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."

Sprague was mostly serious when he said, amidst all the hype and hoopla of the early days of the Truck Series, he never thought he and Hornaday would be teammates -- but he also seriously doubted he would ever win a race at Daytona.

He did, a year ago at Speedweeks 2007; and now, being in tandem with Hornaday, he likes his chances in '08.

"First of all, last year was phenomenal," Sprague said. "To win at Daytona is something that very few people get to do, and I never really thought I would do. Tony [Furr, Wyler Racing crew chief] and the guys built me a great truck with great horsepower and I was just in the right place at the right time at the end.

"It was a good truck and everything went right for us. It was certainly a victory that I never thought I would achieve just because it is so difficult to win here and you need a lot of help from a lot of people to do it and we had that."

And with Hornaday as his teammate, he thinks a repeat is not out of the question.

"It would obviously be great to win here again, but like I said, it is so hard -- it is the hardest race to win, I think, in anybody's career," Sprague said. "Ron Hornaday, my teammate -- we have been friends for a long time. We have done this together for a long time and I think we will be able to make each other stronger as far as sharing information and things like that.

"I think Rick Ren [Hornaday's crew chief] and Ernie Cope, my crew chief, Ron and myself, talking and discussing and working on these things, I think we can only make Ron better and us better along the way."

Sprague said he hopes that leads to both KHI trucks contending for a championship.

"I don't see any learning curve or any problem," Sprague said. "I have known Rick Ren a long time, known Hornaday a really long time and he swears they drive really good.

"The learning curve, there are a few guys on my team that I don't really know, but as far as the owner and the teammate and the crew chiefs, we have all known each other for a long time [so] I don't foresee there being a situation at all.

"As far as chances to win the championship, I think I have as good of a chance as I have ever had. You never know -- when it is your year, it is your year. If we can continue on the path that Ron was on last year, then certainly we both have a really good shot at it."

Sprague said he's sure no team orders will be in effect with KHI, except the one supreme dictate most team owners hold if their trucks come to the last lap running first and second.

"I look at it like we better finish one and two either way and not wreck each other -- there will be no team orders," Sprague said. "We are all racers; we all want to win, so if the second place guy can pass the first place guy without wrecking him, then I am sure that is going to happen. But I am sure if one of us takes the other one out, it probably won't be a good Monday."

And finally, putting his respect and competitiveness plainly on the table, Sprague explained what it meant to be teamed with another three-time champion at KHI.

"It is what it is," Sprague said. "I certainly enjoyed the time I had being the only three-time champion and maybe we can get another one this year and be the only four-time champion -- but I have more years left to do this than Hornaday has left -- so when he quits, I have a few more shots at it.

"I am just proud to be one of the three-time champions. I couldn't be sharing it with a better driver than Ron. Like I said, he is certainly one of the most talented drivers I have ever raced against, as is Skinner.

"It came down to two of the best drivers last year to win the championship and either one of them could have done it. I have no ill feelings or jealousy what-so-ever about sharing that with Ron."