From every angle, Jeremy Miller casts winning reflection in Big 8 Series win at Grundy County Speedway

2026-04-20

Story By: Tony Baranek

Way out in front. All the way to the back. A bit sideways, now and again.

Jeremy Miller found himself in several different situations during Saturday's Big 8 Series season opener at Grundy County Speedway.

The most important, though, came at the end when the Rockford native was standing in victory lane after a sometimes calm, sometimes wild 58-lap run.

"Everybody was eager to get going, I guess," Miller said of the fracas-filled feature. "Sometimes, that's just racing."

Miller beat out Michael Bilderback, who had a long winning streak in Big 8 events at Grundy snapped.

"Ha ha... he's so good here," Miller said of Bilderback. "I'm glad we got to break that streak here a little bit. He'll probably win a lot more this year, though."

The race had five different leaders and seven lead changes. Most of it happened after a smoothly-run first half in which Miller opened up a big lead over Mahlon Borntreger.

Borntreger, however, slowly reeled in Miller, and made the pass on lap 26. The two were soon joined by Bilderback, leading to a three-car tangle between Turns 1 and 2.

Borntreger's No. 15 car incurred race-ending damage, while Bilderback emerged with a bent right front. Miler was sent to the back.

The rest of the race saw a series of spinouts and yellow flags, before Miller went on to beat Bilderback by 3.441 seconds. Third place went to Alex Braseth, followed by Jon Reynolds Jr., Eddie Hoffman and Joshua Lundy.

"Just early season blues," Miller said of the fender rubbing and spinouts. "We just had that little mixup there, and I hated it for the 15 (Borntreger) that he got torn up. He had a really good race car. It's not a lot of fun when that happens."

Bilderback took issue afterward with the new Hoosier racing tires that are new this season.

"It's the most uneasy, uncomfortable tire we've raced on," Bilderback said. "You've seen how how many guys got sideways. These guys are all professional race car drivers. We don't do that. We're smart enough to work on these things.

"Everyone was just all over the place. It's ridiculous. But hat's off to my crew. Their worked their butts off. I'm happy with second. Obviously, I hate for the streak (at Grundy) to end. But it is what it is. We'll move on to the next one."

The next Big 8 Series event takes place at Madison International Speedway on May 22nd.