Sprague Steadily Moved to the Front to Score Third Straight Runner-Up Finish in Mansfield

Mansfield, Ohio (May 28, 2007) – Jack Sprague’s streak of strong performances continued on Saturday at Mansfield Motorsports Park after the three-time Series’ Champion qualified the No. 60 Con-way Freight Toyota Tundra 11th and finished second for the third consecutive year at the 0.5-mile mid-Ohio short track.

“The guys brought me a great truck here,” said Sprague after laying down a lap of 16.639 seconds at a speed of 108.180 miles per hour in the rain-delayed qualifying session on Friday afternoon.  “We had a good practice and a decent qualifying run but there wasn’t much grip in the track when we went out because of the rain.  I think we’ll be good in the race, so I’m looking forward to it.” 

With an impressive career at the Mansfield short-track, Sprague’s love for the track and the fact that it is located in his team owner’s home State, there is no wonder why Sprague was excited to take the green flag on Saturday afternoon. 

With the threat of rain looming, Sprague took the green flag for the start of the Ohio 250.  Sprague was able to avoid the first caution on lap 10 for a wreck in turn two, but was forced to pit road on lap 16 after rain began to fall and NASCAR displayed the red flag.

NASCAR officials restarted the race under caution on lap 19, but after running four laps at pace speed around the 0.5-mile track, the red flag was displayed again.  The race was restarted under caution again nearly two hours later, with several teams electing to pit under the yellow flag.  Crew Chief Tony Furr called Sprague to pit road for fuel only, a strategy he had hoped would pay off at the end of the race. 

With other teams on different strategies, Sprague slid as far back as 26th before the leaders chose to pit under caution on lap 53.  Sprague was 12th on the scoring monitor on the restart and continued to pick off trucks, working his way to ninth before the race was red-flagged for rain the final time on lap 106.

When the race resumed after an hour delay, Sprague was sixth.  Sprague was a “little tight in the center,” but he remained in sixth position until lap 164 when the leader cut a tire and hit the wall coming out of turn four.  Sprague picked up another spot on lap 216, and moved into third with eight laps to go as the leader stalled in turn four.  With two laps to go, the No. 1 Toyota ran out of fuel and Sprague took over the second spot to grab his fourth top-two finish in Mansfield and the Featherlite “Most Improved Driver Award”.

“It was a great point’s day,” said Sprague, whose second-place finish helped propel him to sixth in the 2007 NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series Point Standings, only 50 points behind fifth place Rick Crawford and 252 behind points leader, Mike Skinner.  “We had a tough race last weekend so it’s good to bounce back from that.  The team did a great job today.”

“It’s always hard to pass here at Mansfield,” said Sprague.  “Especially with the rain coming down and washing the rubber off the track, there was really only one groove to make the trucks work.  There was a lot of beating and banging out there, which always happens on these short tracks, but today it was pretty tough to get around guys.  We just had to be patient, let the pit stops cycle through, and steadily move to the front.”

Sprague and the Wyler Racing team will take the No. 60 Con-way Freight Toyota Tundra to Dover International Speedway on Saturday, June 1st, 2007 for the running of the AAA Insurance 200.  Live television coverage will be provided by SPEED at 8 p.m. ET with radio coverage coming to you live from MRN Radio.