In Part 1 of 'The Love of Racing' series, we follow Wyatt Miller -- the son of Kelley Earnhardt Miller and LW Miller -- for a night at Millbridge Speedway in Salisbury, North Carolina.
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00:00 (upbeat music)
00:02 I've been begging mom and dad to race
00:09 since I was like four, maybe even three.
00:12 (upbeat music)
00:17 This was my first championship trophy.
00:25 This was also one of my championship trophies.
00:28 And then here's my championship checks,
00:32 and then more checks, and then more checks.
00:35 Racing, the best sport, definitely.
00:40 A lot of kids say it's not a sport, but it's a sport.
00:42 My friend thinks I'm already famous
00:45 because I'm in Earnhardt, probably.
00:48 - Ralph Earnhardt.
00:51 - Dale Earnhardt.
00:52 - Dale Earnhardt Jr.
00:54 - The legacy continues.
00:56 (car engine revving)
00:59 This is kind of a famous picture of Dale
01:07 and my dad and myself.
01:08 Some good fun family memories.
01:11 It's obvious I need to update things
01:13 because these are all very little kids,
01:15 and my kids are now 22, 17, and my wife's 11.
01:19 There's this saying that you marry your parent.
01:21 LW, I know my dad would have loved him
01:24 had they had the opportunity to meet.
01:26 (upbeat music)
01:28 LW comes from a racing family,
01:30 lots of modified racing,
01:32 Xfinity races, Arca races.
01:34 So both sides of our family are just ingrained in racing.
01:37 It was only natural that Wyatt was gonna get
01:41 that racing bug and, you know,
01:43 wanna get in the seat someday.
01:52 - Take this over so I can get it cleaned up.
01:54 - You know, pretty much everything that we do
01:58 is just really authentic to who we are.
02:01 - Does dad get these sports?
02:03 - I'm not sure, you might as well clean 'em.
02:04 You know your dad, he's a perfectionist.
02:07 - Wyatt, shirt, head sock, gloves,
02:11 everything we need, right?
02:12 - Yeah.
02:13 - All right, we got everything?
02:14 It's time for race night.
02:15 Let's do it.
02:16 (upbeat music)
02:19 (upbeat music)
02:22 Wyatt, we need to get there and make sure your seatbelts
02:25 and all that stuff's set in the seat
02:26 'cause they swapped your seat out.
02:27 So when we get there, you need to get in there.
02:30 - Ready?
02:30 - Yeah.
02:32 - You stay ready, don't you?
02:33 You stay ready to race.
02:35 - Yeah.
02:36 - Great to be here at Millbridge Speedway.
02:39 I think we got another good night ahead of us,
02:40 that's for sure.
02:41 - Millbridge Speedway has been here
02:43 for as long as I can remember.
02:44 - Oh, it's packed.
02:45 - NASCAR families can race on a Tuesday and Wednesday night
02:48 and it doesn't interfere with their weekend schedule.
02:50 - Can you see good enough?
03:00 - No.
03:02 This is raised up or something.
03:03 Now I'm too low.
03:04 - You're too low?
03:06 - Yes.
03:06 - This is the same exact way you raced at last,
03:08 at Hallwights?
03:09 - No, they did it up on the stand.
03:11 - No, we have not changed the height of the seat.
03:13 It's the identical place that you've raced
03:15 since your bed was down.
03:16 - I know, but they put it up on the stand
03:17 so it's different, dad.
03:18 - You wanna go higher?
03:19 I can put that pad on your butt.
03:21 Can you see better there?
03:27 - Yeah.
03:28 - The seat that he was in, he outgrew,
03:31 so we had to change seats.
03:32 And now we thought we had that shot where it needed to be
03:34 and now we're regrouping a little bit, but it'll be fine.
03:38 - I want a big night of racing here at Millbridge Speedway.
03:41 We've had 10 races this season.
