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Jack Sprague Kansas Preview

Monday April 21, 2008

 

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.

QUICK NOTES
Race Info

April 26, 2008
Kansas Speedway
O'Reilly Auto Parts 250

Race length: 130 Laps/202.2 Miles
Banking/Turns: 24-degrees in turns;
5-degrees on straight-a-ways
Track layout: 1.54-mile
Shape: Quad-oval

Pre-Race Schedule
Friday:
Final Practice: 3:30-5:50 p.m., ET
Saturday:
Qualifying: 12:30 p.m., ET

TV and Radio: The O'Reilly Auto Parts 250 can be seen live on SPEED and heard live on the Motor Racing Network at 6:00 p.m.,ET

Truck Specs

Chassis: 023
Engine: Pro Motors Engineering (PME)

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This report was provided by an outside PR source and posted by Kim DeHaven.

 

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