DARLINGTON, SC (March 6, 2002) - Jack Sprague will tell you straight up he isn't too excited about returning to Darlington Raceway for next weekend's Darlingtonraceway.com 200. After all, the driver of the No. 24 NetZero Chevrolet Monte Carlo hasn't exactly set the world on fire in his seven previous trips to the legendary 1.366-mile oval, but hopes to turn over a new leaf this time around.

"I'm not looking forward to racing at Darlington as much as some of the other tracks I've done well at," Sprague said. "I know my past runs in a Busch Series car weren't very impressive. I've had my fair share of starts at Darlington, but never any success. When I ran a few Busch races at Darlington early in my career, I wasn't the driver I am now. There's no substitute for experience, especially at a place like Darlington. Now I have better equipment, more patience and a great team behind me. I'd really like to have a good run at Darlington because it would mean a lot considering the history there."

Sprague added to the history of NASCAR's oldest superspeedway when he won the Bud Pole for the first-ever NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series race at the track one year ago. Sprague was one of three drivers to lead the inaugural Darlington 200 before Mother Nature and Lady Luck decided to tag-team his fate.

"I thought I had last year's Darlington Truck Series race won," said Sprague. "We had a good truck all day and led quite a bit of the race. I even won the Bud Pole, something I was very proud of given it was the first time the trucks competed there. Late in the race, I was running second and it started to rain. The race was red flagged and during the rain delay, the left-rear tire on my truck went flat. When the race went back to yellow-flag  conditions, we pitted for tires and came back out 12th. Then it started to rain again and the race never went back green. We wound up 12th instead of second or even winning the race. The combination of rain and a tire that went flat during the red flag completely killed our chances. It was a pretty frustrating way to end the race."

Sprague rebounded from the Darlington disaster to win a record third NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series championship. This year, the Spring Lake, MI driver returned to the Busch Series taking his title-winning Hendrick Motorsports team and primary sponsor NetZero with him. Sprague has been more than up to the task to date scoring three Top-10 finishes in as many events including a sixth in the Sam's Town 300 last weekend at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. The solid start to the season has Sprague in a place he's accustomed to - at the top of the point standings - heading into the Darlington event.

"The season has been going really well for us so far," said Sprague. "This Hendrick Motorsports team hasn't let up since the beginning of the season. We are just as hungry to win in the Busch Series as we were in the Truck Series. We're all looking forward to the race at Darlington. It's not our favorite track, but hopefully we can keep the NetZero Chevy up front and make it a good track for us."

The Darlingtonraceway.com 200 will take the green flag Saturday, March 16 at 1 p.m. Eastern Standard Time. The event will be the fourth of 34 NASCAR Busch Series races this season and will be telecast live on FX. MRN Radio will also broadcast the race live on more than 300 affiliated stations worldwide.

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