Scott Miller takes over as crew chief for the No. 07 car at Michigan this weekend. Credit: Autostock

Claire B. Lang interviews Scott Miller

Claire B. Lang is the host of "Dialed In", which airs Monday through Friday from 4pm-7pm ET on XM Satellite Radio's 24-hour NASCAR Radio Channel 144. This week Claire spoke with Scott Miller, who takes over this week as crew chief for Dave Blaney and the No. 07 Jack Daniels Chevrolet at Richard Childress Racing.

CBL: Some changes announced over at Richard Childress Racing and that is that No. 29 team engineer Scott Miller will be the new crew chief for Dave Blaney. So I thought it would be good to get Scott Miller on the phone. He is the engineer under Todd Berrier for Kevin Harvick and now he takes on again a crew chief role. Scott, what are your initial thoughts about taking on a crew chief role coming from the engineering department and now sitting on the pit box as the crew chief for Dave Blaney and welcome to the show:

SM: I look at it as a really good opportunity as you said. Crew Chiefing is not new to me and it's my first opportunity to do it here at RCR and I think with Dave (Blaney) and the guys on that team I mean I think we can start taking some steps forward and get Dave Blaney running like I know that Dave Blaney can. You know they needed to make a change and hopefully we can change things up here and do the stuff like we've been doing on the 29 and hopefully it can help Dave.

Claire B. Lang

CBL: Were you looking to be a crew chief. Was that the goal you had from the engineering department? Or was this sort of an "OK ... let's put you in this area" kind of a deal?

SM: Well I mean as has happened here at Richard Childress Racing in the past I mean when something needs to change or something opens up the first thing they look to do is kind of promote from within and it was kind of a natural fit for me to try to bring some of the technologies that we're using on the 29 and apply them to the 07 and hopefully it will help the company overall.

CBL: How do you apply the engineering background to a crew chiefing role? Sometimes when you look too hard at data then you don't rule from the seat of your pants and your heart. So crew chiefing is a combination of understanding the engineering but also relying on the head, heart and what the driver says from the car of that seat of your pants kind of deal.

SM: Well I mean I've got a lot of experience kind of doing both and you know to be perfectly honest with you I've been in a role of the crew chief type role kind of the lead nuts and bolts guy on a few different deals that I've been on throughout the years in motorsports more often than I've really been the engineer and looking at it from strictly a technical standpoint so I think I can kind of mold the two together well and make it work.

CBL: Dave Blaney's team and Kevin Harvick's team were not equal as they were running? Where do you start?

SM: Well, I think that the first thing I've got to do is and that I have been doing for the past few days is just try to evaluate where they are with their cars from an aerodynamic standpoint and from a geometric standpoint from a ground clearance standpoint -- all the basics and I really can't answer that question yet because I'm not deep enough into it to tell how much different the two teams actually are equipment wise but I have certainly found some differences already and I think some things that probably need to be rectified somewhat.

CBL: Were they sharing information? Were they at the point where they could do that? Were they at the point that they could? Is that a goal to match the two teams up?

SM: Well, I think that really was you know part of Richard's mindset was to get the 29 and the 31 and the 07 closer to on the same page and it just became kind of a natural since I had experience doing that. I worked with Dave a little bit on some tests and I know intimately the approach of the 29 car so he looks to me to kind of instill that mindset in the guys and build that equipment the same so we can be closer to on the same page.

CBL: What do you know of Dave Blaney? I know that when Phillipe Lopez joined on he thought extremely high of Dave Blaney's talents and we haven't really seen it play out on the race track. What do you know about Dave Blaney?

SM: I've watched Dave race over the years. I've never really been involved with him on the day to day racing scene. I mean we've worked together obviously we do share information at the race track and in the role that I was in the 29 car that was my job to kind of go about to the 31 and the 07 truck and let them know what we were doing and let find out what the others were doing as well. I've worked with Dave in that respect and also been testing with them at a few places and things like that so I mean I know how Dave approaches driving a race car and I think from the time that I have spent with him that we'll be able to work together real well and I know Dave can produce results far better than he has.

CBL: Are you saying it as I'm hearing it that you would then know the information of the best of what all the teams there use and that you would be able then to kind of transfer the knowledge in a way Kevin Harvick's stuff and anything Jeff Burton had will now all be open to Dave Blaney?

SM: Well you know it always has been. It's just that now ... you know at RCR we do operate as a three car team, you know: no secrets, nothing kept from one another, which I think in the past there have been some teams that operated differently than that there were within the same organization, but we've really tried to make our three teams here equal and have all the access to the same information, same parts and pieces, and we'll continue to do that and hopefully I can just solidify the relationship between the three teams a little closer than it has been.

CBL: What would lead you to believe that there needed to be some changes on the cars. You said that you just started looking but that you see some things that you had to change.

