There's an expression, "If it wasn't for bad luck, I'd have no luck at all." This is Jack Sprague's nightmare right now in the Craftsman Truck Series and Saturday under the lights of Memphis Motorsports Park, the O'Reilly 200 (8:30 p.m. ET, SPEED) is the perfect opportunity for the Wyler Racing veteran to get his season back on the upswing.

"I don't know about turning the season around, I just need the bad luck to quit," Sprague said. "I don't necessarily want good luck; I just don't want the bad."

By the Numbers

Jack Sprague isn't the only driver looking to turn things around in Memphis. Since winning at Kansas in April, Erik Darnell has just one top-10.

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Things were looking great for Sprague when the season opened with a dramatic, three-wide victory at Daytona. He followed that up with a third at California and was tied with Mike Skinner for the points lead through the first two races. After a disappointing finish at Atlanta, which saw Sprague finish 23rd after starting on the front row, Sprague then reeled off a 16th at Martinsville and a third in Kansas.

Then the fortunes of the No. 60 Toyota shifted to the dark side.

After moving up to second position on Lap 36 in the Quaker Steak and Lube 200 at Lowe's, Sprague cut a tire, hit the wall hard and posted his first DNF of the season.

Things picked up momentarily at Mansfield when Sprague finished second for the third consecutive year at the track, but after that it's been all downhill since.

A 28th at Dover after Sprague started seventh but was caught up in a Lap 1 crash. He finished 26th at Texas after losing a lap thanks to a cut tire and at Michigan he came home 29th when another tire going down put him in the wall on Lap 82 after starting seventh.

"This is just unbelievable," Sprague said after his third consecutive finish of 26th or worse. "They continue to give me great trucks every week; we just have had some horrible luck and we need for it to end here real soon."

It looked like the luck was making a turn for the better last week at Milwaukee. Sprague was in top five for most of the race and was running fourth with six laps to go when the No. 4 of Mike Bliss clipped the rear of Sprague's truck while battling for position, forcing Sprague into a spin. Sprague did a fantastic job keeping his truck off the wall, but was forced to come in for tires, leading to an 11th-place finish.

"We had a shot at a top-five finish until we got wrecked toward the end of the race," Sprague said afterward. "We have been strong at every race this year but a series of misfortunes have jumped up and bitten us here lately."

Now it's off to Memphis, where the three-time series champion is the only two-time winner at the .75-mile short track with five top-10s in seven races. As he sits eighth in points, 541 behind leader Skinner, experience is what Sprague is hoping will change his fortunes.

"We have always run well at Memphis," he said. "I really like the track. I have gotten a couple of poles there and have two wins, so I feel like I have a good feel for how to drive the track. My team won there last year, so I am confident going in that we have a truck capable of winning."

Not only did he win, but he dominated. Sprague started from the pole and led 133 of the races 202 laps en route to his first of two victories on the season. In fact, if Sprague gets on the pole, look out. The last six poles Sprague has won, he has finished first four times and second the other two.

Track position is key on a track like Memphis, and Sprague says for guys who aren't used to the nuances of the short track, things have way of sneaking up on you.

"I don't know that Memphis is any tougher than anywhere else," Sprague explained. "It's just Memphis is just a little different track. One and two is certainly a different corner than three and four. You have to compromise so you can get around both corners well and that's hard to do. The first time I won there was a bit of luck. The second time I won there wasn't. We had a great truck last year. But it's just a hard track to get a hold of. It eats tires, it gets slippery and you've just got to be handling well.

"I think Memphis favors drivers that have been there a few times and know what to expect. If you haven't, it will certainly surprise you because it's very difficult to get a hold of."

Sprague and the rest of the 36-truck field will be racing with heavy hearts in Memphis on Saturday as the race is in memory of the late Bobby Hamilton. The 2004 Truck Series champion passed away from cancer in January, and he will be remembered in pre-race ceremonies as well as with a decal on the "B" panel of every truck.

"Bobby was such a great guy and a true racer," Sprague said. "It would mean a lot to win on Saturday in the race that is dedicated to his memory. You knew you could count on Bobby. It's hard to believe we'll be returning to Memphis without [him] this year."