Jack Sprague / NetZero Chevy Suffer Hard Hit as Tempers
Flare at Bristol
Bristol, TN (March 25, 2002) - Jack Sprague's No. 24 NetZero Chevrolet
finished 19th in Saturday's Channellock 250 at Bristol Motor Speedway.
Sprague fell victim to some bad luck and hard hits beyond his control,
causing his damaged Hendrick Motorsports to finish the event five laps down.
It was the first time this season Sprague finished outside the Top 10 and
isn't something the Springlake, MI native is happy about.
"I don't have any idea what happened out there today," Sprague said.
"First the mess with the No. 49 car and then Jimmy Spencer hits me in the
rear on the last lap. If we were fighting for position it would be
different, but we were a number of laps down!"
Sprague's red, black and silver NetZero Monte Carlo's weekend didn't
start off any better than it ended. Sprague had to qualify for the event in
a back up car and posted the 31st quickest time, a lap of 121.829 miles per
hour on the .533-mile high-banked concrete oval.
"I was loose at the end of practice and just lost it and hit the wall. I
hate that it happened, but the guys worked hard and switched setups over.
The car actually ended up better during the final practice. It just didn't
qualify well. 31st wasn't what we were looking for as far as starting the
race went. The car was just so tight. I don't know what happened. It was the
same set-up as the primary car had, but it just pushed its butt off."
Sprague knew he had his work cut out for him, but all hope had been lost
on Lap 104 when. Joe Buford, driver of the No. 49 car got into Sprague,
causing minimal cosmetic damage, but left the NetZero Chevy with a bent
track bar. The crew worked to get their driver back on track. Sprague lost
laps, but was able to finish the race and gain points.
The final lap of the 133-mile event proved to be even more bizarre for
Sprague. Jimmy Spencer, driver of the No. 1 car drove down deep onto the
apron of the racetrack and came up into the NetZero Chevy. He hit Sprague in
the right rear quarter panel and sent him hard into the inside retaining
wall.
"We ended up in a huge mess out their today. I was already laps down, not
even running for the win so Jimmy's move was ridiculous," Sprague said. The
only car I was racing out there was the No. 14 of Larry Foyt and he ended up
getting in that last wreck. We had nothing to gain and neither did Jimmy
making that move. We just had to finish and would have brought the car home
in one piece. Jimmy wasn't the only one out there today that made some bad
moves. It's disappointing, but I'm going to keep my cool and look to the
next race. It's just unfortunate we've got a race car that's almost totally
destroyed."
"It just shows how our weekend went," said Sprague. "I was loose at the
end of Friday's practice and wound up hitting the wall. I hated that, but
the guys worked really hard switching over the setup to the backup car and
that ran even better than the primary did. Then all this. We had a good car
for today's race and think we could have escaped this place with another Top
10."
Sprague earned $15,840 for his 19th place finish and ended his streak of
four Top 10 finishes. The defending NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series champion
is now fourth in the championship standings, 50 points out of first place.
The No. 24 NetZero team have this weekend off, but will try turning their
luck around at Texas Motor Speedway. The O'Reilly 300 will take the green
flag Saturday, April 6 at 1 p.m. Eastern Standard Time. The event will be
the sixth of 34 NASCAR Busch Series races this season and will be telecast
live on FOX. MRN Radio will also broadcast the race live on more than 300
affiliated stations worldwide.
ABOUT NETZERO.
