Fort Worth, TX (April 4, 2002) - Jack Sprague isn't looking to strike oil
at Texas Motor Speedway. Instead, Sprague and his No. 24 NetZero team will
be digging into their old NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series notebook and current
test information for something much more valuable to them - their first
NASCAR Busch Series victory.
"I always look forward to racing at Texas," said Sprague, who won last
year's NCTS spring race at the 1.5-mile tri-oval. "It's such a fast track.
You carry so much speed in the corner and patience is a must if you're
looking to avoid a disaster. A great handling package and horsepower is what
you need at Texas and I think we'll have all that in our NetZero Chevy."
Sprague enters the Texas NBS event coming off a disappointing 19th-place
finish in the most recent series race at Bristol Motor Speedway. The sub par
finish broke Sprague's streak of scoring a Top-10 finish in every event this
season. He is currently fourth in the season standings heading into the
Texas NBS clash.
"Our performance at Bristol wasn't what we were looking for, but that's
behind us," Sprague said. "The cards have played into our hands at Texas
when it came to having really good trucks in the past. We won and knew what
we needed to be in contention for the win at the end of the race. I'm
confident we'll have the same opportunities and the potential to win with
our Busch car."
Sprague has had more than his share of success at the Texas oval. In
addition to his 2001 O'Reilly 400 NCTS win, Sprague finished third in the
Truck Series race at Texas last fall. Sprague also owns a fifth-place 1999
NCTS finish and a sixth-place NCTS effort in 1998.
Sprague's only NBS start at Texas was the 2000 Albertson's 300. His seat
time was cut short that day due to fuel pump problems.
Sprague and his Hendrick Motorsports team had an impressive two-day test
in order to prepare for this year's Texas NBS event and are eager to cash in
on their efforts.
"I would like to see gain a lot of points at Texas," said Sprague. "The
guys have always given me really good trucks at Texas in the past and like a
lot of these other tracks, we're hoping the notes carry over. The Truck
Series win last June kicked this team's determination up a notch. It was the
spark that eventually won us the championship. This team is ready to win in
the Busch Series and Texas would be a great place for us to get our first
one of the season."
The O'Reilly 300 NASCAR Busch Series race will take the green flag
Saturday, April 6 at 1 p.m. Eastern Standard Time. The event will be the
sixth of 34 NASCAR Busch Series races this season and will be telecast live
on FOX. PRN Radio will also broadcast the race live.
ABOUT NETZERO.
