PUNTA GORDA, Fla. — Daniel Miller beat out a stout field and track conditions to win the BG Products Southern Sprint Car Shootout Series season opener Saturday night at 417 Speedway.
It was Miller’s first victory in SSSS competition since June 20, 2020.
Miller, who started from the pole position after a blind draw, lead wire to wire to capture the 40-lap feature in convincing fashion.
The only serious threat to Miller’s lead occurred late in the race when Scott Adema challenged him on a double-file restart. Miller fended off Adema to and never looked back.
Throughout most of the race, sand was being kicked up on the track due to the whirlwind the wings were producing, most notably in turns two and four. The track conditions made most of the cars race sideways throughout the biggest part of the race, including Miller himself.
“There was sand everywhere tonight,” stated Miller in victory lane. “For some reason this track gets very dirty with sand. Starting up front tonight definitely helped me, but as good as the car felt, I feel like we could have put it up front no matter where we would have started. We never really had any close calls other than getting into the sand in turn one. When that would happen, the car would step out. Other than that, it was a clean race for us. I didn’t know if anyone was close, but I was going as hard as I could in case someone was on my bumper.”
The finish:
Daniel Miller, Scott Adema, Aaron Pierce, Sport Allen, L.J. Grimm, Tommy Nichols, Bruce Brantley, Steven Hollinger, Bo Hartley, Davey Hamilton Jr., Troy DeCaire, Ryan Adema, Skip Ferniac.