The first half of the 2003 season has been like an elevator ride for Ricky Craven and the No. 32 Pontiac.

Early in the campaign, Craven appeared headed for the series' penthouse, quickly climbing to fifth-place in the Winston Cup standings after earning the second Cup win of his career. Not only did that triumph come at one of the most difficult tracks on the circuit, Darlington (S.C.) Raceway, it was also the closest finish in modern-day Winston Cup racing, as Craven just nipped Kurt Busch by .02 of a second at the finish line.

Unfortunately for Craven, he could not sustain that fifth-place ranking, fluctuating between sixth- and ninth-place over the next five starts. Even so, he was just happy to be in the top-10 and being a strong contender.

And then the elevator ride that had looked so promising early on suddenly became a freefall. In his last eight starts, Craven has five finishes of 21st or worse, including three of 38th or lower.

In fact, Craven, whose average finish this season is just one tick above 20th-place, hasn't seen a top-5 finish since Talladega (Ala.) back in early April.

In that same eight-race time frame, Craven has qualified horribly, with seven starts of 20th or worse; the eighth start wasn't that much better, at 17th-place.

"Our qualifying has put us at a deficit most weeks," admits Craven, who has a 25th-place starting position average this season. "I feel like we've shown that it's not that you can't overcome it, but you know there's an easier way of doing things. We've made a priority of getting our car running well in race trim for Sunday, but your qualifying effort affects other areas, like pit selection. We've had to make up a lot of track position, which is always a challenge."

And worst of all, Craven has dropped down, down and further down in the standings, to where he comes into this weekend's New England 300 in 17th place.

Can't someone, anyone, please push the stop button on this elevator ride?

If PPI Motorsports team owner Cal Wells has anything to say about it, that downward express will end soon, perhaps as early as this weekend. Craven, a native of Maine, considers NHIS his home track, but has struggled for the most part there, with an average career finish of 24th-place in the 13 career starts he's had there. Even worse, he's only finished in the top-10 at NHIS twice in that stretch, including a sixth-place showing in his last race there last September.

"Well, I think (the season) could be better," Wells said. "To be honest, the first seven, eight, 10 races I was very encouraged. We were significantly ahead of our point total from last year and things were going pretty well. They still are going well, but we have had a couple of challenges. We had a bit of a problem at Michigan that took us out of a top-5 (finish) anyway, and we got caught up in an accident at Daytona and both of those hurt us pretty badly in the points.

"Then we just blew it last week at Chicago (qualified 26th, finished 25th, battled handling problems all race). We could not find the right handle on the car and we certainly couldn't get it to Ricky's liking on that very, very smooth track there and we slipped a little bit. I am very encouraged about our second-half opportunities, though. There's a good relationship between our crew chief, Scott Miller, and Ricky, and it's an opportunity for us now that we've been everywhere.

"To go back to some of these places (for a second time this season) will really help us. New Hampshire, even though we haven't gone there yet prior to this weekend, we did test there and I'm very encouraged about that. I do think we have an opportunity to win another race this year and hopefully drag ourselves back up into the top 10 in points."

While Craven considers NHIS one of his favorite racetracks on the Winston Cup circuit, it's not easy to forget that the track has been beset by tragedy and controversy in recent years. Budding superstars Adam Petty and Kenny Irwin Jr. both died within 60 days of each other and at almost the same point of impact on the track in crashes there two years ago.

Last season, drivers complained vocally about the raceway surface being too rough and pitted, prompting track owners to repave the entire track during the off-season.

NASCAR has added yet another element to the mix by installing the so-called energy absorbing "soft walls" at NHIS for this weekend's race.

"I'm not looking forward to testing the soft wall, but I am excited about them doing it," Craven said. "I say that tongue-in-cheek.

"I think it's more peace of mind. If it weren't brought up, I don't think anyone would notice, but in the back of your mind and knowing that it's there, it's a comfort. Hopefully, nobody will test them this weekend, but the fact that we are moving forward is positive."

In yet another move toward increasing the safety ceiling, drivers will be racing on a harder tire compound this weekend.

"There are other racetracks that have changed more dramatically than what NHIS has," Craven said. "NHIS has changed a lot, but they've improved the surface a lot. The surface we tested on last week had more grip than anything I've experienced in several years. … I think the track is going to lend itself to great racing this weekend and I'm excited about being back there.

"A lot of people have asked me if we can expect to see three-wide racing. It's still a flat, one-mile track, so you're never going to see as much of that at New Hampshire as you will at a more banked facility. It's the same challenging racetrack it's always been. Having said that, I think it's a track that makes for some really exciting racing. You're never going to see someone get a half-lap lead like you do at some places."

And after all the struggles and tough luck he's gone through recently, if Craven can come out of Sunday's event with a strong finish, he may be back on that elevator ride up toward the top-10 and beyond.

Jerry Bonkowski covers NASCAR for ESPN.com. He can be reached at Motorsportwriter@Yahoo.com.