LAS VEGAS, NV (March 2, 2002) - "I've got me a hot rod here boys." Jack
Sprague radioed that message to his crew early in the Sam's Town 300 at Las
Vegas Motor Speedway Saturday and later made good on the statement rolling
to a sixth-place finish in the NASCAR Busch Series event. The solid effort
boosted the three-time and defending NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series champion
to the top of the Busch Series season standings - three points in front of
Randy Lajoie - after three events this season.
"The NetZero Chevy was just so fast all day," said Sprague, who has
finished in the Top-10 in all three events this season. "I was so fast all
day. I can't believe how awesome the car was."
Sprague's Monte Carlo posted the 18th-quickest time in qualifying Friday,
posting an average speed of 167.172 miles per hour on the 1.5-mile LVMS
oval. The lap was much slower than his posted practice speeds, but Sprague
and his Hendrick Motorsports team met their objective of making the race.
"Every time I think we're close to sitting on the pole, it goes in the
opposite direction for us," Sprague said. "I was a little disappointed at
the beginning of the weekend because we had such an awesome test here last
month. Not qualifying well didn't sit right with us."
Sprague, who dominated Las Vegas with two wins and three runner up
finishes in five Truck Series starts at the track, wasted little time
stomping his way through the field, making his way into the Top-10 by Lap
20. Running in the fourth position on Lap 84, Sprague narrowly avoided
disaster when he wound up getting into the No. 48 car of Kenny Wallace,
causing damage to the right front of his No. 24 NetZero Chevy.
"I don't have any excuse," Sprague stated. "I lost it on my own and told
my spotter that as soon as we wrecked. I hate that others were involved,
especially Shane Hmiel because he's destroyed three cars the last few weeks
and I know how that hurts. I owe them one."
The damage to Sprague's car wasn't as extensive as first thought as his
crew changed tires and taped up the front end never losing a lap in the
process.
"The guys did a great job of taping the car back up," Sprague said. "The
key was not to panic, but get it done quickly not to loose a lap and they
did. They did a beautiful job and the car was just a good as it was before
the damage."
Sprague was in the 21st spot on the restart and managed to fight his way
back into the Top-10 by Lap 110. After a pit stop under green flag
conditions dropped the Spring Lake, MI driver back to 24th with 40 laps to
go, Sprague made one final charge back to the front settling for sixth at
the finish.
"There is no doubt that I love racing at Vegas," Sprague said. "I'm
fortunate these first three races of the season have been good to us. We're
leading the points and getting closer to a win each week." Sprague earned
$25,500 for the finish. "I'm really happy with the ways things have gone so
far this season," Sprague stated. "This team is awesome and are determined
to get better as the weeks go on. Our pit stops are fast and I think we'll
start winning races soon."
Sprague next chance to do just that will come in the
Darlingtonraceway.com 200 at Darlington Raceway Saturday, March 16 at 1 p.m.
Eastern Standard Time. The event on the 1.366-mile Darlington oval will be
telecast live on FX and broadcast worldwide on MRN Radio.
ABOUT NETZERO -
