Jack Sprague
No. 2 American Commercial Lines
Team Race Preview
NASCAR Truck Series Race 5 of 25 — Kansas Speedway
 LOCKED
IN: The Kroger 250 at Martinsville (Va.) Speedway was the final
race in which the top 30 starting positions were set by 2007
owner points. Last season the No. 2 Chevrolet only competed
part-time in the Truck Series leaving them outside the top 30 in
Owners Point standings at the beginning of the 2008 season.
DeLana Harvick and the KHI No. 2 ACL Chevrolet have now gained
top 30 status and are locked into the field.
BEEN THERE RACED THAT: Sprague isn’t the only KHI team member
with experience behind the wheel at Kansas Speedway. No. 2 ACL
spotter and former NASCAR Nextel Cup driver Andy Houston has
completed a combined 353 laps at the 1.5-mile track competing in
one Truck Series and one Sprint Cup event at the facility.
“Kansas is a very nice facility,” said Houston. “It is really a
straight-forward track. You face a headwind down front stretch
and tailwind down the back. The key is getting your truck to
turn through the center of the corners.”
Jack Sprague Quotes:
WHAT MAKES THE KANSAS TRACK SO TOUGH?
“I have had some great trucks here; I have come so close to
winning. I really don’t know why this track is so difficult. I
guess it is because it’s not like any others on the circuit. I
remember in 2001 I was driving for Hendrick Motorsports, Ricky
Hendrick was my teammate. I had led a large majority of the
race, it was coming down into the closing laps and I broke a
motor. Ricky Hendrick went on to win his first and only Truck
race here. It was a bitter sweet feeling, we were all really
excited for Ricky but we really wanted that win.”
HOW DO YOU FEEL ABOUT THE TRUCK SERIES BEING PAIRED WITH THE IRL?
“The IRL has always been great to work with. It’s always fun and
different to be paired with that series. Not only is it fun to
watch those guys on track, but even at night in the motor home
lot, the IRL guys are always so friendly and easy to work with.”
HAVE YOU EVER DONE ANY OPEN WHEEL RACING YOURSELF?
“I have not done any open wheel racing, only stock cars.
However, I did have an opportunity in 2002 to be a part of the
International Race of Champions (IROC) series to meet a lot of
the IRL guys. Helio Castroneves, Al Unser and I had the chance
to run the IROC series together, compare cars, careers and
shared interests. That was really cool getting to know those
guys.”
ONE OF EIGHT… Kansas Speedway is one of only eight tracks on the
NASCAR Truck Series schedule where Sprague has yet to visit
victory lane. In five starts, Sprague has recorded one top-five
and two top-10 finishes. In 2007 Sprague finished third at
Kansas, trailing first-time winner Eric Darnell and veteran Rick
Crawford. Sprague led 10 laps during last year’s event.
CHASSIS HISTORY: The Kevin Harvick Inc. (KHI) No. 2 ACL team
will be taking chassis No. 023 to Kansas Speedway. This is a
brand new chassis that has not seen laps on the race track, but
has been tested in the wind tunnel and produced some promising
aerodynamic statistics. No. 023 is very similar to the truck
that the team ran in Atlanta where they finished sixth, their
first top-10 finish of the 2008 season.
PREVIOUS RACE RECAP: After setting a pole-winning track record
with a lap of 19.65 seconds at Martinsville (Va.) Speedway,
Sprague and the KHI No. 2 ACL team had high hopes for the day. A
long first pit stop relegated the team back in the pack. After
working their way back into the top-20, Sprague was caught up in
an incident and sustained heavy front-end damage on lap 115.
Sprague restarted in the 29th position. Within the next 100
laps, Sprague managed to recover back to the 15th position.
However, late in the race on lap 237 a flat left front tire
caused Sprague to spin on the backstretch, receiving heavy
left-front fender damage. With little time left to recover
Sprague and the KHI No. 2 ACL team finished 24th and are now in
15th in points after four races.
ABOUT AMERICAN COMMERCIAL LINES:
American Commercial Lines is a leader in the marine
transportation and manufacturing business. Through its
subsidiary companies, ACL owns and operates approximately 2,800
barges and 160 towboats; transporting a vast array of cargos
such as grain, coal, steel, chemicals, petroleum products,
edible oils, fertilizers and construction materials on the U.S.
inland waterways. ACL also owns the largest single-site
manufacturing facility for vessels in the United States,
offering technically advanced marine design and manufacturing
capabilities for both inland and ocean service vessels. ACL is
publicly traded on NASDAQ under the symbol ACLI. For more
information about ACL generally, visit
www.aclines.com.
ABOUT KEVIN HARVICK INC.:
Kevin Harvick Inc. (KHI), established in 2001, is a 70,000 sq.
ft. facility located in Kernersville, N.C. KHI houses two full
time Truck Series teams: the No. 33 Camping World/VFW Chevrolet
Silverado driven by three-time Truck Series champion Ron
Hornaday as well as the No. 2 American Commercial Lines (ACL)/RVs.com
Chevrolet Silverado driven by three-time Truck Series champion
Jack Sprague. KHI is also home to the No. 33 Camping
World/RoadLoans.com/ Rheem Chevrolet driven by two-time
Nationwide Series champion Kevin Harvick, Ron Hornaday and Cale
Gale and the No. 77 Rheem/VFW Chevrolet driven by Cale Gale and
Ron Hornaday competing in the NASCAR Nationwide Series. 2008
marks KHI’s fifth year of full-time competition in NASCAR’s
elite divisions. Please visit www.kevinharvickinc.com for more
information. |
