Miller to Drive

[OUTDOORNUT]

Miller to debut at Vegas in Waltrip's No. 12 Toyota

Team Release

September 19, 2005

03:30 PM EDT (19:30 GMT)

LAS VEGAS, Nev. -- Darrell Waltrip Motorsports announces that Joey Miller will drive the No. 12 Toyota Tundra in the Las Vegas 350 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway on Saturday. Miller, a 20-year-old from Lakeville, Minn., will make his Craftsman Truck Series debut fresh off his fourth ARCA RE/MAX win this season with second-place locked up in the points standings.

"It really is a dream come true to be able to make my very first NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series start with a top team," Miller said. "I'm excited that Darrell Waltrip Motorsports and Toyota is allowing me to be part of their program. Toyota had a successful first year and they've picked up steam during the second half of this season."

"I've been watching Joey Miller in the ARCA Series and he's done a great job," Waltrip said. "If he can come close to what he's done in ARCA in the Craftsman Truck Series that would definitely be big for us. Right next to Frank Kimmel, Mr. ARCA and six-time champion, Joey's had the car to beat every week. Hopefully, we'll give him a truck as good as his car. Let me say this too, Mike Wallace has done a great job at performing up to our expectations and turning things around for us. He'll be back with us at Atlanta after I run the 12 Toyota Tundra at Martinsville."

Miller's had a strong season registering four wins, 12 top-five finishes and 17 top-10s in 22 ARCA starts. With no track experience at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, Miller will rely on input from David Reutimann and both Darrell Waltrip Motorsports teams.

"Because I've never raced Vegas, it's good to have someone to talk to like David and both teams," Miller said. "David was a rookie last year, so he can relate. My goal is to come away with a solid finish. I've had a great year in ARCA after starting off strong at Daytona. All year, I've been running up front and finishing well. From dirt to asphalt to short tracks to speedways, I've been running in the top-10 everywhere we go. I'd like to transfer that success to the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series."

Before advancing to ARCA, Miller collected six top-10 finishes in 22 ASA starts from 2002-2004 and competed in a variety of other series. Arriving on the scene in ARCA, Miller made a lasting impression when he won his very first ARCA race at Nashville Superspeedway in his first career start.

"Winning my first ARCA race is my biggest accomplishment to date," said Miller. "We came from two laps down to win. I've been racing since I was 12 years old. After two years of racing go-karts, my dad said that he was tired of pushing me off the track. So, we moved up to Sportsman and Hobby Stocks and progressed from there. Then I took the next step and started driving Late Models. From ASA, I grew and started racing touring series. After that we did two ARCA races. Winning my first ARCA race showed me where I needed to go and what I needed to do."

Coverage of the Craftsman Truck Series event at Las Vegas begins at 9 p.m. ET Saturday on SPEED Channel. MRN Radio also will broadcast the event.

[Sifty]

Nice to see it happen to a hometown kid.

Sifty

[PP Angler]

Would be kick azz to see him win his 1st truck race!!!

Sure wish Roush would get Joey in one of his trucks!!

[lawdog]

AWESOME! Good luck to Joey. NASCAR needs a Minnesota driver!

[JohnMickish]

Man, I thought I'd be the first one to post this It must be nice to play on the computer at work guys!

[RobertELee]

KICK A**!!! Its good to see one of my buddies from high school do something.

[OUTDOORNUT]

I like to refer to it as a Community Service.....ha ha