NASCAR’s closest race still links Kurt Busch and Ricky Craven, 20 years later

Twenty years is a long time, but still, Ricky Craven vividly remembers the sequence of events. Same goes for Kurt Busch. And both embrace their respective roles in what is one of the most memorable finishes in NASCAR history.

It was the 2003 spring Cup Series race at Darlington Raceway, a race Craven thought he won but wasn’t 100 percent certain. It wasn’t clear whether he had actually beaten Busch in a side-by-side photo finish for the ages, so he waited for confirmation. Busch was uncertain, too. So he also waited for his team to inform him of the outcome, though he suspected that Craven had narrowly edged him because when he looked over to his left at Craven’s car, he thought his window net didn’t exactly align with Craven’s.

For a beat, then another, both waited for official word from NASCAR. A few seconds felt significantly longer.

“I didn’t know. I had no idea,” Craven said.

“I kept hoping (my team) would come over the radio telling me I had won,” Busch said.

When word came down from the scoring tower, Craven was declared the winner. The margin of victory was 0.002 seconds. That was the closest finish in Cup Series history, one that has since been equaled (April 2011 at Talladega Superspeedway) but never surpassed.

March 16, 2003: 19 years ago, Ricky Craven beat Kurt Busch by .002 seconds at Darlington Raceway.
— FOX: NASCAR (@NASCARONFOX) March 16, 2022

Television has shown the finish an immeasurable number of times. It’s become a part of NASCAR’s fabric, held up as the embodiment of stock car racing at its highest level because of the physical, full-contact nature of a finish that looked like something straight out of a Hollywood blockbuster.

“I watched that race back a lot, and Dad and I talked about it,” said Ryan Blaney, whose father, Dave, finished third that afternoon. “A couple more laps (Dad) might have won, he was kind of tracking those guys down when they were racing hard. But that’s, obviously, a historic finish.”

The 2003 race’s conclusion also marks another occurrence in the lives of Craven and Busch — it sewed a bond between two men who found themselves indelibly linked by an event that became bigger than them.

Similar to how brothers Bobby and Donnie Allison are forever associated with Cale Yarborough due to their infamous fight during the 1979 Daytona 500 that occurred before a national television viewing audience, Darlington is often mentioned whenever the respective careers of Craven and Busch are discussed.

From that connection, a genuine friendship formed and remains intact today.

“(Kurt’s) had a brilliant, brilliant career. He’s a champion,” Craven said. “But I just think it’s amazing how he’s been married to this moment and because of that, he and I are considerably closer than we would have been.

“There is mutual respect, there’s nothing I wouldn’t do for Kurt. If he called and said he’s in a jam, I’d do my best to help him out.”

If there had been any hurt feelings between Craven and Busch, it would’ve been understandable. Losing a race in that manner stings. That’s amplified when taking into account that Darlington, NASCAR’s oldest speedway, is revered among drivers as a track that best exhibits their abilities. A win at the track “Too Tough to Tame” carries special meaning.

Then and now, Craven is surprised that Busch never seemed to get upset. If anyone would’ve had a reason to, it would’ve been the driver who finished second that day. With 15 laps remaining, Busch held a three-second lead only to see it evaporate due to a power steering issue. When Craven did catch him and attempt to pass, he squeezed Busch into the outside wall.

When Craven — so sure that Busch would be angry — saw Busch walking toward victory lane, he began looking for an escape route.

“I was very skeptical of Kurt when I first saw him coming,” Craven said. “He’s coming by himself, not coming to celebrate; he’s marching toward me in victory lane. My kids were with me, and I thought this probably could be salty, so I actually, a little defensively, began walking out of victory lane from him. And when we got within 20 feet of one another, he said that was amazing. It was the exact opposite of what I expected from Kurt.”

Kurt Busch (top) battles Ricky Craven during the final lap of the 2003 spring race at Darlington. Craven’s 0.002-second victory is tied for NASCAR’s closest ever. (Jamie Squire / Getty Images)

As he reminisced about his feelings that day, Busch paused to compose himself. Not once, he explained, was he angry about losing. Quite the opposite, actually.

That day, Busch understood the significance of what had just transpired. So, when Busch got out of his car, he went to victory lane not to confront Craven but to congratulate him. Busch respected that Craven raced him hard but clean. And while Craven could’ve slammed Busch or even turned him, he did not.

“I was like, ‘How freaking cool,’” Busch said. “Right away, I knew something special happened. That’s why I made it a point to go to victory lane with a smile on my face.”

Both Craven and Busch say they’ve seen the finish countless times. When Craven sees the replay, he thinks back to his childhood growing up in Newburgh, Maine, watching the 1975 World Series between the Boston Red Sox and Cincinnati Reds in which Carlton Fisk, his favorite player, seemingly waved a potential foul ball into a walk‐off home run in Game 6.

From Craven’s viewpoint, Darlington was akin to Fisk’s home run. Something that cements his name in the NASCAR record well beyond being a driver who won two Cup races. (He started his last Cup race in 2004, then retired from NASCAR completely after the 2006 season.)

“I didn’t break any records,” Craven said. “But being involved in one of the closest finishes, one of the most exciting finishes, gave people a reason to remember me. … I experienced a walk‐off home run in the bottom of the 11th inning. And the fans reacted the same way.”

Busch sees the race from various perspectives.

Looking back, Busch wouldn’t change anything about how he attempted to fend off Craven. Not losing power steering would’ve helped, though that was beyond his control. On that day, Craven got the better of him.

“It still feels like it happened yesterday, and I still feel like I’m going to win,” Busch said, laughing.

Another perspective: Although he’s had a Hall of Fame‐worthy career that includes a Cup championship and Daytona 500 win, Busch also had a starring role in the closest finish in Cup history. This gives him a unique distinction, a career highlight even if he didn’t leave with the trophy.

“That was a very special day,” Busch said. “And I don’t get tired of telling the story. Like, it’s really so much fun to finish second in this story.”

Both Craven and Busch will attend Sunday’s Cup race at Darlington, serving as honorary starters. Each is enthusiastically looking forward to seeing the other. Undoubtedly, they will reminisce about the two laps that created an all‐time classic finish that forever tethered them together.

“It’s quite common and expected, and to some degree easy, to celebrate Jeff Gordon, Jimmie Johnson, Dale Earnhardt, David Pearson, Cale Yarborough and others,” Craven said. “It’s maybe not so easy to celebrate me, Ricky Craven, and to celebrate Kurt Busch finishing second. But what separates this race from all others is that it wasn’t as much about two drivers as it was about the moment. And I think the proof of that is that Kurt Busch has celebrated this race probably as much as I have. It’s been just remarkable.”

GO DEEPER

2023 NASCAR Driver Tiers, post-Kansas: Denny Hamlin asserts himself as a favorite

(Top photo: ISC Archives / CQ-Roll Call Group via Getty Images)