we run a 95 cav 2.2l 3spd auto on a 1/4 asphalt oval in a basically stock class

so the car has to look stock, just gutted

now heres the issue ... i build em the wife drives them
i wanted to take it out myself so i could have a better idea what to tell her as far as how hard to drive it but i blew a tranny cooler line in the stageing line right before i was set to go out so that day of practice was wasted, never got on the track

so her first practice she ran good but a bit slow due to first time jitters. she went from 22 sec lap times to consistent 18 second times,

... and then we spun a rod bearing at the end of the practice, so i think i might have scared her about reving the motor too high.

so the first race was this past weekend and she was consistent through the whole race 18sec laps
but she needs to be down in the 16.5 area to be competitive ... i know we can take some off by correcting her driving line, but the rest needs to be brute power on the straights cause she is just getting killed there

obviously i don't want to handgrenade the motor but i don't want her to be scared to get on it either

so far i rebuilt the bottom with bearings and rings, put in a set of comp cams beehive springs, manley pushrods and small block chevy 1.6 ratio rockers with arp studs
so i think the valve train can handle the load but i set the shift lite to 5500

so basically i'm wondering people that run on a simmilar size track how are you running it

do you run in 2nd gear, 3rd gear .. adjust the tv cable?
about what rpm are you hitting at the end of the straights

i'm hoping for opinions or experiences of other drivers of how far to push this thing