Sprague, NetZero Chevy Stay Hot at "The Rock"
ROCKINGHAM, NC (February 23, 2002) - Jack Sprague's successful return to
the NASCAR Busch Series continued Saturday at North Carolina Speedway with a
sixth-place in the 1866RBCTERM.com 200.
"That wasn't too bad a finish," said Sprague, who opened the season with
a seventh-place effort at Daytona Beach, FL a week ago. "I'm definitely not
complaining about another Top-10. I was waiting for this race. I love
slippery tracks like Rockingham and it turned out we had another pretty good
finish."
Sprague's No. 24 NetZero Chevrolet Monte Carlo posted the seventh
quickest time in qualifying rolling to a lap of 152.417 miles per hour.
While the run was a solid Top-10 effort, Sprague was disappointed with the
effort after rolling to the fastest time in the morning practice session.
"I wanted to sit on the pole so bad, Sprague said. "We had an awesome
test here a few weeks ago and I really thought after practice, we'd be at
the top, but the car was a tick loose. I even hit the rev limiter a couple
times. It's a bit disappointing, but qualifying is everything if you're
going to have a decent finish here."
Sprague managed to have an uneventful first portion of Saturday's event
on the ultra-tough 1.017-mile Rockingham oval. On Lap 43, Sprague had his
first close call of the day when he got tapped from behind by Scott Riggs.
Fortunately, Sprague managed to save the car and continue on. "The
NetZero Chevrolet wanted to push up the racetrack all day," Sprague stated.
"It got a little exciting there with Riggs for awhile, but it could have
been worse if me and Riggs kept at it."
Sprague had a second brush with disaster falling to 19th in the running
order just past the halfway point of the race as he battled his ill-handling
car. To make matters worse, Sprague damaged the right-front fender of his
mount when he was unable to slow in time to miss a collision on the back
straight. Lady Luck was on his side, however, as a caution flew on Lap 114
allowing Sprague to steer his NetZero Chevy to pit road for fresh tires,
chassis adjustments and some minor body repair.
"I got into the No. 38 car (Christian Elder)," Sprague stated. "I guess
he checked up when he got into it with another car. I'm just really glad
that we didn't have more damage than we did, otherwise our day would have
been pretty bad."
In the end, Sprague was able to charge back to the front waging a
spirited battle with NASCAR Winston Cup Series driver Jimmy Spencer over the
final 20 laps capping the run with a pass for sixth on the next to last lap.
"We've raced a speedway car and short track car so far this year with no
problems," Sprague said. "Hendrick Motorsports put this Busch program
together and have given me awesome equipment to race. I think this team has
really got it together."
Sprague earned $17,350 for his second Top-10 finish of the season. The
three-time and defending NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series champion is now third
in the standings after two events.
"I'm really happy with the ways things have gone so far," Sprague said.
"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. We go to
Las Vegas next week and that's one of my favorite tracks to race at. We have
a good thing going. We tested there a few weeks ago and we were extremely
fast, so maybe be able to score our first win of the season there."
The Sam's Town 300 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway will take the green flag
Saturday, March 2 at 3:30 p.m. Eastern Standard Time. The event on the
1.5-mile LVMS oval will be telecast live on FX and broadcast worldwide on
MRN Radio.
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