Sprague, NetZero Chevy Gain Ground
with 15th-Place Finish at Michigan
BROOKLYN, MI (August 19, 2002) - Jack
Sprague drove his NetZero Chevrolet Monte Carlo to a 15th-place finish in
the Cabela's 250 at Michigan International Speedway Saturday and in the
process closed the gap in the 2002 NASCAR Busch Series points battle.
"I'm happy with today's results," said
Sprague. "We brought a brand new car here. It went to the wind tunnel on the
way to the track and we thought we'd have a really good car. We never
expected it to practice and qualify as terrible as it did. I was doing a lot
of praying this morning because I didn't think we had a prayer to salvage a
decent finish, but we definitely pulled it off."
Sprague started deep in the 43-car field
after qualifying his No. 24 NetZero Chevy 31st in Friday's time trial
session. A short green-flag run opened the event Saturday before a caution
flag on Lap 12 allowed Sprague to head to pit road where his NetZero crew
added four rounds of wedge to the chassis in an effort to get the Hendrick
Motorsports entry handling properly. More chassis adjustments and fresh
tires on another caution flag, this one on Lap 25, significantly helped
Sprague's car which suffered from lack of track time after wet weather
scuttled Friday's 'Happy Hour' session.
"I really think not having any Happy Hour
practice hurt us," said Sprague. "I guess it hurt everyone out their today,
but we needed it bad. The NetZero Chevy ended up being tight in the center
of the corner and a bit loose off during the race, but it wasn't miserable
to drive."
Still deep in the field after the early pit
stops, Sprague used the remaining laps to work his way through the field to
the solid 15th-place finish. Combined with engine failures by his chief
championship rivals, Greg Biffle and Jason Keller, Sprague was able to close
to within 206 points of the lead in the 2002 NBS championship chase.
"Today ended up being a good day for the
NetZero team," said Sprague, who earned $18,550 in prize money for the
Michigan effort. " A little more time and I think we would have had
something for a few of those guys in front. We weren't fighting to stay on
the lead lap this time, but fighting time and that's always better."
Next up for Sprague and the NetZero Chevy
will be the Food City 250 at Bristol Motor Speedway Friday, August 23 at 8
p.m. Eastern Daylight Time. The event will be telecast live on TNT. PRN
Radio will also broadcast the race live worldwide on more than 400 stations.
ABOUT NETZERO.
NetZero is a United Online company. United
Online is a leading value-priced Internet service provider that commenced
operations in September 2001 as the result of its acquisition of NetZero and
Juno Online Services -- two of the most recognized Internet access brands in
the United States and Canada. Through its subsidiaries, United Online offers
both free and value-priced Internet access services in more than 5,000
cities. The company is headquartered in Westlake Village, Calif., with
offices in New York City and Hyderabad, India. United Online's common stock
is traded on the Nasdaq National Market under the ticker symbol "UNTD." For
more information about NetZero and United Online, visit
http://www.unitedonline.net. To
obtain a NetZero CD, please call 1-800-DEFENDER.
