NASCAR Busch East Series (NBES) rookie Michelle Theriault was looking to improve upon her solid spring 13th place finish at New Hampshire International Speedway (NHIS) this past Friday.
While Theriault charged herself into solid contention, a late race tango would erase the ground her No. 37 GLOCK Chevrolet Monte Carlo SS had gained forcing a disappointing but respectable 20th place finish.
The 21-year old headed into NHIS with some confidence. Battling a familiar racetrack and wheeling a familiar racecar, Theriault was banking on a good weekend.
During the lone practice session of the week, Theriault maneuvered her Spraker Racing Enterprises machine to a time of 31.199 seconds at 122.081 MPH netting her 24th on the speed charts. Unfortunately the practice session was cut short due to a mechanical problem.
“We had to tweak the car here in the spring and we have to do the same here this week. I like this track; I’m more comfortable this time around. I’m proud of the team for working hard on correcting the electrical issue, they did it fast. Handling is crucial at New Hampshire; we’ll make some adjustments based on what we learned here this year and see what we can drum up,” said the Mooresville, North Carolina resident
During her two laps of qualifying, the former USAR Hooter’s Pro Cup veteran hustled her Chevrolet around the track with a quick time of 31.190 seconds equaling a speed of 122.116 MPH. Theriault’s first lap proved to be the quickest as her second lap noted a time of 31.196, a near identical lap.
“We’re consistent,” offered Theriault. “We picked up a tiny bit from practice, but we’re running the same times we did in practice in qualifying. It felt like a good lap. It’s a long but short race all in one, we’ll try and do what we did in the spring and see what we can deliver.”
During the course of the Aubuchon Hardware 125 presented by Hardwarestore.com, Theriault’s performance mirrored her NHIS debut earlier this season.
Working her way through the field, Theriault would quickly find herself in the top-20. With guidance and coaching from car owner and spotter Jeff Spraker, Theriault would run in the top-15 for much of the 125-lap event.
During the first trip to pit road, Theriault brought her No. 37 machine to the attention of the crew where they bolted on tires, hoping to be the perfect ingredient to return her to the front.
During that same caution period, the team brought her back to pit road to top off the No. 37 GLOCK Chevrolet with fuel. Restarting 24th, Theriault would again blast her way through the field to position herself comfortably in the top-20, eyeing the top-15.
Thundering through the pack, Theriault would set herself up to collect a nice and clean solid top-15 finish but nearing the final laps while running 12th, Theriault got caught up in a wreck.
Unfortunately, the yellow flag did not display forcing Theriault to quickly grab a gear and return to action. Theriault was calmed by Spraker reminding her to get refocused and bring home a solid run.
Unable to make up the positions she lost due to the timing of the spin, Theriault instead held on to deliver a 20th place finish Friday afternoon.
“We had a good day going, a bunch of the cars stacked up and we ended up spinning. Fortunately, we didn’t make any contact with the wall and we were able to keep going, but it didn’t matter, the damage had been done. Our car got better the longer the race went on and it was nice to run competitively in the top-15 for much of the race. Hopefully we can bounce back at Dover next week as it’s the last points paying event of the season. I want to thank my sponsor GLOCK and my team for their support at New Hampshire.”
Theriault dropped one spot to 13th in the point standings, sitting just 12 markers behind her 12th place competitor John Salemi.
Another first is in the mix for Theriault this week as she’ll head to the “Monster Mile” tackling Dover International Speedway for Friday’s event, the final NBES race of the season.
| 
|