Jack Sprague Nearly Scores Back-to-Back Wins at Memphis
Millington, Tenn. (July 2, 2007) - Jack Sprague and the Wyler Racing team entered Memphis Motorsports Park as defending race winners on Saturday and were hoping to sing another song of satisfaction following the O’Reilly 200 at the Tennessee short-track. The three-time NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series Champion did just that after taking the checkered flag in second position, scoring his fifth top-five finish of the year, and moving into seventh in the 2007 Championship title chase while visiting the Home of the Blues for the 200-lap short-track shootout.
Sprague has always been incredibly good at the .75-mile short-track and that didn’t change on Saturday evening as Sprague qualified the No. 60 Con-way Freight Toyota in 13th position with a lap of 23.119 seconds at a speed of 116.787 miles per hour for the O’Reilly 200. Sprague was a little loose in qualifying, but was up-beat about the start of the race.
When the race got underway, the field made eight circuits around the track before the events first caution flag was displayed for an incident in turn two. Sprague radioed in to Crew Chief Tony Furr that his Con-way Freight Toyota was a little “tight in the center”. Furr had his first opportunity to fix Sprague’s machine when the next caution flag flew on lap 72 for debris in turn four. “It’s loose in and tight in the center,” said Sprague before giving up 14th position to hit pit road for four tires, fuel, track bar and air pressure adjustments. The Con-way Freight crew did a phenomenal job on pit road, picking up seven spots, and returning Sprague to the track in seventh position.
When the race returned to green flag racing on lap 76, Sprague quickly worked his way into sixth position where he remained during the ensuing 38-lap green flag run. “Those adjustments helped,” said Sprague on lap 114 as the caution was displayed for a wreck on the backstretch. “We need a little more help in the middle of the corner,” Sprague continued.
Furr called the No. 60 Con-way Freight Toyota to pit road for their final stop of the night, under caution, on lap 115. Calling for four tires, fuel, and another round of track bar and air pressure adjustments, Furr and the Con-way Freight crew ripped off another up-beat pit stop, picking up one spot on pit road and returning Sprague to the track in fifth position.
When the race went back to green, Sprague worked his way into fourth position by lap 170 and benefited from the final caution which came out on lap 191 after Travis Kvapil wrecked the leader in turn four. Sprague moved into third position on the lap 195 restart. With a five-lap shootout to the checkered flag, Sprague raced his way into second spot and into his fifth top-five finish of the year and third top-five finish in eight starts at Memphis Motorsports Park.
“It was a tough race,” said Sprague. “The first run we were junk. I was really thinking that we were in trouble. But the guys did a great job and we made some great adjustments. The guys were focused on the stops and we improved positions on both stops. My hat is off to them. If we can keep that up, it would be awesome. It’s a lot easier to pass people in the pits than out there on the track. At the end of the race, I was a little faster than (race-winner) Travis (Kvapil), so I wish it was the O’Reilly 225.”
Sprague and the Wyler Racing team will take a hard-earned week off before returning the No. 60 Con-way Freight Toyota Tundra to racing action at the 1.5-mile tri-oval of Kentucky Speedway for the Built Ford Tough 225 presented by the Greater Cincinnati Ford Dealers, under the lights, on Saturday, July 14th, 2007. Live television coverage will be provided by SPEED at 7:30 p.m. ET with radio coverage coming to you live from MRN Radio.
