Jack Sprague No. 2 American Commercial Lines Chevrolet Team Race Preview NASCAR Truck Series Race 14 of 25 — O’Reilly Raceway Park
THIRD TIME’S THE CHARM: Jack Sprague, Ron Hornaday and Mike Skinner all share the most wins at ORP with two each. Sprague’s two wins came in 1998 and 2001 with an average margin of victory of 1.63 seconds.
BOWTIE BLISS: Chevrolet has the most wins of any manufacturer at ORP with seven.
SHORT TRACK ACE: 19 of 28 (68%) of Sprague’s career victories have come at tracks one-mile or shorter in length.
Jack Sprague Quotes:
YOU HAVE EXPERIENCED QUITE A BIT OF SUCCESS AT ORP WHAT IS THE KEY TO VICTORY?
“ORP is your traditional short track. It has narrow corners and it is really hard to pass. Qualifying will be very crucial come Friday. However, you just have to watch everyone around you and be as alert as possible. Fuel mileage may also play a factor like it did in Martinsville earlier this season.”
ORP WAS THE SITE OF THE NOW INFAMOUS “WHITE GLOVE INCIDENT” CAN YOU TELL ME A LITTLE BIT ABOUT THAT?
(Laughs) “When I first came to KHI a lot of the guys who had been around racing gave me a hard time about it. The “white gloves” came out of a race at ORP back in 1998, when Hornaday and I were racing for the win. It was the first race I had ever worn white racing gloves. Hornaday and I were racing really hard and we touched. Hornaday ended up in the wall and I went on to win the race. The debate was if I had intentionally gotten into him. I really didn’t but the in-car camera showed my glowing white gloves and me jerking on the wheel. A lot of folks say that I turned right; I still maintain that I got really loose and was turning right and left trying not to get into Hornaday. Needless to say I have never worn white gloves again!”
CHASSIS HISTORY: The No. 2 ACL team will be bringing truck 021 to ORP. Chassis 021 has seen track time at Martinsville, Mansfield, Memphis and California. The team has deemed this truck “the Comeback Kid” for its performances at Mansfield and Memphis. Both venues saw Sprague have to make come-from-behind rallies to score top-10 finishes.
PREVIOUS RACE RECAP: Sprague and the No. 2 ACL team battled engine problems early last week at Kentucky Speedway. The team lost one lap to the leaders as they changed the carburetor, and then made several stops to change spark plugs finally finding the bad plug on lap 74. The team fell two laps behind to the leaders and finished in the 22nd position.
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 http://console.mxlogic.com/redir/?II8zCnS1NJ5AsyMM-qejo0br7OxZenMTvHTKMqehO9EVjpdTdQ9Wmx_iwh-daDDwHr7OxZendEFIcI6QkjhOepjod7b29J5YSbRffGobxdoQg1I_lErDUvf0srhdECQn1NEVphj76OCiq5PRyKhza
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
July 25, 2008
O’Reilly Raceway Park
Power Stroke Diesel 200 Presented by Ford and International
Race length: 200 Laps/137 Miles
Banking/Turns: 7.5-degrees in turns;
2-degrees straightaways
Track layout: 0.686-mile
Shape: Oval
Pre-Race Schedule
Friday:
Practice: 10:00 a.m. -11:15 a.m., EST
Final Practice: 11:45 a.m. -1:00 p.m., EST
Qualifying: 4:30 p.m., EST
TV: The Power Stroke Diesel 200 Presented by Ford and International can be seen on SPEED at 8:00 p.m., EST
Radio: The Motor Racing Network (MRN) will broadcast
