Sprague out, Andretti in

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Not that Im surprised, but this was totally unexpected. Silly season at its best folks.
 
Sprague Released from the #0 ride, Andretti in: The Sporting News has learned that rookie Winston Cup driver Jack Sprague has been released from his ride with Haas/CNC Racing, and he will be replaced by John Andretti, who himself was released by Petty Enterprises a month ago. Andretti, 40, will take over for Sprague this weekend at New Hampshire and also next weekend at Pocono. However, because of a prior commitment to race the #81 for Chance 2 Motorsports at the Brickyard 400, Andretti will not be in the #0 for that race. Haas/CNC has yet to name a fill-in driver for the Indy race. Haas/CNC Racing also has not named a replacement beyond the Brickyard 400. Andretti has won two Winston Cup races in his career, the last coming at the 1999 Martinsville spring race. Andretti has a history with #0 Crew Chief, Tony Furr, winning the Pepsi 400 at Daytona while with the #98 Cale Yarborough team. No word on Sprgaue's plans.(Sporting News)(7-16-2003)
 
I guess on paper its pretty justified, since he has only had 2 top 20 finishes all year. It seemed like they were starting to get things turned around though. It seems like Sprague can never keep his head in the game long enough though; once past halfway its like he looses focus and wrecks.
 
Sprague being out is not suprising, but Andretti in is very suprising. I think Rick Hendrick knew something about Sprague is why he never put his truck champion in a cup car.
 
From what the article says at this point John has this ride for the next two races..after that no one is comitted to anything.

And this assumes the Sporting News has the story at all.
 
Originally posted by de7xwcc@Jul 16 2003, 03:05 PM
I thought that Hendrick was heavly involved with that car, basically a hendrick car with a pontaic body ??
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Hendrick is shown as the owner. I thought it was a partnership with Haas. :unsure:
 
Originally posted by de7xwcc@Jul 16 2003, 03:05 PM
I thought that Hendrick was heavly involved with that car, basically a hendrick car with a pontaic body ??
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Yep, the team is a "partner" of Hendrick Motorsports. Engines and chassis come from Hendrick and at one time it was thought Hendrick was hang the bodies, which he may well do. Kind of like the Roush/Wood Bros deal in that some data sharing takes place also.

Not sure if Hendrick has input on driver decisions or not. But when Tony Furr left Morgan McClure to go with Haas; Hendrick was a prime motivator for the move.

When Ricky Hendrick was racing he was "offically" with Haas I think.
 
Wow! I know Jack doesn't have the best record, but i never thought he would go at this time. But, like TRL said, it's all about performance.

First Mike Skinner, then Jack Sprague, Ok folks.....who's next?????????

Let the silly season begin!! :eek: :eek:
 
Putting John Andretti in the #0 car will help show if that teams equipment is up to standard. I wonder where Sprague will end up.
 
I've disliked Sprague since his CTS days because he's a jerk who thinks he can do stuff to others but they can't do it it to him. And it's never his fault. Hendrick builds these cars no there's no excuse for Andretti if he doesn't perform. This will tell whether Petty made the right decision or not. As for Spencer, I saw on Jayski, Hamilton Jr. may take over that ride late in the season.
 
I guess everyone wants performance now. I guess neither side wants to make a commitment now, so they're going two races at a time, which isn't a bad thing...it gives them both a chance to see if this will work any better.

I wouldn't be surprised to see Sprague back in the trucks, if he shows he is successful there, someone will figure it wasn't his fault they didn't do well. Even though it kind of looked like it was, but let's see what happens now.

By the way, this has nothing to do with anything, but you know when you just figure something out...well last month, I actually realized that it was the "Net Zero 0 car". I don't know why, but it cracked me up at the time, and I can't actually think about the car without giggling now. It doesn't take much to make some people happy, right? ;)
 
Wasn't a big surprise to me but I didn't think about John getting the ride. :D
 
Wooah, I knew jack couldn't stick around too much longer. And Andretti would be a good starting place.
 
I think that they finally got tired of Jack destroying cars every weekend. I'm glad to see Andretti back in Cup!
 
I think thats good for John and for the team. jack is a good racer but something was not right there. Wasn't that team teh exact team that he ran in the trucks and BGN but now under the Haas name and not HMS!

Looks like the jack rumor of him goign back to trucks next year for Toyota might come true!
 
Jack Sprague was like Cole Trickle but without the wins He always wrecked the Cars lol
 
Originally posted by Hurricane495@Jul 17 2003, 02:13 AM
Jack Sprague was like Cole Trickle but without the wins He always wrecked the Cars lol
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and then blamed somebody else
 
The team did not have bad equipment, Sprague had some good runs going in the car, but he always seemed to screw it up somehow by wrecking. I think Andretti will be a good fit and I hope he can show that it wasn't his driving that was wrong at Petty.
 
Originally posted by bowtie+Jul 17 2003, 08:15 AM--></span><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td>QUOTE (bowtie @ Jul 17 2003, 08:15 AM)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'> <!--QuoteBegin--Hurricane495@Jul 17 2003, 02:13 AM
Jack Sprague was like Cole Trickle but without the wins He always wrecked the Cars lol
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and then blamed somebody else [/b][/quote]
Yup they did
 
The zero on the side of Jack's car fit his personality to a tee. Like was mentioned, he was a human wrecking ball out there, especially in Cup & Busch & then try to blame it on someone else.

I seen the guy literally drive his car up the side of a wall at the start/finish to try & pass & end up wrecking himself plus two other drivers last season at a Busch race. Jeez, sometimes you need to be patient & just back off. Wish I could remember where it was at but I think one of the guys he took out was David Green in the Timber Wolf car so it after Nazareth, PA.
 
I guess I was one of the few that liked sprague as he moved up to Cup. But once he got there, he seems like he just hung on every lap trying not to wreck... but eventually always did. He should have probably stayed in Truck. At least that's probably where he's going back to.
 
well hopefully Andretti will have success I wonder if sprague will go back to bush
 
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