Not yet ready for retirement but also not the fresh face sought by teams at the top levels of a sport that gets younger every year, 39-year-old Ricky Craven has reached another crossroads in a driving career that's been defined recently by difficult decisions.

A free agent for the first time in five winters, he's still determined to settle what he feels is unfinished business within the world of Nextel Cup. And in order to initiate a return to NASCAR's premier tour, the former Concord resident is willing to let his future ride on what amounts to a high-risk game of musical chairs.

"When the music stops, I might be left without a seat," he said yesterday from his North Carolina business office, "but I'm comfortable with that."

Already having turned down what he termed "intriguing offers" to fill full-time rides in Busch and Truck, Craven's plan is essentially to sit on the sidelines and wait for temporary openings to appear in the Cup circuit next season. The goal is to impress owners in whatever limited opportunities he has, thereby putting himself in position to secure a permanent seat in 2007.

There's an outside chance Craven could return to the Nextel Cup circuit with former boss Cal Wells for the coming season. Talks with the PPI Motorsports team continue, though it's getting late in Silly Season and circumstances would need to change for that offer to be acceptable. Craven is interested in signing a one-year deal with a competitive, multi-car operation that will give him a crack at achieving the coveted win that drives his determination to this day: victory at New Hampshire International Speedway.

And he's confident that opportunity will come along.

"I absolutely believe I'll be racing again, and I expect to race Nextel Cup," Craven said. "I just don't know where, or when, or who it will be with. At this time it doesn't appear it's going to be full-time in 2006, and I'm okay with that."

Craven's confidence is fostered by the fact he's taken this type of approach before. In 2000, finally healthy after suffering the aftereffects of post-concussion syndrome two years prior, he ran 16 races for Hal Hicks rather than forcing the issue with a full-time operation. It paid off when he agreed to compete for Cal Wells just before Christmas that year, beginning a partnership that lasted three and a half years; during that time, Craven enjoyed his only two Cup wins and finished as high 15th in points.

Wells and Craven parted ways prior to the finish of 2004, but the driver would not deny that it is Wells with whom he is currently negotiating his Cup return. As the only driver in the past five years to win as part of a single-car team, Craven said after the split he would return only to a multi-car outfit. He intends to honor that statement -and it could be part of a PPI expansion.

"The fact is, Cal and I have had discussions," said Craven, who has raced for eight owners in parts of 11 Cup seasons. "Cal is a friend, and although the circumstances in 2004 were uncomfortable for both of us, we'd certainly entertain racing together again. Part of my criteria is that he become a bigger company, because that is key in all of us having success together. He certainly is headed in that direction.

"He's working hard to build his race team and his company, and I'm not sure that's going to happen, but I wouldn't rule out racing with the Tide team again. We've had discussions, but we're not there. I think it's a stretch to think that could happen right now."

It is expected that Bobby Hamilton Jr., who replaced Craven, will be out of the No. 32 car next season after he finished 36th, but the point is fast approaching when it will be too tough to start a second team in time for the season opener at Daytona in February.

Without that second operation, Craven would rather take each ride as it comes, waiting for drivers to be released or filling voids when certain Cup owners need stopgaps. He also plans to run on the Busch tour from time to time, and anticipates returning to the Craftsman Truck Series - where he finished 14th this year, and won a race, in his only season for owner Jack Roush - at least for events at NHIS and Martinsville.

But because his objective is to compete for the Cup again, Craven said he couldn't give 100 percent of his energy to a full season on the lesser circuits. And with only three or four years remaining in a NASCAR career that dates to his days with the Busch North Series in the early 1990s, he said it is essential he concentrates totally on the task at hand before his time runs out.

"I look at it in terms of my timetable, or my window of opportunity, and that's part of why I put myself in this position," Craven said. "I feel like if I chose a full-time opportunity in either a Busch Grand National or a Truck Series, I would eliminate the possibility of racing Nextel Cup next year, and that's my objective. My objective is to race Nextel Cup next year, and the year after."

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