Chicagoland: Jack Sprague preview

Jack Sprague and the NetZero HiSpeed Racing team head to Chicagoland Speedway for their first NASCAR Winston Cup start on the 1.5 -mile speedway this weekend. Crew Chief Tony Furr talks about what it takes to be successful in Chicago.

FURR ON CHICAGOLAND SPEEDWAY

"You have to have horsepower and you have to handle well in order to be successful in Chicago. Handling well is probably the biggest issue. You have to really handle good and have a good aero package. The track has a couple of years on it now and a couple of hard winters up there are pretty tough. It will probably widen out, as far as groove wise. It's probably lost a little bit of grip from what it used to have. It will be a little warm when we go up there therefore that takes away some of the grip too."

FURR ON PREPARATION FOR THE LONG STRETCH AHEAD

"We've built some new cars and the cars that we have built here in the last few months have really turned out to be pretty good cars, especially for tracks like Chicago. It takes a lot of aero and we have a lot of aero on our cars now. We've worked real hard the last couple of months to prepare ourselves and right now we have 16 cars ready to go. We're in pretty good shape. You've just got to have all your cars ready, everything prepared and not just halfway."

"We spent quite a bit of time in the wind tunnel lately. Pontiac has been very good to us. The new wind tunnel up here in Mooresville, Aerodyne, has been very convenient for us and we have been in there quite a bit over the last month-and-a-half."

CHICAGOLAND FAST FACTS

Sprague made his first Chicago appearance in the 2002 Tropicana Twister 300 Busch Series event starting 26th and finishing 42nd after engine problems on lap 15.

The NetZero HiSpeed Racing team will utilize the same Pontiac Grand Prix that was previously run at Lowe's Motor Speedway. Sprague and chassis No. 12 qualified 5th and finished 22nd at that event in Charlotte. .

Sprague is a three-time NCTS champion (1997, 1999, and 2001).

Sprague is a 2003 NASCAR Winston Cup Raybestos Rookie of the Year candidate and currently holds down fourth place in the overall standings.

JACK SPRAGUE CHICAGOLAND HISTORY - Busch Series - 2002 Tropicana 300 Started 26th, Finished 42nd - Engine