A 5th Hendrick team? UPDATE 3 Sprague/#60: been told that Hendrick Motorsports BGN driver, Jack Sprague, will drive the #60 Haas Chevy in the Coca Cola 600 at Lowes Motor Speedway in May and possibly up to six more Cup events. See an image of the car on my Paint Schemes Gallery.(3-19-2002) UPDATE: Dr Jerry Punch interviewed Jack Sprague on ESPN2’s RPM 2 Night and it was mentioned that the team just got the new #60 car in the shop and plans to test at Charlotte/Lowes Motor Speedway in a few weeks. Other races include New Hampshire, both Lowes races and Homestead. Rick Hendrick will be part owner of the team.(4-9-2002) UPDATE 2: Three-time CTS champ Jack Sprague will run five Cup races this season with a new team owned by Haas Automation. The team will use engines and cars built by Hendrick Motorsports, who Sprague currently drives in the BGN. The team will move full-time to Winston Cup in 2003. The team will debut at the Coca-Cola 600 next month in Charlotte. Other races scheduled are: New Hampshire in September; Charlotte in October; Atlanta in October; and Homestead, Fla., in November. Additional races may be added. “I have been waiting a long time to get the right opportunity to go Winston Cup racing,” Sprague said. “Ive had opportunities in the past, but they just werent structured in a way that would give me and the team all the ingredients needed for success.” “This new association with Haas Automation has everything needed to make the deal go, both on and off the track. This deal is worth the wait.” Sprague’ current and long-time crew chief, Dennis Conner, will also serve in that capacity with his Cup team. Joe Custer will serve as the team’ general manager.(ThatsRacin.com)(4-19-2002) UPDATE 3: Haas Automation, one of the leading manufacturers of industrial tools worldwide, announced today that it has formed a Winston Cup Team that will run a select-event schedule of races this season with driver Jack Sprague. Sprague and the team will then enter the Winston Cup ranks on a full-time basis beginning with the 2003 Daytona 500 at Daytona Beach, FL. Haas Automation, a long-time sponsor of Hendrick Motorsports, will receive assistance from the five-time Cup championship organization in making this new team possible. According to Sprague, the #60 Haas Automation Chevy will make its debut at Charlotte in the Coca-Cola 600, Sunday, May 26. “I have been waiting a long time to get the right opportunity to go Winston Cup racing,” said Sprague, the three-time CTS champion now racing in the BGN. “I’ve had opportunities in the past, but they just weren’t structured in a way that would give me and the team all the ingredients needed for success. This new association with Haas Automation has everything needed to make the deal go, both on and off the track. This deal was worth the wait.” Located in Oxnard, CA, Haas Automation is the largest, most modern machine tool manufacturing operation in the United States. The company manufactures four major product lines and has nearly 750 employees. Haas Automation builds a full line of CNC vertical machining centers, horizontal machining centers, CNC lathes, rotary tables and 5C indexers. Haas machine tools and rotary products are built to deliver higher accuracy, repeatability and more durability than any other machine tools on the market. Haas Automation, which also serves as a major associate sponsor on Sprague’s #24 NetZero Chevy BGN entry this season, has sold more than 40,000 rotary tables and 32,000 CNC machines throughout the world. The company ships more CNC machines per month than any other U.S. manufacturer. In addition to the Charlotte Winston Cup event in May, Sprague and his #60 Haas Automation Chevy will compete at New Hampshire (Sept. 15), Lowe’s Motor Speedway (Oct. 13), Atlanta (Oct. 27) and Homestead- (Nov. 17). Additional races are also being considered at this time. The effort will be fielded out of HAAS CNC RACING headquarters located in Harrisburg, NC. Joe Custer is the team’s General Manager, while Sprague’s current and long-time crew chief, Dennis Connor, will also serve in that capacity for the new Winston Cup team. Hendrick Motorsports will provide cars, engines and technical assistance for the team.(Motorsports Management Group PR)(4-20-2002)
