NASCAR Truck Series Race
5 of 25 — Kansas Speedway
LOCKED IN: The Kroger 250
at Martinsville (Va.)
Speedway was the final race
in which the top 30 starting
positions were set by 2007
owner points. Last season
the No. 2 Chevrolet only
competed part-time in the
Truck Series leaving them
outside the top 30 in Owners
Point standings at the
beginning of the 2008
season. DeLana Harvick and
the KHI No. 2 ACL Chevrolet
have now gained top 30
status and are locked into
the field.
BEEN THERE RACED THAT:
Sprague isn’t the only KHI
team member with experience
behind the wheel at Kansas
Speedway. No. 2 ACL spotter
and former NASCAR Nextel Cup
driver Andy Houston has
completed a combined 353
laps at the 1.5-mile track
competing in one Truck
Series and one Sprint Cup
event at the facility.
“Kansas is a very nice
facility,” said Houston. “It
is really a straight-forward
track. You face a headwind
down front stretch and
tailwind down the back. The
key is getting your truck to
turn through the center of
the corners.”
Jack Sprague Quotes:
WHAT MAKES THE KANSAS
TRACK SO TOUGH?
“I have had some great
trucks here; I have come so
close to winning. I really
don’t know why this track is
so difficult. I guess it is
because it’s not like any
others on the circuit. I
remember in 2001 I was
driving for Hendrick
Motorsports, Ricky Hendrick
was my teammate. I had led a
large majority of the race,
it was coming down into the
closing laps and I broke a
motor. Ricky Hendrick went
on to win his first and only
Truck race here. It was a
bitter sweet feeling, we
were all really excited for
Ricky but we really wanted
that win.”
HOW DO YOU FEEL ABOUT THE
TRUCK SERIES BEING PAIRED
WITH THE IRL?
“The IRL has always been
great to work with. It’s
always fun and different to
be paired with that series.
Not only is it fun to watch
those guys on track, but
even at night in the motor
home lot, the IRL guys are
always so friendly and easy
to work with.”
HAVE YOU EVER DONE ANY
OPEN WHEEL RACING YOURSELF?
“I have not done any open
wheel racing, only stock
cars. However, I did have an
opportunity in 2002 to be a
part of the International
Race of Champions (IROC)
series to meet a lot of the
IRL guys. Helio Castroneves,
Al Unser and I had the
chance to run the IROC
series together, compare
cars, careers and shared
interests. That was really
cool getting to know those
guys.”
ONE OF EIGHT… Kansas
Speedway is one of only
eight tracks on the NASCAR
Truck Series schedule where
Sprague has yet to visit
victory lane. In five
starts, Sprague has recorded
one top-five and two top-10
finishes. In 2007 Sprague
finished third at Kansas,
trailing first-time winner
Eric Darnell and veteran
Rick Crawford. Sprague led
10 laps during last year’s
event.
CHASSIS HISTORY: The
Kevin Harvick Inc. (KHI) No.
2 ACL team will be taking
chassis No. 023 to Kansas
Speedway. This is a brand
new chassis that has not
seen laps on the race track,
but has been tested in the
wind tunnel and produced
some promising aerodynamic
statistics. No. 023 is very
similar to the truck that
the team ran in Atlanta
where they finished sixth,
their first top-10 finish of
the 2008 season.
PREVIOUS RACE RECAP:
After setting a pole-winning
track record with a lap of
19.65 seconds at
Martinsville (Va.) Speedway,
Sprague and the KHI No. 2
ACL team had high hopes for
the day. A long first pit
stop relegated the team back
in the pack. After working
their way back into the
top-20, Sprague was caught
up in an incident and
sustained heavy front-end
damage on lap 115. Sprague
restarted in the 29th
position. Within the next
100 laps, Sprague managed to
recover back to the 15th
position. However, late in
the race on lap 237 a flat
left front tire caused
Sprague to spin on the
backstretch, receiving heavy
left-front fender damage.
With little time left to
recover Sprague and the KHI
No. 2 ACL team finished 24th
and are now in 15th in
points after four races.
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
www.aclines.com.
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
April 26, 2008
Kansas Speedway
O’Reilly Auto Parts 250
Race length: 130
Laps/202.2 Miles
Banking/Turns: 24-degrees
in turns;
5-degrees on
straight-a-ways
Track layout: 1.54-mile
Shape: Quad-oval
Pre-Race Schedule
Friday:
Final Practice: 3:30-5:50
p.m., ET
Saturday:
Qualifying: 12:30 p.m.,
ET
TV and Radio: The
O’Reilly Auto Parts 250 can
be seen live on SPEED and
heard live on the Motor
Racing Network at 6:00
p.m.,ET
Truck Specs
Chassis: 023
Engine: Pro Motors
Engineering (PME)
Jack Sprague
Truck Series Kansas Stats
Year No. Team Start
Finish
2007 60 Wyler 14 3
2006 60 Wyler 7 29
2005 16 Xpress 5 30
2004 16 Xpress 11 8
2001 24 Hendrick 3 23
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