Patience; that’s what was stressed to Emily Packard during the 16th Annual Merchants Bank 150 this past Sunday April 27tt and did it ever pay off. In only the second race of the American Canadian Tour season, Packard took her time, picking her way through the field and drove her 9X Northstar Fireworks/Packard Fuels sponsored car to a third place finish.
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“The race went absolutely awesome, I couldn’t ask for a better day,” said Packard on her podium finish. “To be able to be racing up front with these guys that I have looked up for so long was amazing. I just tried to stay calm, cool and collected and keep us up front. “ Earlier in the day Packard started second in the first ACT heat and comfortably maintained that position, getting herself into the race so that the team could focus on preparing the car for the race.
Starting in the 15th position when the green flag fell, Packard had a good handling car, and just used her patience to wait for the right openings to move her car forward. By lap 28 Packard was already up to 9th position and continued to drive her race, picking off cars in front of her every few laps. “In 150 laps you really have to wait and take the time, because if you try to put it in someplace that it’s not going to be good on lap one, then there goes 150 laps,” said Packard, “you have to wait it out and tale the chances at the end.” On lap 65, Packard passed the 9NH for 7th position, where for the next 40 laps she stayed with the front pack as they separated themselves from the rest of the field. As they hit lap 110, the leaders, including Packard who was running 7th, found themselves maneuvering through lap traffic.
Packard restarted lap 122 on the inside in 5th position and continued to show that she would wait for the right opportunity to move. “The thing with Thunder Road is that if you keep the bottom, you most likely can keep the position, that definitely helped us out throughout the race to hug the bottom and be in the right place to gain positions,” said Packard
With under 20 laps to go, a wreck in front of Packard, that included third and fourth place cars, caused her to take evasive measures, driving her car down through the infield grass and back out on the track in the middle of three and four. “As I drove through the grass, Neal (Packard’s crew chief) came on the radio and told me not to stop, to keep the tires rolling and that’s exactly what I did,” said Packard, “I was a little worried going into the first corner that I hadn’t quite cleaned the tires up enough, but the car stuck on the restart.”
Lap 147 saw the final caution of the day, with Packard in third position. “That final restart was intense, I overdrove it into the first turn because I got a little excited, but I collected it and kept going,” said Packard. When the checkers fell on lap 150 Packard brought her 9x car home in the third place position. “I don’t think I breathed for the last 10 laps, I was happy either way we finished, we were a top-10/top-5 car all day,” said the 17 year old Vermont native. “I would like to say thank you to my sponsors, Northstar Fireworks, Packard Fuels, Yipes! of Barre, Fecteau Homes, Berlin Optical Expressions, GossCars.com, Be the Match, Rutland Regional Medical Center, and R.G. Paving, I appreciate their sponsorship.”
Next up for Packard is the ACT Spring Green 114 at Devil’s Bowl Speedway on May 4, 2014.
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