NASCAR Trucks: Sprague, Silverado take second pole of year in Memphis

Posted By Terry Callahan
Motorsports Editor, The Auto Channel

June 22, 2001

JACK SPRAGUE, NO. 24 NETZERO PLATINUM SILVERADO, claimed the pole position for the second time this year, his 15th career, tying Mike Skinner and Joe Ruttman for most poles. Chevrolets have collected the most pole positions of any manufacturer since the series' inception in 1995, with a current total of 63. Ford is next with 51.

SPRAGUE: "It's our second pole of the year and that's great! A win at Texas and now another pole, that's really cool. Hopefully we will win another race, even though last year was a gift. We really should have finished second, but I am definitely not complaining. We had no power steering at all (in qualifying today). I just had to fight it the whole way. The run felt fine, but my power steering went out as soon as I started the NetZero Silverado up. Fortunately it was only a two-lap deal. I thought we'd probably run fifth, but I will happily take the pole. This is in line with what I've been running all year. It may be another one of those deals like last year where we lost power steering and won the race."

DENNIS SETZER, NO. 46 ACXIOM/COMPUTER ASSOCIATES SILVERADO (fourth): "We basically qualified in race setup; we¹re pretty good for the race tomorrow. We will see how that shakes out. It¹s been smooth this weekend. We have been fast since we unloaded and the changes we have made have really taken to the Silverado. I think we have a great setup for the race; that is mainly what we have been working on all day and I think that will hold up for tomorrow. A lot of the credit has to go to the guys at Morgan/Dollar Motorsports. We tested last week in Altus, Okla., at a track very similar to this and we were good there. I think that we¹ll be strong for the race tomorrow."

COY GIBBS, NO. 20 MBNA SILVERADO (fifth): "I don¹t like this track. I¹ve run here in the past and I haven¹t done well. I¹m happy we qualified as good as we did. Everything is coming together, it¹s taking time. The motors (by Mark Cronquist from Joe Gibbs Racing) are definitely helping. Everybody is doing a good job. We¹ve got some stuff to think about. Gary (Showalter, crew chief) and I now have some history together (10 races this year) and that helps a lot. We were OK; we weren¹t great. We just have to fix a couple of things and I will feel confident."

LANCE NORICK, NO. 90 AVENTIS BEHRING CHOICE SILVERADO (seventh): "This is the track where last year I just about killed myself, broke my arm, rattled my head off the rollbars. The guys gave me an awesome Silverado. After what happened last year everybody really concentrated on making sure the thing felt good for me. John Monsam (racing consultant) came out and is helping us out and is really turning it around. We slowed down a little bit in qualifying, but it¹s our best start all year. We look to be up front all day tomorrow."

RANDY TOLSMA, NO. 61 TEAM RENSI MOTORSPORTS SILVERADO (10th): "We had a great first lap, the fastest lap we ran all weekend long. That was good. The guys made the right changes on the Silverado. We got it going good through (turns) one and two; in return it got loose in three and four. I had to get off the gas and catch the truck. It probably cost us a good shot at a good up-front spot. The truck responded to the changes we made, so it should run good on race day."

RICKY HENDRICK, NO. 17 GMAC SILVERADO (12th, first rookie): "We qualified 12th. Of course we wanted a lot more than that. I think we probably should have qualified third. We ended up third after the last practice and then they made some last minute tire pressure adjustments. Obviously the changes didn't work too well. I couldn't turn the GMAC Silverado. We were really tight. Everyone else here is loose and we were tight, I just don't know. We are in the Top-20 and hopefully we will move up fast. The good news is that we are the Top Qualifying Rookie and I will be starting on the outside. I really like the high side. Give me 50 laps and we'll be up front."

TRAVIS KVAPIL, NO. 60 CAT RENTAL STORES SILVERADO (16th): "In practice we were running at half throttle for some reason; something got overlooked. Once we got that taken care of I never got any laps with the motor running right, so we kind of went out qualifying blind. The Silverado is going to want a different setup when it has a lot more horsepower. Hopefully in happy hour we can get it going good for the race."

Text provided by Judy Stropus

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