SM: Well that kind of gets a little bit into the technical things that we probably don't need to talk about but ...

CBL: (laughing) Ok ... in general, not specifically.

SM: Well you know some of the cars were not constructed the same as you know I mean the way this racing works you know is there's a lot of experimentation ..for instance running geometry, the aero configurations, things like that, and they had just gone down a different path in some of those areas than we had and I'm not saying that those are the problems but they are not common with what we've been doing with the other two cars so those are the first things that we've got to see are the problem or not.

CBL: You know we've heard this over at Robert Yates. You have several crew chiefs and everyone gets going a different direction down a different path and it takes you a while to straighten it out and get them alike. It seems to be a common deal. How long does it take for you to get it back in order so that what they have on Dave Blaney's car will be like what they have on the 29 car?

SM: Unfortunately it's not something that you can do overnight. You just have to get into the mindset and the mindset of the guys in the shop that there are some things that we need to change. We may have to do some work to get it accomplished quicker. It won't be overnight but hopefully we can start to get the performance back up real quick here and then continue to build on that the rest of the season.

CBL: When you take a look at this weekend, we're going to Michigan the fact that I could even get you on the phone is amazing because you must just be swamped. We're several days from a race; you're a new crew chief...what's on your mind right now?

SM: Well really it's twofold certainly. I have to put a lot of effort into this weekend because it's going to be our first, you know, our first weekend together and we need to try to do as good as we possibly can but also I've got to start laying the groundwork for the improvements that we need to make in the coming weeks ahead. So you know it's twofold you gotta concentrate on this weekend as much as you can first and foremost and also you know get the direction at the shop and the things that are going on with the other cars down the road headed in the right direction.

CBL: Will communication be unique for you and Dave Blaney this weekend or have you worked together enough that you think you can master that quickly?

SM: I really don't see that as that much of a problem I mean I listen to all three of our teams on a weekly basis during practice and everything and I know how Dave communicates his feelings about the car from listening to him throughout the year and working with him at a couple of different tests and things that I don't think that's going to be a big transition.

CBL: See, if you're a really good engineer, which I hear you are, and I'm Kevin Harvick I don't want you to go and be the crew chief for another team. I want to help my team mate but I also don't want to loose an engineer who is helping to make me successful.

SM: Well I think that there maybe was some concern in that area a little bit but I believe that the way we all view it, you know myself, Todd Berrier, Kevin Hamlin, Richard, Mike Dillon everybody in management here, Bobby Hutchens is that maybe if it's taking a little bit away from the 29 in the short term it will, you know hopefully we can make it pay dividends across the board for the company in the months ahead.

You know there's a very competent man that's gonna be taking my place on the 29 and I think he'll be able to fill my shoes pretty well. I spent a lot of time with him this week to just, ah going over the things that I did you know for Todd and the information that I gave Todd on a weekly basis so that you know hopefully we can make it to where you know Todd's not at a want for something on a race weekend that we don't have covered.

CBL: And for the 29 fans can you tell us who that is ... tell us a little bit about that person?

SM: Ahm, his name is Andy Street. He's been working at the company for several years now. I don't know exactly how long but he's really just been working in our engineering department doing a lot of different projects and he has been going to our tests with us on the 29 car as the data acquisition guy so he's real familiar with the inner workings of the tem and the people and what not so I think he'll be able to get up to speed real quick.

CBL: How about your pit crew and the status of that and how they're performing on the Dave Blaney car?

SM: Well, unfortunately I haven't really been able to ahm..I've been really looking at the nuts and bolts of things. You know this happened real quick. We only started talking about it a very few days ago so..ahm... the pit crew you know from what I hear they've been doing a pretty good job but I haven't had the time to look into it. I've been kind of flat out on the nuts and bolts of the thing right yet.

CBL: Number one mission before you leave for Michigan is what? Number one thing you've gotta get done before you can head off to Michigan in general?

SM: Well I mean we've just got to ... I've been working real hard trying to get the part and pieces on the car like I have been used to running. There's a few things that needed to be changed from a geometry standpoint and what not but really just making sure the cars are prepared right, understanding what I have from an aero standpoint by looking at all the wind tunnel data and everything and just familiarizing myself with the guys and making sure that we got all the right bits and stuff on the trailer and go there and hopefully we can have a good weekend and build from there.

CBL: I want to congratulate you and also ask you as I wrap this interview up are you fired up about it Are you excited? What are your thoughts about being a crew chief on this car?

SM: Oh no, I'm very excited about it. You know it's an honor to crew chief a car for Richard Childress Racing and I'm glad that they looked to me and gave me the opportunity to do it and it's also you know really an honor to represent a great sponsor like Jack Daniels you know that's going to be real fun for me.

CBL: Well I will come see you at the race track when you get there ok?

SM: OK, Claire.

Courtesy of XM Satellite Radio