Sprague, NetZero Chevy Ready to Conquer Nashville
Concrete
LEBANON, TN (April 6, 2002)
- Jack Sprague hasn't been dieting, but with the
weight of the ultra-fast speeds of Texas behind him, he'll probably look a
little thinner for this weekend's Pepsi 300 NASCAR Busch Series race at
Nashville Superspeedway. With just one previous start to their credit,
Sprague and his No. 24 NetZero Chevrolet haven't feasted on the newly ground
concrete Nashville track yet, but looking forward to his first visit in a
Busch car.
"This will be my
second race at Nashville and a first for me in a Busch car," said Sprague.
"We've been at this so long that there aren't many tracks where we don't
have a lot of previous experience and success to rely on. Nashville is one
of those places."
Sprague's previous seat time at the
1.33-mile Nashville tri-oval came in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series a
year ago. The Spring Lake, MI driver qualified his NetZero Chevrolet
Silverado on the outside pole for 2001 Federated Auto Parts 200.
"We had a pretty
decent truck at Nashville last year, but we didn't have the finish to back
it up," said Sprague, who came home 21st, nine laps down to event
winner Scott Riggs. "Hopefully, we can do a lot better than that this time
around. I'm sure the track will take some getting used with the concrete
being ground down, but that shouldn't really be a factor. The car we're
bringing this weekend is the same one that finished in the Top-10 at
Rockingham and Darlington. It's a good car and I'm sure my Hendrick
Motorsports guys will do a good job with the set-up even though we don't
have a lot of old notes because we only ran the Truck Series race last
year."
Sprague enters
the Nashville NBS event coming off a second-place finish in the most recent
series race at Texas Motor Speedway. He is currently second in the season
standings heading into the 225 Lap Nashville race.
"I'm certainly
not disappointed with our finish at Texas," said Sprague. "We had a really
good car. We didn't get to see victory lane, but I don't really know if we
would have even if the race stayed green. We had no choice and had to take
four tires on the last pit stop because if we didn't, we would have been a
sitting duck."
"I'm just glad
Texas wound up being a safe race," said Sprague of the ultra-fast Fort Worth
oval. "Those aren't the speeds you want to be running week after week and
I'm sure everyone is breathing a sigh of relief as we head to Nashville. I
know we're getting closer and closer each week, so maybe Nashville will be
our best yet."
The Pepsi 300
NASCAR Busch Series race at Nashville Superspeedway will take the green flag
Saturday, April 13 at 3 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time. The event will be the
seventh of 34 NASCAR Busch Series races this season and will be telecast
live on FX. MRN Radio will also broadcast the race live.
ABOUT NETZERO.
NetZero is a United Online
company. United Online is a leading 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
