EAST MONTPELIER, Vt. – Thunder Road is always a challenge for any driver, but this weekend Packard was up to the challenge. Starting back in the 23rd starting spot, Packard, driving three wide right up the middle at times, found herself finishing 6th when the checkers fell on the 17th Annual Merchants Bank 150. Packard and the 9ME Northstar Fireworks/Packard Fuels team spent Saturday working on getting the car tuned in and to Emily’s liking. “We had a pretty decent day of practice,” said Packard. “We had limited tires to practice on, so we kept the number of laps that we ran fairly low. We weren’t that far off and our practice times were consistent all day.”
With two additional practices on Sunday, the team went to work on the set-up to meet the ever changing track conditions. In the final American Canadian Tour practice, Packard went out and posted the second fastest lap and was confident with the car heading into the heat race. Starting fourth in the final heat race Packard knew that if she was to transfer into the feature, she was going to have to make her move early, but unfortunately it didn’t go quite as she had planned. “We got put three wide on the first lap and I had to drop out or it was not going to end up well for me,” Packard said. “After that we got run up into the wall, the car lost the drive off and I just maintained the car finishing the heat race in seventh.”
Not making it into the feature through her heat race meant that Packard would have to race her way in through a consolation race. The team had some work to do in a short turnaround time in order to be ready for the race. Packard brought the car into the attention of crew chief, Neal Woodward and the rest of the team to change out the tires and fix the damage she suffered during the heat race. Starting in the fifth position, Packard had to finish in the top four if she wanted to transfer in and not run another consolation race. Packard didn’t waste any time and halfway through the 12 lap race she had moved up to the fourth position. When the race ended, Packard crossed the finish line in the final transfer spot. “After the heat race we came in and changed tires and made some fixes to the car,” Packard said. “We went out to the consi and finished fourth. Two cars in front of me were running side by side and there just was nowhere else I could go.”
Safely in the race, the Neal and the team went back to work to make some minor adjustments to the car for the 150 lap feature race. Starting out in 23rd position, Packard started making her move forward and by lap 40 had moved up into the 16th position. With spotter Steve Tapley on the radio, he helped Packard pick her way through traffic, encouraging her to drive her line and keeping her out of trouble. Packard made it interesting as she approached cars running side by side and carefully sticking her nose in between them making it work, continuing her march forward. By halfway, Packard was in the 11th position, but wasn’t done yet. Calculating her moves like a veteran of the series she moved up through the field and with 25 laps to go she was up to 7th place. At the 10 to go signal, Packard was comfortably in sixth position, where she would finish the Merchants Bank 150.
“We took little bites, and tried to gain as much as we could on each car individually,” Packard said. “We tried to keep the car rolling forward and took what was handed to us early on. It seems when I do really badly in the heat race, I race really well in the feature. One of these times I will get both a great finish in the heat and have the same success in the feature.”
“I want to say a big thank you to my team, Neal, Sammy, Scott and a special thank you to Frankie “Niner” Woodward for his surprise and welcomed return to the team for this race. I can’t thank my parents enough for all the hard work and support that they continue to give me. I also want to say thank you to all my sponsors Northstar Fireworks, Packard Fuels, Rutland Regional Medical Center, Be The Match, Yipes! of Barre, Fecteau Homes, Berlin Optical Expressions, Creative Visions and GossCars.com, their support is appreciated immensely.”