OXNARD, CA  (April 19, 2002) - Haas Automation, Inc., one of the leading manufacturers of industrial tools worldwide, announced today that it has formed a Winston Cup Team that will run a select-event schedule of races this season with driver Jack Sprague. Sprague and the team will then enter the Winston Cup ranks on a full-time basis beginning with the 2003 Daytona 500 at Daytona Beach, FL. Haas Automation, a long-time sponsor of Hendrick Motorsports, will receive assistance from the five-time NASCAR Winston Cup championship organization in making this new team possible.

According to Sprague, the No. 60 Haas Automation Chevrolet Monte Carlo will make its debut at Charlotte (NC) in the Coca-Cola 600, Sunday, May 26.

"I have been waiting a long time to get the right opportunity to go Winston Cup racing," said Sprague, the three-time NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series champion now racing in the NASCAR Busch Series. "I've had opportunities in the past, but they just weren't structured in a way that would give me and the team all the ingredients needed for success. This new association with Haas Automation has everything needed to make the deal go, both on and off the track. This deal was worth the wait."

Located in Oxnard, CA, Haas Automation is the largest, most modern machine tool manufacturing operation in the United States. The company manufactures four major product lines and has nearly 750 employees. Haas Automation builds a full line of CNC vertical machining centers, horizontal machining centers, CNC lathes, rotary tables and 5C indexers. Haas machine tools and rotary products are built to deliver higher accuracy, repeatability and more durability than any other machine tools on the market.

Haas Automation, which also serves as a major associate sponsor on Sprague's No. 24 NetZero Chevy NASCAR Busch Series entry this season, has sold more than 40,000 rotary tables and 32,000 CNC machines throughout the world. The company ships more CNC machines per month than any other U.S. manufacturer.

In addition to the Charlotte Winston Cup event in May, Sprague and his No. 60 Haas Automation Chevy will compete at New Hampshire International Speedway (Sept. 15), Lowe's Motor Speedway (Oct. 13), Atlanta Motor Speedway (Oct. 27) and Homestead-Miami Speedway (Nov. 17). Additional races are also being considered at this time.

The effort will be fielded out of HAAS CNC RACING headquarters located in Harrisburg, NC. Joe Custer is the team's General Manager, while Sprague's current and long-time crew chief, Dennis Connor, will also serve in that capacity for the new Winston Cup team. Hendrick Motorsports will provide cars, engines and technical assistance for the team.

For more information about Haas Automation, Inc, please visit the company's website at www.Haascnc.com.