Sprague set for Winston Cup event at K.C.

DARLINGTON, S.C. -- Tuesday and Wednesday will be the acid test for crew chief Dennis Connor, driver Jack Sprague and their new Haas CNC NASCAR Winston Cup team.

	Jack Sprague was fifth at Darlington for his first top-10 in five Busch races. Credit: Autostock

The duo, which plans to make their 2002 Winston Cup debut later this month in the Protection One 400 at Kansas Speedway, will test this week at Lowe's Motor Speedway in Concord, N.C.

And after a less-than-exemplary performance at a Lowe's test in May caused the new team to cancel its planned debut in the Coca-Cola 600 at LMS later that month, they hope this session will tell them exactly how much progress they've made this summer.

They tested three cars -- one a brand new piece and the others the same ones they ran at Lowe's in May's test -- on the 1.5-mile Kentucky oval last month and were pleased with the results.

"We left there very happy," Connor said at Darlington Raceway Saturday before the Busch Series Gatorade 200. "The new car that we built was far superior than either one we tested at the Charlotte deal.

"(Dale) Earnhardt Jr. came up and tested the second day we were there and he was only like a tenth (of a second) quicker than we were, so presuming he was putting forth any kind of an effort -- and if you weren't, why be there? We were greatly improved from where we were at on the Charlotte deal."

Jack Sprague • Driver Page • 2002 Stats • Gear

"The last test was decent," Sprague said after finishing fifth at Darlington in his Busch car. "Running good here really helps that deal because we've been running like crap the last six or seven races. I knew we could bounce back.

"The new (Winston Cup) cars are definitely way better. I think we'll be all right. We've learned a lot since the last time we tested at Charlotte."

Connor said the team has an industrious testing schedule planned for the next two months, along with racing and testing the No. 24 NetZero Chevrolet that they have in third in Busch Series points behind Greg Biffle and Jason Keller.

"Next week we'll be testing another new car we'll have finished by then, along with the best one that we find at Charlotte this week," Connor said. "Somewhere in October we have two days at Rockingham, and the last week of the month we are at Homestead.

"We'll have a total of four Winston Cup races: Kansas, Charlotte, Rockingham and Homestead.

"By the time we get to Homestead, we will have tested four more new cars than what we had when we were at Charlotte. So there's no reason to be believe that we won't be reasonably good, relatively speaking.

"I don't have the mis-expectations like we did have before the Charlotte test that we're expected to qualify in the top-five and be subject to win the race. That's really why we didn't do that Charlotte deal.

"Jack and I really didn't have realistic expectations of what we should be able to do. In retrospect I'm sure we would have made the race and ran respectably, but also in retrospect we weren't really prepared.

"Now when we go we'll be prepared to give it our best shot as a team."