Sellers Leaves Paul Miller “In a Better Place” After Nine Years

Bryan Sellers believes he departs Paul Miller Racing “in a better place than when we started” at the end of a nine-year tenure ahead of a ‘surreal and emotional’ farewell with the team at Motul Petit Le Mans.

Sellers was confirmed in September to be departing the Georgia-based squad to take up an expanded management role with DXDT Racing, which will make its IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship debut next year.

His exit comes at the end of a nine-year stretch with the team that saw Sellers form one of the most successful GTD pairings with Madison Snow, taking 13 class wins, 37 podiums and a pair of titles in 2018 and 2023.

Sellers will share the No. 1 BMW M4 GT3 with Snow and Neil Verhagen for what the 42-year-old described as a “very surreal” final start for the team.

“It’s hard to believe that you spend so much time in a place and watch it build and grow and progress and have a hand in where it started and ultimately where it is,” Sellers told Sportscar365.

“Knowing that that time is coming to an end is honestly hard to process. But I’ve been fortunate over the past couple weeks to think about it.

“To be cliche: be happy it happened, not sad that it’s over.

“I think that when you look at what we’ve been able to do over these years as a program, as a group, as a team, has been impressive.

“It’s been not something that many people have ever done before in terms of IMSA and [the] GT ranks, so I’m proud of the people here, proud to have called it home for so long.

“It’s emotional for it to change, but it’s cool. It’s only appropriate that happens here at my home, in front of my friends and family.”

Sellers first joined Paul Miller Racing for the team’s third season in WeatherTech Championship competition, which coincided with a switch to Lamborghini machinery.

A first class win for the new alliance came at Virginia International Raceway later that year, which had followed on from a maiden victory for the team at Petit Le Mans in 2014.

From there, the team quickly became a staple of the GTD ranks ahead of a step up to GTD Pro in 2024 after a second title the previous year.

Sellers now leaves the team on the eve of a significant expansion to a two-car effort in GTD Pro, which marks the first time in team history it has run a multi-car program.

“I feel like I’ve been super lucky to be given the opportunity to help something grow,” Sellers said about his tenure with the team.

“One of my favorite things about when I came here, which is also one of my favorite things about moving forward into DXDT, is they’ve both given me the feeling that my input is not just valuable, but wanted and desired.

“For me that’s very important. It’s a very important part of what I feel like I have to offer.

“This is a difficult thing for me to say because I don’t think it’s ever just one person, but I think that my contribution to Paul Miller was drastic.

“I like to think that I had a very huge part in where they are today and I do feel like I’m leaving them in a better place than where we started.

“I do feel like they’re still in a great place and I expect that they continue to be in a great place and win races like they always have.”

Sellers: DXDT Opportunity “A Bit Too Perfect to Turn Away”

Sellers elaborated on his decision to take on expanded management responsibilities at DXDT, which he says came as the result of an offer from team owner David Askew.

The new role comes after Sellers had already been aligned with DXDT in a driving capacity in Fanatec GT World Challenge America powered by AWS since 2022.

“I think for me it was less about where I’m at in my career and more about where I can go,” he explained.

“I think that I’m still quite happy with my performance inside the car. I’m still quite happy with what I can contribute to a program in terms of my depth of knowledge and my speed.

“But I also look back and think it’s almost my 20th year in the IMSA paddock, and at some point in time, these things do wind down.”

Sellers hinted that Askew’s proposal was “almost impossible to turn down,” adding that it allowed him to visualize his role in the sport beyond driving for the first time.

“I was presented with this incredible opportunity from David at DXDT,” he said. “And when a gift horse looks you in the mouth, right?

“I think David came to me and approached me, and the way he propositioned it was something that made it almost impossible for me to turn down.

“He’s given me the option to build something past being a driver, which is something that as drivers you think about from the very beginning.

“You know, ‘What am I going to do next when this all winds down?’ Everybody’s answer is, ‘I don’t know.’

“But for the first time in my career, I had been presented something that was very viable.

“I could do this and move on, so it seemed a bit too perfect to turn away.”