In Part I, PPI Motorsports arrived on the scene for the 2000 season. Fast forward to the 2002-2006 seasons, and we would see the team go through two more manufacturer switches, and three more drivers before it all came to an end.
2002:Â
The 2002 season looked to be a promising one for PPI and Craven. Coming off a surprisingly good season in 2001, 2002 did not disappoint for the 32 team. While the team did go winless, the team showed speed on a weekly basis. By season’s end, Craven and PPI had collected (2) poles, (3) Top 5’s, and (9) Top 10’s enroute to a 15th place finish in the standings. Craven and PPI were off to an amazing start together, with everything finally starting to fall into place.
2003:
The 2003 season would see change again for the PPI crew. Owner Cal Wells made the decision to switch from Ford to Pontiac for 2003. The switch would pay immediate dividends as the beginning of the season showed results. This early season success included the popular victory in Darlington against Kurt Busch (this is still the closest margin in NASCAR history at 0.002 seconds). The win would also prove to be Pontiac’s last win ever in NASCAR’s big leagues.Â
After such a successful start to 2003, the wheels quickly fell off after the early season surge, with the 32 collecting DNF’s and relegating Craven to a 27th place points finish, despite the popular Darlington win, and a performance similar to 2002 numbers-wise.
2004:
PPI had high hopes for the 2004 season, but as often happens in racing, the wheels essentially fell off, due to many factors. The first was the discontinuing of Pontiac as a brand entirely, which forced PPI to switch to fielding Chevrolets. Performance started to suffer unexpectedly, with Craven finishing no better than 16th in the first Martinsville race. This led to Craven and Wells parting ways (although Craven would make one more start in the 32 at Loudon, finishing 17th).
Wells needed a new driver after the departure of Craven, enter Busch Series standout Bobby Hamilton, Jr. for the remainder of 2004. Unfortunately, the driver change did not yield much success, as their rookie driver would also struggle. By seasons end, Hamilton, Jr, would only manage an 11th-place finish at Richmond, and struggle to a Top 20 finish most weeks.
Ricky Craven would also make one other start in the fall at Talladega for Joe Gibbs Racing. Craven would finish 30th in the No. 11 Old Spice Chevrolet, having replaced J.J. Yeley for the event
2005:
The new season saw Bobby Hamilton, Jr. return, but the team would struggle again, failing to score a single Top 10 with their Rookie of the Year contender. The drop in performance caused owner Wells to give road course racer Ron Fellows the call to drive the 32 at Infineon Raceway, which brought an 8th-place finish. Hamilton, Jr. would officially finish 36th in points for 2005, and was released.
2006:
With the release of Hamilton, Jr. the previous season, Wells and PPI would need a new driver yet again. For 2006, Travis Kvapil was hired to drive the No. 32 Tide Chevrolet as a rookie contender. The addition of Kvapil gave the team high hopes, as Kvapil was coming off an extremely successful Truck Series run. However, this would not be the case, as the team was almost reverting back to their 2000 struggles.
Kvapil failed to qualify for 5 races in his rookie season, as the success of the team continued to plumet, proving the team’s best days may be behind them. The team struggled mightily in the races he did start, finishing no better than 19th twice (Pocono and Kansas). This caused Wells to yet again call on Ron Fellows to drive at Watkins Glen and Infineon Raceway, producing finishes of 37th and 32nd (due to a penalty after Fellows skipped part of the course at Watkins Glen).Â
The lack of success saw PPI meet their end following the 2006 season. Sponsor Tide left the team, and Kvapil was released. During the off-season, it was announced that Wells sold the team’s owner points to Michael Waltrip Racing, thus ending PPI Motorsports’ run in NASCAR’s top ranks.
