Jack Sprague Richmond Report

NO. 24 NETZERO CHEVROLET MONTE CARLO
RICHMOND INTERNATIONAL RACEWAY POST-RACE NOTES & QUOTES

RACE STATS:
RACE DATE:       Friday, September 6, 2002
TRACK:       Richmond International Raceway
DIVISION:       NASCAR Busch Series
STARTED:       24th
FINISHED:       33rd
PTS. POSITION: 4thd with 3343 points

RACE OVERVIEW:
    Jack Sprague finished 33rd in the FUNAI 250 NASCAR Busch Series event at Richmond International Raceway Friday. The disappointing result cost Sprague and the NetZero team their third-place status in the series point battle.
    Sprague's rough ride began well before the event as the No. 24 NetZero Chevy posted the 24th quickest lap in qualifying. The Spring Lake, MI driver was banking on having the car he had in practice to get him to the front early on in the race, but the cards didn't fall to Sprague's advantage.  Sprague's NetZero Chevy started out a bit tight, but according to Sprague, a really good car.  His only luck came early as he managed to survive a number of cautions, as well as a red flag condition. That all changed on Lap 126 when Sprague and the No. 46 car of Ashton Lewis got together.  The result was a flaming wreck and a great deal of damage to the No. 24 ride. Sprague drove behind the wall for major repair to both the front and back ends of the car.Sprague returned to the track on Lap 200 and made a number of additional visits on pit road for the remainder of the event.
     
JACK SPRAGUE POST RACE QUOTES:

SPRAGUE'S THOUGHTS ON FINISH:
"The car I had tonight was seriously one of the best I've had.  It was awesome at Darlington last week and we all thought, even with the terrible qualifying run, that we'd have a good race. I'm trying hard to stay calm about what happened with Ashton (Lewis) tonight.  We ended up with a destroyed car, but the NetZero team did a hell of a job getting the repairs done and me back on the track.  There was so much going on - tools flying and everyone running around.  It's like my crew chief Dennis Connor said on the radio after the race - they all did a great job and looked extremely professional and organized.  I'm proud to have them on my side."


ON STARTING POSITION:
"We had a really fast car in practice and didn't expect the awful laps I ran. I really thought I was going to run in the neighborhood of a 21.47 or close to it.  The car just went crazy on me and just went up the track going into Turn 3.  Starting that far back knowing you have a really good car is hard to grasp because you have more going on in your head when the race starts and if something happens, will you get through it okay."


ON THE POINTS RACE:
"We've had trouble for weeks now and weren't able to shake the third spot and now we fell to fourth.  It sucks and I hate thinking about it because we're better than the finishes we've been having. I know it doesn't show right now, but I'm hoping it will soon. Biffle and Keller have been so consistent and then you have Scott Wimmer who came right up there.  We're really trying to focus on having good qualifying runs and some more top finishes right now and hopefully everything will come into play."