Jack Sprague

Jack Eugene Sprague (born August 8, 1964) is an American former stock car racing driver who has competed in all of NASCAR's three top divisions, most notably in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series, where he won series championships in 1997, 1999 and 2001.

Racing career Beginnings Sprague was born in Spring Lake, Michigan, and began racing 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.

Sprague finished first in the inaugural race of the NASCAR Sportsman Division at Charlotte Motor Speedway in 1989, but was disqualified in post-race inspection, giving the win to Tim Bender.

Busch Series Sprague made his Busch Series debut in 1989 at Charlotte Motor Speedway. Driving the No. 78 Griffin Racing Chevrolet, he qualified 28th but finished 41st after suffering engine failure early in the race. After a 40th-place finish at the Goody's 300 for Pucci & Associates, Sprague moved up to drive the No. 34 Keystone Beer-sponsored 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 No. 48 Staff America-sponsored 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 No. 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 Cup Series in 1994.

Craftsman Truck Series Sprague began racing in the Trucks' first year of competition in 1995. He began the season in the No. 31 Chevrolet C/K for Griffin Racing, winning the pole at Louisville Speedway. After the Action Packed Racing Cards 150, Sprague switched to the No. 25 Budweiser-sponsored Chevy for Hendrick Motorsports for the rest of the year. He ended the season with a pole at Phoenix International Raceway, and had three fourth-place finishes. In 1996, he slid over to the No. 24 Quaker State-sponsored 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 No. 52 Pedigree Petfoods-sponsored 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 fortieth after a wreck. Despite winning the Truck Series championship, Quaker State did not return as Sprague's primary sponsor, forcing him to start 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 No. 40 Channellock-sponsored 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 six DNFs caused him to drop to fifth in the standings. In 2001, NetZero became his primary sponsor, and he won seven poles and four races, taking home his third championship trophy.

Return to Busch and Cup After 2001, Sprague and teammate Ricky Hendrick moved back to the Busch Series, with Sprague driving the No. 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 No. 60 entry. His best finish was a thirtieth at Homestead-Miami Speedway. Haas switched to Pontiac and the No. 0 with a 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.

2004–2011

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 No. 2 American Commercial Lines Chevrolet. Late in the year, he left KHI to return to Wyler Racing.

Sprague remained on the sidelines throughout 2009 and 2010, into at least October 2011.

Sprague was rumored to return to the Trucks with Winfield Motorsports at Homestead. It was also rumored that Sprague had struck a deal with Randy Moss Motorsports to return to the series in 2012, 1996 Ken Schrader Racing 52 Pontiac DAY CAR RCH ATL DAR BRI NWS MAR TAL SON CLT DOV POC MCH DAY NHA POC TAL IND GLN MCH BRI DAR RCH DOV MAR NWS CLT CAR

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60 Chevy DAY CAR LVS ATL DAR BRI TEX MAR TAL CAL RCH CLT DOV POC MCH SON DAY CHI NHA POC IND GLN MCH BRI DAR RCH NHA DOV

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57th 189 2003 0 Pontiac

NHA POC IND GLN MCH BRI DAR RCH NHA DOV TAL KAN CLT MAR ATL PHO CAR HOM 40th 1284 Daytona 500 Year Team Manufacturer Start Finish 2003 Haas CNC Racing Pontiac 24 14

