Jack Sprague

Infobox_NASCAR_driver
Name = Jack Sprague
Birthdate = birth date and age|1964|8|8
Birthplace = Spring Lake, Michigan
First_Cup_Race = 1996 Dura Lube 500 (Phoenix)
Last_Cup_Race = 2003 Tropicana 400 (Chicagoland)
Total_Cup_Races = 24
Years_in_Cup = 4
First_Busch_Race = 1989 All Pro 300 (Charlotte)
First_Busch_Win = 2002 Inside Traxx 300 Presented by Met-Rx (Nashville)
Last_Busch_Win = 2002 Inside Traxx 300 Presented by Met-Rx (Nashville)
Busch_Wins = 1
Busch_Poles = 1
Busch_Top_Tens = 24
Years_in_Busch = 9
Total_Busch_Races = 108
Truck_Car_Team = #60 - Wyler Racing
Previous_Year = 2007
Prev_Truck_Pos = 9th
Best_Truck_Pos = 1st - 1997, 1999, 2001 (Craftsman Truck Series)
Truck_Wins = 28
Truck_Top_Tens = 187
Truck_Poles = 33
First_Truck_Race = 1995 Copper World Classic (Phoenix)
First_Truck_Win = 1996 Chevrolet Desert Star 300 (Phoenix)
Last_Truck_Win = 2007 Chevy Silverado HD 250 (Daytona)
Achievements = 2001 Craftsman Truck Series Champion

1999 Craftsman Truck Series Champion

1997 Craftsman Truck Series Champion
Updated_On = May 31, 2008

Jack Sprague (born August 8, 1964, in Spring Lake, Michigan) is a NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series driver. He drives the #60 Toyota Tundra for Wyler Racing. He has finished in the top-ten in the points standings almost every year he has raced in the trucks, and currently shares the series record for championships with three, in 1997, 1999, and 2001 while driving for Hendrick Motorsports.

Beginnings

Sprague began street stock cars at local short tracks. After winning the track championships at Thunderbird Raceway and later Winston Raceway, Sprague began racing in the NASCAR Winston Racing Series, in its North Carolina Late Model Division competition. He won the Big Ten Championship at Concord Motorsports Park, and won more than 30 Late Model Races. Eventually, he won the NASCAR Winston Racing Series championship at Concord Motorsports Park.

Busch Series

Sprague made his Busch Series debut in 1989 at Charlotte Motor Speedway. Driving the #78 Griffin Racing Chevrolet, he qualified 28th but finished 41st after suffering engine failure early in the race. After a fortieth-place finish at the Goody's 300 for Pucci & Associaties, Sprague moved up to drive the #34 Keystone Beer car for Frank Cicci Racing in 1990. He competed in nineteen races and had a best finish of sixth at Orange County Speedway. The following season, Sprague competed in seven races, driving the #48 Staff America Oldsmobile. He won his first career pole at Charlotte. He continued to drive the car in 1992, where he had a second-place finish at New River Valley Speedway. He finished 24th in the final standings.

In 1993, Sprague signed to drive the #74 BACE Motorsports car. Despite four top-ten finishes, he was released with just a handful of races left in the year. He finished nineteenth in points. Sprague returned to the Winston Racing Series ranks in 1994, winning 21 of 22 races he entered.

Craftsman Truck Series

Sprague began racing in the Trucks' first year of competition in 1995. He began the season in the #31 Chevrolet Silverado for Griffin Racing, winning the pole at Lousiville Speedway. After the Action Packed Racing Cards 150, Sprague switched to the #25 Budweiser Chevy for Hendrick Motorsports. He ended the season with a pole at Phoenix International Raceway, and had three fourth-place finishes. In 1996, he slid over to the #24 Quaker State truck owned by Hendrick, winning his first race at Phoenix, followed up by back-to-back victories at Nazareth Speedway and The Milwaukee Mile. With five wins total and two poles, Sprague lost the championship by 53 points. That season, he made his Winston Cup debut, running a pair of races in the #52 Pedigree Petfoods Pontiac Grand Prix for Ken Schrader. He led two laps and finished 23rd in his debut at Phoenix, but wrecked the following week at Atlanta Motor Speedway.

The following season, Sprague won at Phoenix, Nazareth, and Nashville Speedway USA, and won the championship. In addition, he returned to the Cup series, subbing for Ricky Craven at Bristol Motor Speedway, but finished 40th after a wreck. Despite winning the Truck Series championship, Quaker State did not return as Sprague's primary sponsor, forcing him to start the 1998 unsponsored. After a one-race deal with Big Daddy's BBQ Sauce at Portland Speedway, Sprague won The No Fear Challenge in his debut for sponsor GMAC, allowing them to join full-time as sponsor. He won five races total that season and finished second in points. He returned to the Busch Series to drive the #40 Channellock Chevy for Doug Taylor at Watkins Glen International, finishing sixth.

In 1999, Sprague won three races as well as the Craftsman Truck Series championship by eight points. He also drove at Watkins Glen in a Terry Labonte-owned car, finishing twelfth, and attempted the Exide NASCAR Select Batteries 400 for Tyler Jet Motorsports, but failed to qualify. He won three more times in 2000, but crashes caused him to drop to fifth in the standings. In 2001, NetZero became his primary sponsor, and he won seven poles and four races, and took home his third championship trophy.

Return to Busch/Cup

After 2001, Sprague and teammate Ricky Hendrick moved back to the Busch Series, with Sprague driving the #24 NetZero Chevy. He won his first career Busch race at Nashville Superspeedway as well as leading the points during the season, before finishing fifth in the final standings. That same year, he ran the IROC series, finishing in the top-ten in all four events. He returned to Winston Cup to run a handful of races for Haas CNC Racing's #60 entry. His best finish was a 30th at Homestead-Miami Speedway. Haas switchd to Pontiac and the #0 with NetZero sponsorship for 2003, signing Sprague to compete for Winston Cup Rookie of the Year honors. Sprague's best finish that season was a fourteenth at the Daytona 500. After the Tropicana 400, Sprague was fired from the ride. He drove in two truck races that year for Xpress Motorsports, finishing fifth in both events.

Presently

Sprague took over the 16 Xpress truck full-time in 2004, winning six poles and the UAW/GM Ohio 250. He finished seventh in points. The following season, he won at Texas Motor Speedway, but late in the season, was released in favor of Mike Bliss and took over at newly formed Wyler Racing for Chad Chaffin. Despite switching teams mid-season, he finished eighth in points.

Sprague finished the 2006 season fifth in points with two wins and two poles. He returned to the Con-Way Freight Tundra for the 2007 season. Sprague started the 2007 season in the Craftsman Truck Series with a win in the Chevy Silverado HD 250 at the Daytona International Speedway. However, Sprague began to struggle throughout the year, even dropping out of the top 10 in points. This, combined with Con-way's departure at the end of the season, led Sprague to leave Wyler for Kevin Harvick Incorporated where he drove the #2 American Commercial Lines Chevrolet. Late in the year, he left KHI to return to Wyler Racing.

External links

* [http://www.jacksprague.com/index.html Official Website]
* [http://racing-reference.info/driver?id=spragja01 Career statistics at Racing-Reference.info]