Miller, the 25-year-old rookie driver making his third consecutive start for Key Motorsports, had to overcome a broken motor on Friday during practice and then contact with the outside retaining wall in turn four during the first of his two qualifying laps earlier on Saturday to create some relief for the No. 40 Westerman Companies Chevrolet Silverado contingent.

"Brandon helped us take something positive back to North Carolina after what had been a really tough weekend for us," said Key Motorsports Director of Competition Tommy Morgan. "Losing that motor limited Brandon's practice time to less than 20 laps altogether on Friday, and we really didn't know how the truck would run with a motor that we never had a chance to break in," Morgan added.

Miller's race truck got extremely loose on the first of this two qualifying laps, and when he brushed the fourth turn wall, it pretty much killed both laps. It relegated Miller to a 33rd place starting spot, but with the engine change the No. 40 machine automatically had to start at the rear of the field in very hot and humid conditions. It also gave the Key Motorsports crew a little extra work to do between qualifying and the start of the event to repair the truck after the run-in with the wall and with only the race itself left to try and find something positive to the trying weekend.

In the race's first 10 laps, Miller improved four positions to 29th despite his complaints about how greasy and slick the track had become following an ARCA Re/Max Challenge Series event that was run just prior to the Craftsman Truck Series race. However, the slickness of the track combined with some front end handling issues eventually led to the loss of a lap to then leader Mike Skinner by lap 28 of the scheduled 150-lap test.

"We kept on making adjustments to the front end of the truck, but everything we did was basically to get the nose down on the track and eliminate some of that tightness that Brandon was complaining about," said crew chief Gary Showalter. "But we had so little practice time on Friday, we never did have time to work on the rear," he added.

Miller would eventually get that lost lap back on lap 61 thanks to NASCAR's Lucky Dog award that puts the first truck a lap down back on the lead lap following a caution. Showalter elected to bring the No. 40 Westerman Companies Chevy down pit road for another wedge adjustment and fuel, and in 10 laps of green flag racing after that Miller improved four positions to 24th.

The No. 40 Westerman Companies Chevrolet maintained that position for another 20 laps, going a lap down once again on lap 95 to then leader Mike Skinner. However, something was developing that could have worked out huge for Miller and his Key Motorsports crew.

Each time Miller had pitted for chassis adjustments, twice when virtually every other truck stayed out on the track, Showalter would order his crew to put in fuel. By that lap 95 juncture, the No. 40 could go 20 laps longer on fuel than any of the leaders. The long, green flag run that began on lap 64 had many teams possibly looking at having to pit for at least fuel under green, but the hope Showalter had for such a situation evaporated on lap 102 when the fifth place running truck of Johnny Benson hit the first turn fence when something broke in the front end of his Toyota.

"We had something going in our favor for a change, but when Benson crashed to bring out the yellow flag, it gave every truck that needed fuel the chance to pit under caution and ruined our chances at taking advantage of our fuel advantage to get back on the lead lap. We just can't catch a break when we need one," Showalter explained frustratingly.

Miller was running hard and battling for position over the final 30 laps of the race with the trucks driven by Ken Schrader, Ryan Matthews, Tim Sauter, Aric Almirola and Mike Bliss, all a lap down at the time.

Miller was showing 23rd on the board with less than 15 laps remaining when he was just unable to hold off the advances of Almirola and Bliss in settling for the 25th place finish.

"It was weird," said Miller, who ended the night two laps in arrears to race winner Travis Kvapil and on a lap by himself with the second lost lap coming as the checkered flag waved for Kvapil's victory. "The adjustments Gary (Showalter) made to the suspension during those early yellow flag periods helped us a little, but for whatever the reason, the rear of the truck just acted strange over the final 70 laps or so. It just would not give me a truck stable enough to hold off those guys at the end," Miller added.