Jack Sprague Wants Third Guitar for Trophy Case

Mooresville, NC – Jack Sprague proudly displays two Gibson guitars won at previous Nashville, TN NASCAR races in his Concord, NC home. The first came in 1997 at Nashville Speedway USA, the .596-mile track that first hosted the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series in Music City, USA.

Sprague added a second specially designed Gibson to his trophy case in 2002 when he won the NASCAR Busch Series race at Nashville Superspeedway. But the Spring Lake, MI native doesn’t think two is enough.

“The guitar you get for winning at Nashville is about the coolest trophy we race for,” said Sprague. “I definitely think one of those would look great resting on the roof of my No. 16 IWX Racing Chevy Trucks Silverado in victory lane this weekend. I could make room in the trophy case for another one.”

IWX Racing has taken the trip to the Nashville Superspeedway winner’s circle as well, winning in 2002 with driver Mike Bliss on their way to their first NCTS championship. Bliss started the race from the pole after setting the current track record.

“Dave (Fuge, team manager), Chris (Showalter, crew chief) and the guys know how to win here,” Sprague continued. “In 2002 they gave Bliss a truck strong enough to break the track record and win the race. That’s a pretty impressive performance. Last year Travis (Kvapil, defending NCTS champion) had a good run and scored a top-10 finish.

“With the luck we’ve been having, this team really needs to qualify strong and race hard to the checkered. Getting a good finish would be a tremendous boost for our team. We all know we can run fast and be a contender for the win. We all want to win. We just need a few things to fall our way mechanically and we will be there. Taking the guitar home would be icing on the cake.”

In the last three races, Sprague has sat on the pole twice only to finish 29th, 27th and 18th respectively. With just five laps remaining, a right front tire failure ended his bid for the win at St. Louis. A blown engine at Michigan ended a strong run with just seven laps remaining in the race. The loss of a cylinder on the eighth lap at Indianapolis Raceway Park curtailed what looked to be a strong night for the only three-time NCTS champion.

“It seems that most everyone goes through streaks like this in racing,” Sprague concluded. “It is part of the deal. You just can’t get down, can’t point fingers and can’t quit working together as a team. This Chevy Trucks Silverado team has five championships between the team and the driver. We know how hard it is to win these races and these championships. If we just keep to our plan and do what we know is the right thing for us, we will get the finishes and the wins.”

The Toyota Tundra 200 at Nashville Superspeedway will take the green flag Saturday, August 14, 2004 at 4:00 PM CDT. Live television coverage will be provided by SPEED TV. MRN and XM Satellite Radio will broadcast the action live over the airwaves.