Sunday, July 16, 2006

Jack Sprague wins Memphis Craftsman Truck race

Jack Sprague is a former NASCAR Craftsman Truck champion. After a failed attempt in Nextel Cup, he returned to the Craftsman Truck series last year. He was in ninth place in the points but had yet to win a race in 2006. Sprague won the pole for Saturday's race at in Memphis.



Most of the race was a battle between Jack Sprague-#60 Con-Way Freight Toyota and Dennis Setzer-#85 Flex Fuel Chevy. Sprague would lead the early part of the run and Setzer would get stronger on a long run. That was the pattern for most of the race.



The turning point of the race was after a lap 175 debris caution. Everyone made final pit stops But Dennis Setzer had a very unusual problem. On his way into his pit stall, the pit board for Kevin Grubb-#15 Sponovits Bar & Grill Chevy was held so low that Setzer got caught up in it. This knocked Setzer out of contention and he finished tenth. I don't recall this ever happening before but it's unfortunate that it cost Setzer the race.




Rookie Erik Darnell-#99 Ford led after the caution but Jack Sprague passed him on lap 193. A caution brought out by an Aric Almirola-#75 FedEx Chevy set up a green/white/checker finish. Sprague held off Darnell to win the race. Todd Bodine finished 15th and still leads the points. David Reutimann finished seventh and moved into second as Johnny Benson crashed and finished 32nd to drop to third in the points.

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