Miller on what it's like to serve as NASCAR's senior VP of competition

When Miller started working at NASCAR 18 months ago, life got a lot more complicated. Previously, he enjoyed multiple roles on the team side before transitioning to the sanctioning body for the start of the 2016 season. 

Miller, who spoke to motorsport.com at Daytona International Speedway last weekend, says the new job has had its share of unexpected challenges. 

“One thing that is different is the diversity of it and how many different things that we deal with at NASCAR from all different levels versus the race team life, which is more of a singular focus thing,” Miller said. “That’s been an adjustment for me. But until you get in the middle of the job, there’s no way to understand that. I don't think anyone could explain that, because the ones that you talk to at NASCAR about the job are used to that and really didn’t know how the race teams operate. It was just an interesting adjustment.

“A lot of things that are part of the job that I didn’t expect — and not all bad. There’s a lot of things that I do that I didn’t expect I’d be doing that are really interesting. Like working over the winter with the team that created the segments and things like that. That wasn’t something that I expected, but it was really interesting to be involved in something like that process. There’s been a lot of learning.”

The typical week

Miller’s typical weeks starts with maybe a half-day off on Monday following a weekend of racing. The sanctioning body does a deep dive into the weekend on Tuesday to assess any operational, competition or issues as well as potential penalties that need to be addressed. The officials also go over post-race inspection of the cars taken back to the research and development center in Concord, N.C. On Wednesday, Miller tidies up and loose ends from the weekend and dealing with penalties before concentrating on show-prep for the upcoming events. 

Miller has seen his share of change over last year. In 2017, NASCAR instituted stage racing, the  five-minute clock and Playoffs in lieu of the Chase. The sanctioning body has also endured its share of issues with at-track inspection, particularly the Laser Inspection Station (LIS), which has a tendency to clog up the process on a weekly basis as teams try to work as close to the tolerances as possible. 

Does Miller believe the officials have worked out some of the kinks in the system?

“Probably not,” he said. “The teams are going to push the issue and we’re going to hold fast to ensure a level playing field — and those things don’t always line up. So, no, I don’t think it’s all rosy from here.”

Keeping the teams honest

Teams have been hit with practice holds for multiple infractions during the inspection process. Recently, NASCAR pulled hard cards from competitors that pushed the limits to up the ante from an inconvenience standpoint. For teams that are used to coming and going as they please with their licenses, having to stop at the NASCAR trailer every week for paper credentials certainly gets the point across as far as who is in charge. 

NASCAR is looking at other forms of reprisals — like losing a set of tires or even parking passes — before the penalties escalate to points and money. 

“Practice holds in Happy Hour — which is something that we’ll potentially move to — probably will get their attention a little bit,” Miller said. “Putting some penalty on the tires that the cars don’t make it out with is on the table and that will get their attention.

“There’s a lot of things that we have that we can still do without it having to escalate to points or suspensions or anything like that. If we have to, we’ll try those. If that doesn’t work, we’ll figure out where we go next.”