Sprague thrilled to be with Hornaday and KHI in 2008

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. -- Jack Sprague says his purported bitter rivalry with Ron Hornaday was mostly media hype, and as the defending champion of the Craftsman Truck Series' season-opening Chevy Silverado 250 looks ahead to 2008, he's in pure bliss over having Hornaday as a teammate at Kevin Harvick Inc.

Sprague and Hornaday regaled the media with tales and predictions at the lunch breaks on Friday and Saturday of the Truck Series' session of Preseason Thunder at Daytona International Speedway.

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"Along with Ron, Mike [Skinner] is certainly two of my best friends in racing and I have a lot of respect for the talent that Ron has and I think he does me," Sprague said. "I think it is great to be here at Daytona and know that I have a teammate that has my back and I have his back.

"He has basically had no help the last couple of years as far as someone to draft with because the Chevrolet count has been down -- he has been on his own. We both have brand-new trucks here and we are gaining ground pretty quick on them as far as speed and we are going to work together, there is no doubt about it.

"We are going to do whatever we have to do to get the best finishes we are capable of for KHI that we can with both trucks. That is how I won the race last year -- all the Toyota drivers helped me. They do a great job at that and Ron and I will do the same."

For his part, Hornaday lightened the mood as he laughed when he was asked about Sprague's remembrance of their rivalry, and the revelation it was all media hype.

"That's what he thinks," Hornaday said with a smirk. "No, we both race hard, no matter what we do and when we are all done, we can sit and have a soda pop or a barley pop or whatever."

Hornaday, in fact, actually said he was looking forward to egging his teammate on to even greater achievements than have come via the fact they are the Truck Series' only three-time champions, and they're first and second in career victories, with 33 (Hornaday) and 28 (Sprague).

"Jack did hold -- not grudges -- but he has always gotten mad but then he would come back the following week and we have always talked," Hornaday said. "That is one thing about our relationship. We are going to see each other week in and week out [and] we are just a big family. You don't mean to go out there and wreck somebody; you just go out there and race hard.

"Jack is so funny. You can run into the back of him and his eyes just turn red. I still like to do that no matter if he is my teammate or not [because] the madder he gets, the better he drives -- so I like to do that to him."

Hornaday laughed more and more, the more he got going, citing the fact that team owners Kevin and DeLana Harvick knew what they were getting into when they hired him, and Sprague, for that matter.

"When Harvick hired me, he hired two new fabricators," Hornaday said, grinning. "When he hired Jack, he hired four more. They know we are going to race hard.

"Chevrolet gave us an allotment of more sheet metal than we are ever going to need. It is going to be cool for the Truck Series to get back to where we started.

"I don't know what NASCAR is going to do -- how it is all going to pan out -- but you are going to see a lot of different kind of racing, than you have seen before. It is going to be back to the tough trucks, tough drivers." (Continued)