. You can't go in hard or you'll just wreck. I had to stay off the gas until I was on the straightaway. Before that, the car was quite good, we were haulin' butt in second place, and then after some pit stops, we were working our way through traffic along with guys like Jarrett and (Jeff) Gordon."