BRANDON MILLER UPBEAT ABOUT HIS CHANCES IN NASHVILLE
IN #40 WESTERMAN COMPANIES/KEY MOTORSPORTS CHEVROLET

With two races under his belt in the #40 Westerman Companies Chevrolet Silverado for Key Motorsports, rookie driver Brandon Miller is upbeat about his chances in this week’s Toyota Tundra 200 at the Nashville Superspeedway.

Miller used his first two races for team owner Curtis Key to get a “feel” for his new ride and his new teammates as well as to shed the rust from nearly three seasons of inactivity in NASCAR’s Craftsman Truck Series. These experiences, coupled with a host of Busch Series car testing for Richard Childress Racing that he has had over the last month, has Miller looking for a breakout race of sorts at Nashville.

“I really like the place. It’s my kind of track,” stated Miller, whose only recorded race at the 1.33-mile concrete oval was a NASCAR Busch Series event in 2005 for RCR in which the 25-year-old San Diego native started on the outside pole but was involved in an early wreck that ended his day prematurely.

“I have run plenty of laps at that place (Nashville Superspeedway) since then,” Miller pointed out. “It really fits my driving style. I like a track that requires more handling than horsepower to get the job done, and from what I’ve been told, I’ll have a pretty darn good truck and a heck of a motor for my third race and the third for Key Motorsports for the Westerman folks. We want to give them the best finish yet in this race,” he added.

Despite his relative inexperience in the NCTS, Miller was still tapped to drive for Key Motorsports for the past races at Kentucky and Indianapolis. Both times, Miller was filling in for drivers who were originally entered to drive but had to pull out for various reasons.

Veteran Chad Chaffin was scheduled to make his return to Key Motorsports in Memphis and Kentucky only to bow out after being signed to a Nextel Cup Series ride. Stacy Compton ended up filling in for Brad Keselowski at the last minute to run Memphis while Miller got the seat for Kentucky, only after Chaffin successfully qualified for the two Cup races.

At the O’Reilly Raceway Park in Indianapolis two weeks ago, Busch Series driver Shane Huffman, who like Chaffin ran the #40 Chevrolet in several races last season, was entered as the driver only to be forced to vacate the seat because of contract issues he was having with JR Motorsports since his dismissal from that ride a month ago. No one at Key Motorsports, however, is feeling bad about the decision to stay with Miller.

“You can see that he is getting better with every lap he runs,” said crew chief Gary Showalter. “There have been times when even Brandon didn’t know if it was the truck or him with the problems when he were having some handling issues at Indy, but once we got that worked out and he was comfortable, he drove like a demon. We expect the same this time around in Nashville,” he added.

In his very first race in Kentucky in the #40, and the team’s first under the sponsorship of the Westerman Companies, Miller was forced to run conservatively yet still completed all but one lap and earned a respectable 19th place finish.

At ORP, the handling issues caused Miller to lose a lap twice during the first half of the race that the promising youngster was able to get back each time thanks to NASCAR’s Lucky Dog program that puts the first truck a lap down back on the lead lap when a caution comes out – unless that truck is the reason for the yellow. Once the crew was able to make adjustments to get the tightness out of the truck, Miller again ended up completing all but one lap and just lost out on a 21st place finish when he was just beaten at the line by two trucks on the final lap.

“I have driven some pretty good equipment so far, and if we have a night anything like we had at Kentucky, with a really strong motor and a good handling piece, and I can finally race, I believe we’re going to be in for a good night,” Miller hoped.

Everyone connected with the #40 Westerman Companies Chevrolet team is also hoping that the third time turns out to be the charm.

NCTS teams practice all day on Friday and then qualify and race Saturday. Race time is set for 6:30 EDT with the SPEED Channel televising the race nationally beginning at 5:30 p.m.