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Miller Tops ARCA RE/MAX Nashville Warriors

Joey Miller Takes Nashville ARCA RE/MAX Warriors in First Attempt


By Don Radebaugh



NASHVILLE TN (8-14-04)  In the beginning, most had written him off. In the end, most were scratching their heads wondering how he pulled it off.



ARCA RE/MAX Series rookie Joey Miller, in his career-first series start, battled back from two laps down and passed fellow rookie racer Kyle Krisiloff near the end to win the event-filled Waste Management 200 Saturday afternoon at Nashville Superspeedway. 



Krisiloff, a Hendrick Motorsports development driver, led an impressive 41 laps, but had to settle for second in the ditech.com Chevrolet.



Miller, who started third, cut a tire early on and lost two laps servicing his Matt Hagans Country Joe Homes Dodge on pit road. But with the aid of several cautions and some key players gone from the mix, the eventual winner got back on the lead lap just in time to hunt down his pray.



"It was a total team effort," said the 19-year-old winner. "This car, this team is just that good. It was a lot of fun racing with Kyle (Krisiloff) and Frank (Kimmel) there at the end. But coming from two laps down, we had to do a lot of racing today all the way through the pack. We're looking forward to doing this again."



Miller, after he got back on the lead lap inside of 20 laps from the finish, caught another break when a late-race caution flew allowing the Farmington, Minnesota driver to bunch up with the leaders. By the time Miller cleared Frank Kimmel for second, he quickly erased Krisiloff's two-second lead and made the pass on lap 141 of the 151-lap, 200-mile race. 



But just as soon as Miller took the lead, the eighth and final caution slowed the field again setting the stage for a six-lap shootout with 15 lead-lap machines lined up in the leader's mirror. Kimmel, riding in third behind Miller and Krisiloff for the restart, got a great run coming down for the green and blew by Krisiloff on the outside in turn one. With more momentum coming off turn two, Kimmel nosed ahead of Miller down the backstretch before Miller charged back through turns three and four. From there, Miller never looked back pulling away by nearly three seconds while Krisiloff and Kimmel staged a thrilling side-by-side battle for the runner-up spot. 



Kimmel eventually lost the battle for second and finished third in the Advance Auto Parts-Pork Ford. However, Kimmel led the most laps with 59, which moved him ahead of Tim Steele as the all-time ARCA RE/MAX Series superspeedway lap-leader. Kimmel surpassed Steele's mark of 2,308 laps-led with a new all-time standard of 2,330. It also brought Kimmel's overall career lap-leader total to 7,906.



Six-time RE/MAX Series winner Ryan Hemphill set a new one-lap track record in Pork Pole qualifying but only completed one lap before his rear-end failed in his TRIMSPA Dodge. Then, outside polesitter Stuart Kirby, in the Bob Schacht Motorsports Ford, led for 14 laps before his engine expired.



In all, eight drivers exchanged the lead nine times while eight cautions, for a variety of incidents, slowed the event for 59 laps. One of those cautions was for Conyers, Georgia driver Jimmy Henderson, who made contact with the wall on lap 70. Henderson was transported, conscious and alert, to a local area hospital for further evaluation.



Mario Gosselin, in his own Guaranteed Concrete Chevrolet, battled back from one lap down to finish fourth on the heels of Kimmel. AJ Fike, locked in a tight battle for Rookie of the Year with TJ Bell, raced Bell door-to-door for three circuits before he made the pass on Bell for good on the last lap to finish fifth in the Ray Farms Chevrolet. Bell ended up sixth in Brad Kemp's unsponsored Chevrolet.



Jennifer Jo Cobb, after qualifying a career-best ninth in her fourth series start, finished a solid seventh in the e10 Energy Drink/Nick-N-Willy's Chevrolet. Chevy White, in his first series start, impressed with an eighth place finish in the Bobby White Motors Dodge. Jason Jarrett, in the Bennigan's-Gladiator GarageWorks Chevrolet, finished ninth in front of Brian Keselowski, who finished tenth in the Competition Graphics Dodge.



Darrell Basham, for his enduring struggles chasing the tour, earned the Gladiator GarageWorks Gladiator of the Race award. Fike, who started 23rd, earned the Hoosier Tire Hard Charger honors for advancing the most positions.



From Nashville, the ARCA RE/MAX Series steers for the Springfield, Illinois mile-dirt on Sunday, August 22 at the Illinois State Fairgrounds for the 42nd running of the Allen Crowe Memorial 100. For tickets, call (217) 764-3200.



TOP-10 ARCA RE/MAX SERIES POINTS AFTER NASHVILLE (8-14-04):  1) Frank Kimmel 4330; 2) Brent Sherman 3740; 3) Billy Venturini 3605; 4) TJ Bell 3485; 5) Jason Jarrett 3410; 6) Mark Gibson 3305; 7) Christi Passmore 3270; 8) AJ Fike 3265; 9) Todd Bowsher 3210; 10) Darrell Basham 2965.