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May 26, 2007 - Jeremy Miller
Racing arrived at
Madison International Speedway on Saturday morning for the team's
first race of 2007. The threat of rain was in the air, but
USAR officials and the teams had to do everything possible to stay
on schedule. The team was excited to see how the car was going
to handle for its first race of the year. With technical
information and a good set of shocks from
Lonnie Rush Engineering, the car was good right out of the box.
Jeremy used the first two half hour
practice sessions to just get back into his rhythm. He practiced
on the same set of tires and only made a minor adjustment on the car.
Jeremy gained over three tenths of a second just by getting used to
the car. Since everyone would be in the show, he didn't want to
put emphasis on qualifying. Jeremy hung around 20th on the speed
charts all day while other competitors put on new tires for mock
qualifying runs. In the end Jeremy decided to park the car for
the final half hour of practice (which ended up being rained out) as
he was comfortable for the race. "I just ran like we will in the
race," Jeremy said.
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The crew takes a lunch break
while the rain falls |
Rain continued into
the afternoon, but eventually it stopped and track drying efforts
prevailed. USAR Pro Cup qualifying was cancelled because the
local late models needed to practice for their race.
"It's a double edged sword," said
crew chief Jon Miller, "The rain helps small teams like us because
it gives us more time and a little less work. But it put us
at the back of the starting grid so we have more guys to get past
at the start of the race."
Starting last would prove
to be challenging for Jeremy. When the green flag dropped
for the start of the Sears Auto Center 200 the racing was tight.
It took over 10 laps for the field to start thinning out and
Jeremy could then start working his way up through the pack. |
As the race ran there was speculation
that more rain was on the way. The team decided to change its
original race plan. Jeremy decided to stay out while many of the
leaders pitted. If rain came any time after lap 100 the race
would be official. Racing was very tight and there was quite a
bit of contact throughout the field. At one point early in the
race, Jeremy could not avoid damage as he was caught in the middle of
a pack of cars slowing for a spin in front of them. The damage
did not hurt the car at all and Jeremy worked himself up to the 10
position.
Jeremy paces the track under an early
caution flag
On lap 92 a competitor got just
underneath Jeremy's left rear bumper going into the third turn.
The contact was enough to turn the car around and cause a caution.
While the spin didn't cause any major problems he had to restart at
the end of the lead lap. This was not what Jeremy needed for a
good finish and it would snowball into more problems. Later into
the race, Jeremy felt that he needed to change all four tires because
of the earlier spin. Unfortunately, there were problems with the
pit stop and Jeremy fell off the lead lap. After the pit stop,
Jeremy kept running as good as possible while being very careful to
not impede the lead lap cars. However, fumes were starting to
leak into the car.
Jeremy tried his best after losing a
lap in the pits
(Kathy Bond photo/USAR Pro Cup)
Finally, after completing 173 laps,
Jeremy had to pull out of the race and settle for the 26th position. When he pulled onto pit road
he was feeling very sick and the crew could see something was wrong.
After getting some fresh air and fluids into him, Jeremy was ok.
"I'm sorry, guys," was all Jeremy could say as the disappointment
showed on his face.
Overall, the team did have a good day
at Madison International Speedway. The car was good right out of
the trailer and Jeremy was able to get back enough seat time during
practice to be ready to race. During the race he stayed
competitive on the lead lap until pit problems. The entire
Jeremy Miller Racing team would like to thank our sponsors who help us
make it to the track:
InvisibleGlass.com,
Richard Realty & Auction and Rod Miller Construction. |
