Joey Miller Delivers Top-10 Run In ARCA Return With Win-Tron Racing

Joey Miller Delivers Top-10 Run In ARCA Return With Win-Tron Racing

Topics: Joey Miller, Herr’s Live Life With Flavor 200

Joey Miller Delivers Top-10 Run In ARCA Return With Win-Tron Racing

Chris Knight
Knight Motorsports Management
Win-Tron Racing
August 29, 2011

OREGON, Wisconsin (August 29, 2011) - - After a four-year sabbatical from competition in the ARCA Racing Series presented by Menards, Lakeville, Minnesota’s Joey Miller made a welcome return to the race track this past Friday at Madison International Speedway for the running of the Herr’s Live Life With Flavor! 200.

Reuniting with Win-Tron Racing otherwise known as “County Joe Racing” back in his driving days, the five-time ARCA winner was exhilarated to have the opportunity to drive the No. 32 Champion Brands / Win-Tron Racing Dodge Charger in the 15th race of the season.

Knowing that Miller’s prior experience at Madison quickly tapped him as a pre-race favorite, the 26-year old though would have to maneuver his way through a talented crop of drivers and teams.

With crew chief Mike Chaffee at the helm and co-car owner Nate Thiesse present, Miller climbed into his Chrysler nameplate on Friday afternoon to participate in the lone practice session of the day. During the hour and a half session, Miller was able to overcome an innocent spin on the track to maneuver the 13th fastest lap, just four tenths of a second off the quickest lap tabulated by Chris Buescher.

“The car is pretty good,” said Miller, who also has starts in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series for Darrell Waltrip Motorsports. “I was trying too hard and driving it way deep and the car came around on me. I will tell you one thing though; these cars are nothing like the Late Models I’ve driven around Madison. There’s a huge difference with the weight and all, so you cannot drive the track like you’re in a Late Model.”

In qualifying, Miller climbed up on the wheel and hustled his No. Champion Brands / Win-Tron Racing Dodge Charger to fifth quickest. How tight was it? Well, the top-five cars were separated by less than one-tenths of a second.

The 33-car field took the green flag shortly after 8:30 p.m. with Miller maintaining his point inside the top-five. Pressure from Spencer Gallagher and Springfield winner Chad McCumbee would keep the former ARCA Rookie of the Year on his toes in the early stages of the event.

Knowing that track position was critical to success and passing a car cleanly was almost impossible, Miller settled into a comfort zone despite losing some positions on the track. Slipping one spot to sixth by lap six, Miller would hover in the top-half dozen and report to Chaffee that he could not get his automobile to rotate through the turns like he wanted.

With the team planning to make a change during their mandated pit stop, Miller would continue to fight hard on the track. Surging to fifth by lap 60, the team’s opportunity to change tires, add fuel and make a chassis adjustment occurred on lap 87 when the yellow was waived.

Restarting the race in ninth, Miller was hoping to utilize the new rubber to climb back into the top-five approaching the half-way mark. However, the former ASA standout would find himself stalled in a wad of race cars which kept him ninth in the overall rundown.

Slowly but surely Miller would trek his way into seventh by lap 132 where he stood until a shuffle with the lead pack under a yellow flag saw the No. 32 vault to third for a lap 162 restart. Unfortunately, Miller’s fight for his sixth career victory would be dashed when he spun on lap 166.

Despite minimal damage to his machine, Miller would still have to bring it to the aid of his Win-Tron Racing team where they surveyed the car and changed right side tires before sending their protégé back into battle.

Restarting 11th on lap 169, it would take less than six laps for Miller to re-enter the top-10 as he had climbed to ninth by lap 176. During the race’s final 25 laps, Miller was able to climb into eighth and fend off Tim George Jr. and McCumbee coming to the checkered flag to collect his 20th top-10 in his ARCA career.

“I had a lot of fun out there, but I just couldn’t get our car hooked up to the track like I needed to,” offered Miller. “It’s incredibly hard to pass and I think everyone saw that during the race. For a second, I thought maybe we would have a shot at the win on that late restart but after spinning out, I was just determined to put the No. 32 Champion Brands / Win-Tron Racing Dodge Charger somewhere back inside the top-10.

We were able to get back to seventh but ran out of laps. I cannot begin to tell you how thankful and appreciative I was for the opportunity to come back to the ARCA Racing Series with Win-Tron Racing. I wish we would have had a little better showing, but maybe we’ll get a chance to work on that sometime in the near future.”

For Thiesse, he was impressed with Miller’s day considering all the circumstances. “We asked Joey to come in at the 11th hour to run Madison and he did an exceptional job for us. The competition in ARCA has changed immensely since he last ran four years ago, so to climb back behind the wheel and be as competitive as he was just showed everyone that he still has the ability to get the job done.”

Next up for the ARCA Racing Series presented by Menards is the second and final installment on the dirt when the sanctioning body makes their annual trip to the DuQuoin State Fairgrounds for the running of the Southern Illinois 100 presented by Federated Auto Parts on Labor Day, Monday, September 5.

Miller made his 31st career start in the 15th race of the 2011 ARCA season. In those starts, he has achieved six poles, five wins, 13 top-fives and 20 top-10 efforts. He also has controlled the ARCA field for 1,013 laps over the course of four seasons (2004 – 2007).

Further information including driver opportunities with Win-Tron Racing is available by visiting win-tronracing.com or contacting Nate Thiesse at 612.306.1641

For more on Champion Brands LLC and their extensive line of products, please log on to championbrands.com or championsusechampion.com.

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TEAM COMMUNICATIONS CONTACT:
NAME: Chris Knight, Knight Motorsports Management
PHONE: 239.834.9797
EMAIL: chris@chrisknightpr.com / knight849@aol.com