Joel Miller continued to show that he will be a championship contender this past weekend by finishing 2nd at Watkins Glen in round 3 of the Star Mazda Championship presented by Goodyear Series. The MAZDASPEED Development Driver qualified 3rd for the Saturday morning race in a very competitive top 5 battle where the best times occurred during the last lap of the session. Miller ran 4th for the first half of the race waiting patiently for his car to come in. When the race went green after the second caution, Miller moved to 3rd on the restart. Another caution again slowed the field with less than 15 minutes remaining in the race.

Again, Miller moved up at the restart into 2nd with his eyes set on catching the leader. However, he lost some time in the overtaking maneuver from 3rd to 2nd. With 4 laps remaining Miller tried closing the gap but ran out of time when the checkered flag flew. With another podium finish to his name Miller keeps in the close championship fight only 2 points behind Charles Hall.

“The car was really good on the restarts which allowed me to make up the track position into second. However, Charles and I were so close on lap time today, and the distance I lost in passing for 2nd was difficult to make up with 4 laps to go.”

I have to thank all my supporters which include: MAZDA, K&N Air Filters, Mocket Company, Classic Stone, Burns Truck and Trailer, Sparco, Sportsdrink+, and DreamCars for their support during this season. Also, everybody at JDC Motorsports John Church, Rick Cameron, and Scott Church for giving me a great car that is capable of going to the podium in every race so far this season.