Sprague gets first win of season

The NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series invaded East St. Louis on Sunday, May 7, to run the Ram Tough 200 by Pepsi at Gateway International Raceway. Jack Sprague got his first win of the season in a race that had only two leaders. The race produced Sprague's sixth consecutive finish of third or better and his 17 career win. With 17 career wins, Sprague leads the series with most wins among active drivers, and he's second on the all-time list.

Greg Biffle started from the pole, but Sprague took the lead on lap seven. Biffle soon retook the lead, but Sprague went up front again nine laps later to lead the rest of the way. Sprague led 144 laps of the 160 lap race. Biffle ended up finishing fourth.

Sprague ran the race at a record average speed of 113.726 mph to defeat second place Jimmy Hensley by a margin of 7.032 seconds. The margin was the second larges in NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series history.

Spragues winless streak had been a hot topic of conversation in the Truck Series, but it was only a streak of six. "Many people don't remember it's only been six races," Sprague said.

Randy Tolsma finished third, right ahead of Biffle. Joe Ruttman finished fifth in the final truck on the lead lap.

Steve Grissom finished sixth with point leader Mike Wallace crossing the finish line in seventh. Both Grissom and Wallace finished a lap down. Bryan Reffner, Terry Cook and Randy Renfrow rounded out the top ten and finished two laps down.

Andy Houston fell from second to third in points after hitting the wall twice and coming home with a 24th place finish. "I don't know why, but St Louis doesn't like me," Houston said.

The Truck Series will be in action again on May 13 at the Memphis Motorsports Park for the Quaker State 200 by AutoZone.

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