Northfield Savings Bank 50: Emily Packard
Thunder Road Int’l Speedbowl Race Report
BARRE, Vt. – Emily Packard of East Montpelier, Vt., continued adding to her list of career achievements at Thunder Road International Speedbowl in Barre, Vt., finishing fifth in the Northfield Savings Bank 50 on Thursday, July 4. It marked the first Top-5 finish in weekly Late Model competition for Packard, who followed that up with an 18th-place effort in the ENPRO Services 50 on Sunday, July 7. Packard now has Top-10 finishes in two of her last three starts in her first full season of Late Model competition as she sets her sights on the Vermont Governor’s Cup 150 at Thunder Road on Thursday, July 11.
WHO: Emily Packard, East Montpelier, Vt.
CREW CHIEF: Neal Woodward, Georgia, Vt.
TEAM: Emily Packard Motorsports No. 9x Northstar Fireworks/Berlin Optical Expressions Chevrolet
SPONSORS: Northstar Fireworks, Fecteau Homes, Berlin Optical Expressions, Yipes! of Barre, VT Shifter Karts, GossCars.com, Be The Match, Rutland Regional Medical Center, R.G. Paving
WHAT: Northfield Savings Bank 50
WHERE: Thunder Road International Speedbowl, Barre, Vt. (.25-mile banked oval)
FINISHED: 5th
WHAT: ENPRO Services 50
WHERE: Thunder Road International Speedbowl, Barre, Vt. (.25-mile banked oval)
FINISHED: 18th
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EMILY, HOW DID IT FEEL TO GET YOUR FIRST CAREER TOP-5 AT THUNDER ROAD?
I’m really happy with fifth. I feel like I probably could have gotten two more spots in front of me at the end, but this is still a really big accomplishment for us. Everybody on the team is really happy.
In first practice, we were pretty fast, and I figured we’d have a good car. But we got some rain (during the night) and got delayed, and I was a little worried that because we never got to scuff our tires, it would put us at a disadvantage. We went out for the heat race, took a nice ride and didn’t waste our tires at all. It really turned out to be a good night for us.
WHAT TURNED THINGS AROUND FOR YOU AT THUNDER ROAD?
Honestly, I think it was that I finally had enough races there to get my starting spot in the handicap. That helped a lot. It got me out of the rough crowd in the back. Usually, when you’re racing against guys who are struggling a little bit, you tend to race like who you’re racing with. When I got up there with some of those other guys that have been really good at the track, it helped me just go and focus on doing the best that I could do with the car I had.
ARE YOU GETTING A BETTER HANDLE ON THE TRACK AT THIS POINT IN THE SEASON?
Definitely. I didn’t do a lot of racing in traffic. We kind of single-filed out, and that was about it. There wasn’t really an outside groove – I went out there once or twice, but there just wasn’t anything there. We need to work on that some more, set the car up to go a little better on the outside. So far, we’ve been working on racing my line and getting comfortable with that, so we need to cater to the outside a little bit more.
Now we just need to back it up with another Top-10 finish, or hopefully a Top-5. But at this point, a Top-10 would be good. It will let people know that it wasn’t a fluke.