|
|
|
Miller Chases Handling and Mishaps to Finish 23rd at
Milwaukee 06.23.2008
|
MADISON Wis. – Chase Miller had his hands full during the NASCAR Nationwide
Series 250-lap race at The Milwaukee Mile on Saturday night.
If it wasn’t handling conditions like tight through the turns and loose on exit, it was competitors making contact
with Miller’s Dodge causing him problems throughout the night. In the end, he
and the Kirk Almquist-led team soldiered on to finish 23rd as the first car one
lap down.
After starting 15th in the No. 9 Verizon Wireless/Motorola Dodge, Miller quickly
found the historic one-mile oval can be a tough place to race. Remaining in or
near the top-20 for the early going, Miller had his hands full trying to get
through the turns.
Reporting tight conditions to Crew Chief Almquist, calls for chassis adjustments
were made through the first three caution pit stops by lap 84. These kept Miller
close enough to the top-20 to avoid going a lap down for the first half of the
race.
However, on lap 133, Miller couldn’t hold on any longer and was passed by the
leader. On lap 149, a car moved to the inside of Miller and the two made contact
with him spinning as Miller continued forward.
Running 27th by lap 160, Miller would move up to 23rd in the next 14 laps.
Things almost got real bad for Miller on lap 227 when Steve Wallace’s right
front fender and Miller’s left rear quarter panel got together causing the GEM
driver to spin around facing into oncoming traffic.
Luckily, he ended up sideways and the only damage suffered was as Wallace went
by running across Miller’s rear bumper crunching it upward. With the caution
flag waving, Miller headed to pit road for repairs and returned to action in the
same position of 23rd.
From there, Miller tried to get back on
lead lap, but ended up as the first car one lap down when the checkered flag
waved. Miller will return to the No. 9 Dodge seat on July 19 at Gateway
International Raceway.
Chase Miller Quotes
“We had a very long night in Milwaukee.
We were fairly pleased with our qualifying effort and were just tight through
the first 100 laps. It was tough to get through the turns; we kept trying to
make the right chassis and air pressure adjustments and stay on the lead lap.
“The team was great on pit road and did their usual great job of getting me and
in and out of there quickly. That is a tough pit road and a lot of guys were
getting into each other getting in and out of there.
“When I got together with Wallace there towards the end, it was just tight
racing and we were all packed in there trying for the same piece of asphalt. The
crew fixed the back end so fast we didn’t even lose any positions before coming
back out.
“We finished the race, just not as good
as we would have liked there at the end. All we can do is load up the Verizon
Wireless/Motorola Dodge and get ready for our next race.”
|
|