Busch Series NASCAR Busch Series results Year Team No. Make 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 Pts Ref 1989 Griffin Racing 78 Chevy DAY CAR MAR HCY DAR BRI NZH SBO LAN NSV CLT DOV ROU LVL VOL MYB SBO HCY DUB IRP ROU BRI DAR RCH DOV MAR CLT41 CAR MAR 97th 40 1990 Pucci & Associates 14 Chevy DAY40 RCH CAR MAR HCY DAR BRI LAN SBO 24th 2106 Frank Cicci Racing 34 Buick NZH24 HCY18 CLT30 DOV20 ROU6 VOL21 MYB15 OXF12 NHA21 SBO11 DUB17 IRP25 ROU15 BRI22 DAR25 RCH DOV36 MAR20 CLT35 NHA46 CAR19 MAR17 1991 Fred Turner Racing 48 Olds DAY28 RCH CAR MAR VOL HCY DAR39 BRI LAN SBO NZHCLT5 DOV ROU HCY MYB GLN OXF NHA SBO DUB IRP ROU BRI DAR12 RCH DOV20 CLT38 NHA CAR31 MAR 43rd 629 1992 DAY19 CAR23 RCH11 MAR22 DAR25 BRI HCY10 LAN22 DUB2 NZH21 24th 1590 Chevy ATL13 CLT37 DOV 10 ROU28 MYB13 GLN VOL NHA TAL29 IRP ROU26 MCH NHA BRI DAR RCH DOV CLT32 MAR CAR HCY 1993 BACE Motorsports 74 Chevy DAY44 RCH20 DAR24 BRI21 HCY19 ROU21 MAR9 NZH12 DOV27 MYB16 MLW32 TAL15 IRP17 MCH9 NHA20 BRI23 DAR33 RCH13 DOV4 19th 2429 Pontiac CAR12 Olds CLT24 GLN21 Reno Racing 4 Chevy ROU9 CLT MAR CAR HCY ATL 1994 Ingram Racing 10 Chevy DAYDNQ CAR RCH ATL MAR DAR HCY BRI ROU NHA NZH CLT DOV MYB GLN MLW SBO TAL HCY IRP MCH BRI DAR RCH DOV CLT MAR CAR NA - 1998 Taylor Motorsports 40 Chevy DAY CAR LVS NSV DAR BRI TEX HCY TAL NHA NZH CLT DOV RCH PPR GLN6 MLW MYB 85th 150 Joe Gibbs Racing 44 Chevy CALINQ† SBO IRP MCH BRI DAR RCH DOV CLT GTY CAR ATL HOM 1999 Labonte Motorsports 44 Chevy DAY CAR LVS ATL DAR TEX NSV BRI TAL CAL NHA RCH NZH CLT DOV SBO GLN12 MLW MYB PPR GTY IRP MCH BRI DAR RCH DOV CLT CAR MEM PHO HOM 96th 127 2000 Andy Petree Racing 15 Chevy DAY25 CAR LVS36 ATL DAR BRI TEX43 NSV TAL CAL RCH NHA CLT DOV SBO MYB GLN MLW NZH PPR GTY IRP MCH BRI DAR RCH DOV CLT CAR MEM PHO HOM 86th 17 2002 Hendrick Motorsports 24 Chevy DAY7 CAR6 LVS6 DAR9 BRI19 TEX2 NSH2 TAL13 CAL4 RCH18 NHA3 NZH26 CLT10 DOV5 NSH1* KEN16 MLW14 DAY28 CHI42 GTY4 PPR14 IRP17 MCH15 BRI28 DAR5 RCH33 DOV3 KAN20 CLT25 MEM18 ATL42 CAR10 PHO22 HOM11 5th 4206 † - Qualified but replaced by J. D. Gibbs.

