Sprague. NetZero Pontiac Rally for
26th-Place Las Vegas Finish
LAS VEGAS, NV (March 3, 2003) - Jack Sprague and his NetZero Racing team
rallied from a late practice crash to score a respectable 26th-place finish
in the UAW-DiamlerChrysler 400 NASCAR Winston Cup event at Las Vegas Motor
Speedway Sunday.
"Under the circumstances, that wasn't too bad," said Sprague following
the race. "We stayed out of trouble, kept our nose clean and had some pretty
good pit stops, so I'd say it was not a bad day for us at all."
With just minutes left in the first and only practice session before
qualifying Friday, Sprague red, black and white Pontiac Grand Prix made
contact with the wall causing heavy front-end damage to the No. 0 NetZero
machine. The team quickly unloaded the backup car - the same vehicle they
used last weekend at North Carolina Speedway - and went to work preparing
for their qualifying run. Among the last of the 45 competitors to take his
turn under the lights at Las Vegas 1.5-mile oval, Sprague posted a speed of
185.863 miles per hour, 42nd fastest on the speed charts. The NetZero Racing
team was awarded the fifth provisional starting spot rolling off 41st in the
43-car field.
At the drop of the green flag Sunday, Sprague immediately worked his way
through traffic rolling to the 34th position by Lap 44 of the 267-lap event.
The first pit stop of the day came on Lap 58 where Sprague took on four
fresh Goodyear tires and a full load of fuel. Led by veteran crew chief
Dennis Connor, the NetZero Racing team spent most of the afternoon making
chassis and tire air pressure adjustments to Sprague's mount, which went
from loose to tight as the race wore on. Sprague ran lap speeds comparable
to the leaders in the middle and latter stages of the event and when the
checkered flag flew, the Spring Lake, MI driver had a hard-earned 26th place
finish.
"We were pretty good there during the long green flag run in the
beginning of the race and again that last run, but for some reason it took
about 10 laps for the NetZero Pontiac to really get going after we would pit
for new tires," commented Sprague. "I don't know if it was tires or shocks
or something else completely, but it hurt us on the restarts. Once we got
going though, we ran times that were competitive with the leaders, so that
makes us pretty happy." Sprague and his NetZero Pontiac team will next
travel to Atlanta Motor Speedway for the Bass Pro Shops MBNA 400 Sunday,
March 9 at 1 p.m. Eastern Standard Time. The fourth NASCAR Winston Cup event
of the season will be telecast live on FOX and will be broadcast worldwide
by PRN Radio.
ABOUT NETZERO.
