Sprague/Hendrick/Silverado claim front row in Kentucky

SILVERADO RACING NOTES AND QUOTES
KROGER 225
NASCAR CRAFTSMAN TRUCK SERIES -- ROUND 13
KENTUCKY SPEEDWAY
SPARTA, KY.
FRIDAY, JULY 13, 2001

SILVERADO 1-2 IN KENTUCKY; SPRAGUE AND HENDRICK TAKE FRONT ROW FOR SECOND
TIME IN 2001

For the second time in 2001 teammates Jack Sprague and Ricky Hendrick of
Hendrick Motorsports will occupy the front row in a NASCAR CRAFTSMAN TRUCK
SERIES event.  In the last five races Jack Sprague has qualified no worse
than third.  In that span he has three poles and his qualifying average is
1.8.  For the season, in 13 races, he has not qualified out of the top 10
and his qualifying average for the season is 4.15.  This is Jack's 17th
career pole, his fourth for the season, and the fifth for Chevy Silverado.
He's the all-time leader in Bud Pole awards with this pole.

This is Ricky Hendrick's fourth outside pole in his 18th career start.

Chevrolet holds the record for most pole positions earned in the series:
66.

JACK SPRAGUE, NO. 24 NETZERO PLATINUM SILVERADO (first):  IS IT TIME FOR A
RULE CHANGE OR IS THIS PAYBACK?  "I think if you look at the wind tunnel
data (you'll see) we're still not as good (as the Dodges).  It's nice.
Ricky's team and my team work extremely hard and spend a lot of money to
make these things go.  Last week Teddy (Musgrave) was pretty good.  We have
just had an awfully good truck that was extremely good the last few races.
It doesn't seem to matter; we need to get to the end.  The NetZero Platinum
Silverado is flying, Ricky's truck is flying.  If they want to take them to
the wind tunnel again I'm more than willing."  ON THAT LAP:  "We have run
.46 in practice and we actually ran faster than I thought it would.  It was
a very comfortable lap.  I actually struggled a little bit more than I had
the last few weeks in the turns.   I love happy hour.  I know if I get the
truck where it will stay all day I know I have a chance to win."  ARE YOU
COMFORTABLE IN THIS SERIES?  "I'm going to stay in this truck as long as
this truck is running unless a good Winston Cup deal comes along.  And a
good deal would be with Rick (Hendrick) or very few others.  That hasn't
happened.  I love what I am doing.  I have a great team.  Dennis (Connor,
crew chief) and I have been together for seven years and that's very rare.
I have a lot of fun doing what I am doing.  I am not going to take a sub-par
ride or one with which I can't eventually win races just to say I am a
Winston Cup driver and make more money."  IS THE TRACK DIFFERENT FROM LAST
YEAR?  "Not much.  It's a little rougher on the front stretch, the rest
feels the same to me.  That's cool.  It adds character to this race track.
You have to drive it.  It's not a walk in the park.  You have to stay on top
of this thing.  It was fun last year.  We ran second, and it's fun now."

RICKY HENDRICK, NO. 17 GMAC SILVERADO (second):  "It's really nice.  This
facility is great.  It's really laid out well.  We ran here before in the
Busch car, we struggled a lot.  I think we found something in the geometry
that really seems to help us out.  It's got a few bumps in it.  It's nothing
that really upsets the car or the truck.  They have done an A-1 job."

COY GIBBS, NO. 20 MBNA SILVERADO (seventh):  "The track's kind of rough.
I'm not sure if that's why the trucks are pushing.  (Turns) three and four
are real good, it kind of pushed in (turns) one and two.  It's like a rough
Kansas."

RANDY TOLSMA, NO. 61 AMMBUSHER SILVERADO (ninth):  "We're happy.  It felt
like we had a shot at a better time, but the set of tires that we chose for
qualifying just didn't grip as well as the ones we had on earlier.  Still, a
ninth place starting spot (is good).  The Ammbusher.com Sivlerado shoud be
good.  We unloaded really well, which was good.  We just had to work on it a
little bit here and there.  The truck has really responded well this
weekend.  Having had the Kansas City open test day last week didn't hurt us.
We took the same truck here and the information we learned there we applied
here and we're doing well."

DENNIS SETZER, NO. 46 ACXIOM/COMPUTER ASSOCIATES SILVERADO (10th):  "The
Axciom/Computer Associates Silverado was not handling as well as we wanted
this afternoon in practice, but we made a lot of strides at the end of
practice.  We missed it a little bit during qualifying but still ended up
putting it in the top 10.  After last season where I qualified in the 33rd
spot after spinning the truck, I'll take it.  I feel like we have a good
race setup and if we stay out of trouble tomorrow during the race we should
end up with another top-10 finish."

MATT CRAFTON, NO. 88 FAST TRACK DRIVEWAY SEALER SILVERADO (11th):  "We
changed a little bit of everything during and after practice.  This track is
going to be sealed with our sponsor's product, Fast Track Driveway Sealer,
once this race is over.  Until they get the track sealed, it will be tough
to race and really rough on all race vehicles."

LANCE NORICK, NO. 90 AVENTIS BEHRING CHOICE SILVERADO (14th):  "We slowed
down in qualifying.  I thought we'd go a little faster, but it got tight.  I
didn't qualify well, but we have a great race setup here.  We led here last
year.  Tomorrow, Aventis is bringing almost 450 guests to the race, so we
want to do well for them."

TRAVIS KVAPIL, NO. 60 CAT RENTAL STORES SILVERADO (18th):  "We don't really
know what happened.  We were pretty good in practice. We were fifth quick
one time before everyone started doing their 'qualifying runs.'  for some
reason this Silverado doesn't like sticker tires and doesn't like being
taped up.  We're hoping it's just an issue with sticker tires.  We're going
out in happy hour with a different set of scuffs to see if it's any better.
It's really loose on stickers."

BILLY BIGLEY, JR., NO. 75 SPEARS MANUFACTURING SILVERADO (21st, also racing
in the ARCA race tonight):  "I don't know; we've just been struggling today.
We're going to make a bunch of changes for happy hour and see if we can make
it better."  DID RUNNING THE ARCA CAR HERE HELP?  "It didn't help today.  I
don't know why we are struggling. The track is the same basic configuration
as Kansas, and we were good out there, and it's the same Silverado."

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