Craftsman Truck Series NASCAR Camping World Truck Series results Year Team No. Make 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 Pts Ref 1995 Griffin Racing 31 Chevy PHO6 TUS5 SGS14 MMR6 POR10 EVG23 I707 LVL9 BRI6 MLW9 CNS8 HPT7 IRP28 5th 2740 Hendrick Motorsports 25 Chevy FLM4 RCH10 MAR20 NWS4 SON11 MMR4 PHO6 1996 24 HOM2 PHO1 POR8 EVG12 TUS5 CNS4 HPT2 BRI5 NZH1 MLW1 LVL8 I7014 IRP2 FLM5 GLN4 NSV3 RCH29 NHA2 MAR3 NWS2 SON6 MMR5 PHO1 LVS1 2nd 3778 1997 WDW15 TUS7 HOM5 PHO1 POR4 EVG2 I7010 NHA2 TEX31 BRI7 NZH1 MLW4 LVL8 CNS16 HPT2 IRP2 FLM4 NSV1 GLN3 RCH2 MAR10 SON5 MMR10 CAL6 PHO3 LVS2 1st 3969 1998 WDW4 HOM2 PHO2 POR4 EVG1 I705 GLN5 TEX6 BRI2 MLW3 NZH10 CAL1 PPR31 IRP1 NHA8 FLM29 NSV11 HPT4 LVL9 RCH1 MEM9 GTY4 MAR10 SON9 MMR2 PHO13 LVS1 2nd 4069 1999 HOM22 PHO2 EVG2 MMR7 MAR3 MEM9 PPR2 I701 BRI1 TEX5 PIR28 GLN3 MLW2 NSV5 NZH13 MCH4 NHA8 IRP34 GTY3 HPT26 RCH5 LVS2 LVL5 TEX11 CAL1 1st 3747 2000 DAY33 HOM3 PHO2 MMR3 MAR3 PIR3 GTY1 MEM1 PPR4 EVG1 TEX28 KEN2 GLN5 MLW8 NHA34 NZH5 MCH13 IRP17 NSV30 CIC17 RCH6 DOV27 TEX22 CAL4 5th 3316 2001 DAY12 HOM3 MMR2 MAR20 GTY8 DAR12 PPR3 DOV2 TEX1 MEM23 MLW2 KAN23 KEN3 NHA1 IRP1 NSH21 CIC9 NZH3 RCH1 SBO4 TEX3 LVS2 PHO2 CAL31 1st 3670 2003 Xpress Motorsports 11 Chevy DAY DAR MMR MAR CLT DOV TEX MEM MLW KAN KEN GTW MCH IRP NSH BRI RCH NHA CAL LVS5 SBO TEX MAR PHO HOM5 66th 310 2004 16 DAY25 ATL24 MAR3 MFD1 CLT26 DOV9 TEX4 MEM7 MLW35 KAN8 KEN2 GTW29 MCH27 IRP18 NSH14 BRI28 RCH8 NHA2 LVS36 CAL3 TEX5 MAR28 PHO2 DAR11 HOM7 7th 3167 2005 DAY13 CAL22 ATL8 MAR11 GTY20 MFD2 CLT27 DOV29 TEX1 MCH10 MLW2 KAN30 KEN36 MEM13 IRP9 NSH21 BRI3 RCH26 NHA15 LVS4 8th 3137 Wyler Racing 60 Toyota MAR29 ATL4 TEX6 PHO16 HOM2 2006 DAY5 CAL5 ATL17 MAR17 GTY4 CLT34 MFD2 DOV9 TEX11 MCH10 MLW4 KAN29 KEN11 MEM1 IRP28 NSH2 BRI23 NHA18 LVS13 TAL33 MAR1 ATL10 TEX4 PHO7 HOM5 5th 3328 2007 DAY1 CAL3 ATL23 MAR16 KAN3 CLT34 MFD2 DOV28 TEX26 MCH29 MLW11 MEM2 KEN13 IRP9 NSH15 BRI8 GTW32 NHA24 LVS32 TAL27 MAR2 ATL25 TEX6 PHO10 HOM16 9th 3001 2008 Kevin Harvick Incorporated 2 Chevy DAY19 CAL22 ATL6 MAR24 KAN2 CLT14 MFD7 DOV2 TEX4 MCH30 MLW13 MEM6 KEN22 IRP17 NSH4 BRI14 GTW5 NHA9 LVS26 TAL27 9th 3125 Wyler Racing 60 Toyota MAR11 ATL13 TEX15 PHO17 HOM20

ARCA Bondo/Mar-Hyde Series (key) (Bold – Pole position awarded by qualifying time. Italics – Pole position earned by points standings or practice time. * – Most laps led.) ARCA Bondo/Mar-Hyde Series results Year Team No. Make 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 Pts Ref 1996 Hendrick Motorsports 44 Chevy DAY ATL SLM TAL4 FIF LVL CLT CLT KIL FRS POC MCH FRS TOL POC MCH INF SBS ISF DSF KIL SLM WIN CLT ATL 157th -

International Race of Champions (key) (Bold – Pole position. * – Most laps led.) International Race of Champions results Year Make 1 2 3 4 Pos. Pts Ref 2002 Pontiac DAY4 CAL5 CHI10 IND6 8th 36