Wild Night At ECMS On April 18 Results In 6th Place Finish For Marchant

Topics:  Garrett Marchant

Bradley Carpenter
Last Lap Marketing
April 20, 2014

ROBERSONVILLE, N.C. – A strong run turned sour Friday night for Garrett Marchant at East Carolina Motor Speedway after a pair of late-race spins resulted in a sixth-place finish in the limited late model division.

Marchant was having what could have been a career-best night at the three-eighths-mile paved oval aboard his No. 77 entry. He was near the top of the practice charts in both early practice sessions and qualified second for his feature.

“I knew we had something for them,” Marchant said. “I didn’t know quite how much we had.”

Early in the feature Marchant dropped back to fifth, but soon he began picking off positions.

“The car was pushing real bad, but we just kept going,” Marchant said. “When we hit lap 20 or 30 a switch flipped and we drove straight to the front.”

His march to the front was helped by a timely caution flag. He restarted the race in fourth, but was up to second by the time he made it through turn two on the restart lap. Unfortunately his run at the front didn’t last very long because coming out of turn four contact with Travis Roberson sent him spinning down the frontstretch to bring out another caution flag.

“I think we were three wide or halfway to three wide. It was something crazy,” Marchant said.

After a quick visit to pit road to check out the car, Marchant returned to the track. With no damage to his race car, Marchant once again began his march through the field. Three laps later he was up third, but once again bad luck struck the 17-year-old driver as more contact from Roberson sent him spinning all over again.

“I reckon he got excited that he was finally halfway towards the front,” Marchant said of Roberson. “I know that is an unfamiliar site for him in limited late model racing. The first time I let it go, that was racing. The second time, well, I’d be a fool to let someone do that to me every single week. What comes around goes around.

While his on-track finish may not have been to his liking, something that happened off-track Friday at East Carolina did left Marchant’s spirits. Brad Keselowski, the 2012 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series champion, was visiting East Carolina Friday and Marchant got the chance to meet the driver of the No. 2 Miller Lite Ford.

“He is a super cool guy,” Marchant said. “I made him a promise that I’d be up there racing with him in a couple of years. I’m going to deliver on that promise here very soon.”

Marchant returns to action in the No. 77 entry at East Carolina Motor Speedway on May 2.

“I’m looking forward to getting back out there on the race track. We’re going to be even better next race,” Marchant said.

ABOUT GARRETT MARCHANT: Garrett Marchant is a 17-year-old up and coming race car driver who currently competes in the limited late model division at North Carolina’s East Carolina Motor Speedway and the Southeast Limited Late Model Series. Follow him on Twitter (@GMarchant77) or like him on Facebook (www.facebook.com/garrettmarchantracing).