Emily Packard Scores Best Career Finish
16-Year-Old Driver Finishes On Podium At Thunder Road
BARRE, Vt. – Emily Packard of East Montpelier, Vt., finished second in the 50-lap Late Model feature at Thunder Road International Speedbowl in Barre, Vt., on Thursday, August, 8, for her best career Late Model finish at the track.
Packard chased eventual winner Eric Chase to the checkered flag, falling short of victory by just a fraction of a second.
“That felt really, really good,” Packard said. “Everybody’s cars were worn out at the end, but we were still going for it. It was just a great night for us.”
Packard started sixth in the No. 9x Northstar Fireworks/Berlin Optical Expressions Chevrolet, and she wasted little time moving into the third position. From there, she patiently rode through the middle stages of the race and waited for an opportunity to present itself.
That came late, when the second-place car wiggled just enough in the turn for Packard to make her move.
“The car was pretty good all day,” Packard said. “We got into the feature, we passed a few cars right off and then we just rolled in third for most of the race. Last few laps, Dave (Whitcomb) drifted up in the corner and we got to second.”
Packard believed she had a car capable of winning had she wanted to force the issue.
“I think so. I still had a really good car,” she said. “I could have maybe tried to do something to get the win, but I also didn’t want to do something crazy after the last couple of weeks we’ve had. There just wasn’t any need to. I’m really happy with second.”
This weekend, Packard will have two chances to take a crack at her first Late Model win at Thunder Road, with 50-lap feature events on Thursday, August 15, and again on Sunday, August 18.
Packard said a change in the approach to how the team practiced on Thursday afternoon paid big dividends come race time that night.
“For the last few weeks, we’ve been experimenting with everything – throwing in different combinations after every practice run,” she said. “We finally found one thing we liked and stuck with it. We adjusted to it to make the car better, instead of changing everything around, and that’s what helped us out.
“It’s still just one race. We changed our luck around tonight, but every week at Thunder Road is a whole new beast. We’ll have to be ready to do it again.”