03:43 Wyatt Miller, the number 73, is the point leader.
03:47 - We're from a legacy family.
03:50 The expectations are high.
03:53 We're here to race like everybody else.
03:54 We're here to have fun.
03:56 I want him to enjoy the moment, win the trophy.
03:59 - The thriller Wyatt Miller.
04:00 Wyatt thought that was appropriate, so it stuck.
04:02 - And I want him to get arrogant.
04:04 I want him to understand the hard work that goes into that.
04:07 What was sacrificed for my dad
04:09 to become the race car driver that he did
04:11 is something that I try to apply to our kids
04:13 in terms of you gotta go after what you want
04:15 and you gotta put the work in to make it happen.
04:18 - Let's do it.
04:19 - It is dangerous and I've experienced the worst of the worst
04:29 when it comes to motorsports and a dad.
04:31 And my dad always said,
04:33 if something happens to me in a race car,
04:35 I'm doing what I love doing.
04:37 And I don't wanna keep my kids from doing something
04:39 that they're passionate about.
04:44 - Jesus, please watch over Wyatt.
04:45 And say, keep all these drivers and fans safe, Lord.
04:48 Just let Wyatt go out here
04:49 and just have a wonderful night, we thank you and love you
04:51 for these blessings you've given us.
04:53 Amen.
04:54 - Love you, buddy.
04:55 Have some fun, okay?
04:56 - The 73 of Wyatt Miller, 10.037.
05:13 Top of the board.
05:14 - This is the live timing for qualifying.
05:20 He's fast time so far.
05:22 Good job, bud.
05:23 Fast time, pull the work.
05:24 - My dad was hardcore, aggressive,
05:33 in and out of the race car.
05:34 Dale, very reserved, very conservative.
05:38 Wyatt is like conservative,
05:40 but then aggressive inside the race car.
05:42 He's like this mix that when you just see him out here
05:45 and you're like, oh, okay, that kid races, oh, okay.
05:48 And then he gets behind there
05:49 and he just does things that you're like, wow.
05:52 - Get what you can get, be smart, have some fun.
05:54 There you go.
05:54 That's our ritual, that's our go time ritual.
06:00 - The Wink Micro, amen, getting ready to roll out now.
06:05 - Green lights are on, the Wink Micro for racing.
06:08 (dramatic music)
06:11 - I'm just watching, hoping he makes it through each corner,
06:19 not upside down.
06:21 - Price gets crossed up a little bit.
06:22 That allows Wyatt Miller to dial to the low side
06:25 to take that third spot.
06:26 - That heartbreak or when something goes bad,
06:29 I feel that, you know, intensely.
06:32 - Go home tonight and talk about, you know,
06:35 why'd you do this?
06:37 - Wyatt Miller makes the bold move around the outside.
06:40 - I wanna know that he knows what he did
06:42 because it shows that what he's doing is calculated,
06:47 not just doing it.
06:48 - Nate Mendry, the victory lane at Mill Ridge Speedway.
06:51 Jake Bowling second, Wyatt Miller third.
06:54 - Oh yeah, he's kicking my butt every time I'm out here, man.
07:05 Wyatt does a really good job
07:06 and I try to ask him stuff every time I see him.
07:09 He helps me a lot, even though he's 11.
07:12 - Tell me about the seat now.
07:14 - The seat is lower.
07:15 - Too low, is it too low?
07:16 Well, you look pretty good out there,
07:17 so maybe that's where it needs to be.
07:19 - He doesn't know what he's talking about.
07:20 - I think we could have done better.
07:22 - Top three was the goal that you guys had talked about
07:26 and top three is what we got.
07:28 - Everything we do when we walk in this game,
07:30 it's all learning.
07:31 - Did you learn anything?
07:32 - No.
07:35 - I'm here to learn.
07:36 - I'm here to win.
07:38 - Okay.
07:39 (upbeat music)
07:42 (upbeat music)