Raybestos Rookie Darlington Practice Speeds Nationwide Series first practice
Miller 22nd
Clauson 36th

Raybestos Rookies Bryan Clauson and Chase Miller will both be making their first Darlington start in Friday’s Diamond Hill Plywood 200. Miller logged the 22nd best overall speed in the first practice session Thursday afternoon and spoke about his first laps on the famed 1.366-mile speedway.

CHASE MILLER, No. 9 VERIZON-MOTOROLA DODGE: THAT IS A VERY RESPECTABLE TIME FOR YOUR FIRST PRACTICE AT DARLINGTON. “Not bad at all, just still getting up to speed. I’ve got the Verizon-Motorola Dodge here for their debut race and we’re real excited to have ‘em here. Darlington is a crazy track. It’s like nothing else I’ve ever seen before and it’s pretty fun. I’m just trying to get up to speed. I think we ended up 22nd there and unfortunately practice got cut a little bit because of a couple of accidents. I earned a Darlington Stripe and found out where the wall was and now we’re picking up speed and getting used to it and having a good ol’ time out there. This is the first time I’ve ever seen the racetrack.” WHAT WERE YOUR FIRST IMPRESSIONS OF THE TRACK? “I didn’t even know what to think, to be honest with you. This is just different. You sail off in there, turn the wheel, hope it turns and if not you hit the wall. It’s pretty cool and it’s kind of like the only racetrack you can go to where if you hit the wall no one really cares. It’s expected out of you. It’s good, you’re going fast. If not, you weren’t trying hard enough so it’s pretty cool. We’re real excited to have the Verizon Wireless Motorola Dodge out here. I’m looking forward to having a good run, having a good, solid race and just staying out of trouble and getting a good top finish out of this thing, a good solid finish. It’s going to be a long race and you’re going to be on top of the wheel. I’ve never been here when the track was rough and had no grip but I can imagine it was way worse. But now the track is really fast, really smooth and I think you’re going to have to be on top of the wheel every lap to keep up with these guys and stay out of trouble.” IS IT GOOD TO FIND YOUR LIMIT EARLY IN PRACTICE? “I think it was really good for me because, again, now I know where I can go and how hard I can push it. If I’m trying to pick up time I know where to not pick it up. I know that I need to try to get it somewhere else. I think for me it was a really good thing to go out there and get that experience, get the stripe and learn and move on and do the best you can with it.”