Perhaps Charles Dickens said it best in the opening line of A Tale of Two Cities.  “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times.”  Although he certainly wasn’t referring to racing, the sentiment none-the-less applies to the highs and lows Jack Sprague and the #16 Chevy Trucks Silverado team  have experienced in a brief five-day span.

Coming off Sprague’s 24th NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series dominating victory Sunday, May 16th at Mansfield  Motorsports Speedway, the team was riding a strong crest of momentum going into Lowe’s Motor Speedway (LMS) for the Infineon 200, round five of the 25 race NCTS 2004 season.  In addition, Sprague and company had participated in a very successful four-day test at Chicagoland Speedway, a track of similar configuration and length as LMS.

Thursday’s almost two-hour practice session prior to qualifying for the Infineon 200 went well with Sprague’s time putting him in the top-five fastest of the 39 trucks on hand for the 134-lap race.  But immediately after practice is when the pendulum began to swing the other way.  The Dave Fuge (team manager) led crew saw oil residue on the “tailgate” of the #16 Chevy Trucks Silverado when Sprague rolled into the garage following his last run of the session.

Working feverishly, the crew methodically cleaned up the oil that was around the fuel tank and other arious parts of the truck, searching for a leak in the engine block, the oil filter, the breather and any other related areas.  Satisfied the problem was resolved, they completed preparations for Sprague’s qualifying attempt.

Sprague was the 13th truck to attempt to qualify for the 36-truck field.  His effort landed him in the 1th starting spot for the Friday night race. As Sprague brought the Chevy Trucks Silverado down pitroad, the telltale oil issue was back.  Not taking any chances on suffering a similar problem during the race, the crew elected to change engines prior to the final practice session later that evening.  The drawback was by changing an engine at any time after a truck has been inspected to race time forfeits the qualified starting position and sends the competitor to the back of the field.

Happy hour times posted by Sprague bolstered the crew’s optimism that the #16 Chevy Trucks Silverado was a very good truck and Sprague would have all the tools he needed to get to the front of the field on Friday night.

At the drop of the green flag Sprague began methodically picking off trucks in his trek toward the front.  At one point several laps into the race, he radioed to the crew, “This thing is BAD!” (Translation-BAD is very very good.)  In an effort to maximize fuel mileage strategy if the race played out in that manner, the crew brought Sprague down pitroad on lap four to top off the fuel.  Although he resumed the field near the rear, everyone was confident Sprague would not stay there long.
 
However, on lap 14, things suddenly took a big turn for the worst as the Spring Lake, MI driver was attempting to pass a competitor on the outside, contact was made cutting down the left front tire of the bright red #16 Chevy Trucks Silverado.  On the way down pitlane with sparks flying in the nighttime scene and unable to steer, Sprague made contact with the cone adding damage to the front valance to the already bent sheet metal of the fender and tire well.

After several trips to his pit stall for the crew to make repairs, Sprague rejoined the field in 36th position one-lap down to the leaders.

On each of the successive yellow flag periods, the crew continued to make repairs and changes to the truck to improve the handling.  By lap 82, Sprague had moved to the 14th position.  Things were  looking up for the #16 Chevy Trucks IWX Racing Silverado team.

However, the caution flag waved once again on lap 83 freezing the field per NCTS rules.  Slowing own to maintain his position, Sprague was hit in the rear by another truck not slowing as quickly as Sprague.  The truck suffered damage to the left rear fender and the rear bumper was bend down.  NASCAR officials debated whether to bring him to the pits to repair the rear bumper but were able to observe it was bent down, not loose so Sprague was allowed to restart in the 14th spot.

The green flag waved again on lap 89.  As the field thundered through the tri-oval to complete one lap under green, Sprague radioed to the crew that he had lost a cylinder and was only running on seven.  n the subsequent caution flag period (the race had 8 yellow flags for 38 laps), Sprague returned to the pits allowing the crew an opportunity to lift the hood and attempt a repair if he had only lost a plug wire.  An easy fix was not the case so Sprague returned to competition to limp to a 26th place finish.

“We aren’t sure what happened to the motor,” said a disappointed Sprague.  “The #16 Chevy Trucks Silverado was fast.  I felt like we honestly had a chance to win this thing once we cleared the slower traffic but it just wasn’t meant to be tonight. It just seemed like we could dig ourselves out of the hole only to have dirt thrown back on us as the race went on.

“I am disappointed with how tonight went because we really felt like we had learned a great deal from the Chicagoland test plus working so closely with the other factory Silverado teams sharing information, it was possible to win back-to-back races. 

“Congratulations to Dennis Setzer on his great win.  Everyone thought he would win the short tracks and I would win on the big tracks.  Well, that scenario got blown out the window.  With David Starr, Michael Waltrip and Matt Crafton all having top-ten finishes as well, it just proves that the direction  these Silverado teams are moving with the tremendous technical support we are getting from Chevrolet is the right one.

“We leave for a test in Atlanta next week and then on to Dover and Texas to race.  We will be good at both tracks.  We just have to shake this off and keep moving toward our goals of winning races and running for the championship.

The next event on the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series schedule is MBNA America 200 at Dover  International Speedway, Dover, Delaware on June 4, 2004. In 2001, the last NCTS event Sprague ran at the “Monster Mile”, Sprague finished a strong second place.