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Tag: Matt Mills

  • Hocevar outduels Majeski to win the Truck Series regular-season finale at Richmond

    Hocevar outduels Majeski to win the Truck Series regular-season finale at Richmond

    From starting at the rear of the field to methodically carving his way to the front and executing a late pit strategy to his favor, Carson Hocevar made an emphatic statement about his quest for a NASCAR championship by winning the Worldwide Express 250 at Richmond Raceway on Saturday, July 29.

    The 20-year-old Hocevar from Portage, Michigan, led twice for 64 of 250-scheduled laps in an event where he was set to start in 17th place before a flat tire derailed his event early and he was forced to have the tire changed and start at the rear of the field. Amid a steady gain, while carving his way through the field, Hocevar cracked the top 20 prior to the first stage’s conclusion and would proceed to finish in the top five at the conclusion of the second stage.

    Then after dominant pole-sitter Ty Majeski was penalized for speeding on pit road during the second stage’s break period, Hocevar assumed the lead to start the final stage, where he would lead 60 laps. After pitting with select others under green with 40 laps remaining, Hocevar spent the remainder of the event tracking Majeski, who attempted to remain on the track and pilot his way to victory on the exact tires used since the start of the final stage. Hocevar, though, managed to catch and overtake Majeski for the lead with four laps remaining. From there, the Michigan native muscled away with the advantage and cruised to his third NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series victory of this season and of his career with the regular-season stretch concluding and the 2023 Playoff field set.

    With on-track qualifying that determined the starting lineup occurring on Friday, July 28, Ty Majeski claimed his second Truck pole position of the 2023 season after posting a pole-winning lap at 119 mph in 22.689 seconds. Joining him on the front row was Corey Heim, who posted the second-best qualifying lap at 118.728 mph in 22.741 seconds.

    Prior to the event, Justin Carroll dropped to the rear of the field due to unapproved adjustments made to his truck. Carson Hocevar would also drop to the rear of the field after he pitted to have a flat tire on his truck changed.

    When the green flag waved and the race commenced amid a delay that spanned nearly an hour due to a lightning strike, Majeski rocketed ahead with the lead from the outside lane as the field fanned out through the first two turns and entering the backstretch. With the field continuing to jostle for early spots while fanning out to three lanes entering the frontstretch, Majeski proceeded to lead the first lap ahead of teammate Ben Rhodes, who navigated his No. 99 Campers Inn RV Ford F-150 around Heim for second place.

    During the second lap, Majeksi was out in front by three-tenths of a second over teammate Rhodes while Heim, Christian Eckes and Matt Crafton were in the top five. Behind, William Sawalich, who started third, was back in sixth ahead of a side-by-side battle involving rookie Jake Garcia and Matt DiBenedetto, both of whom were vying for spots for the 2023 Truck Series Playoffs.

    Through the first five scheduled laps, Majeski was leading by half a second over teammate Rhodes followed by Heim, Eckes and Crafton while Tanner Gray was in sixth ahead of William Sawalich, DiBenedetto, Jake Garcia and Chase Purdy. Behind, Matt Mills, making his first start in the No. 51 Kyle Busch Motorsports entry, was in 11th ahead of Grant Enfinger, rookie Nick Sanchez, Bayley Currey and Zane Smith while Tanner Gray, rookie Rajah Caruth, rookie Daniel Dye, Stewart Friesen and Dean Thompson occupied the top 20.

    At the Lap 10 mark, Majeski continued to lead by more than a second over teammate Rhodes while Heim trailed by nearly two seconds. Behind, Eckes and Crafton remained in the top five while Tanner Gray, another competitor vying for a spot for the 2023 Truck Series Playoffs, retained sixth ahead of Sawalich, Garcia, DiBenedetto and Purdy.

    Fifteen laps later, Majeski extended his advantage to nearly two seconds over teammate Rhodes while Heim, Eckes and Crafton followed suit in the top five. Meanwhile, Hocevar was in 18th after overtaking rookie Daniel Dye and Friesen on the track.

    Another 10 laps later, Majeski continued to extend his advantage to nearly three seconds over teammate Rhodes while third-place Heim trailed by more than five seconds. With Eckes and Crafton retaining fourth and fifth on the track, Jake Garcia was in sixth while Sawalich, DiBenedetto, Purdy and Matt Mills were in the top 10. Behind, Enfinger was in 11th ahead of Tanner Gray, Sanchez, Taylor Gray and Zane Smith while Hocevar was up to 16th on the track.

    At the Lap 50 mark, Majeski, who lapped 23rd-place Friesen, a competitor who came into the event nine points below the top-10 cutline to make the Playoffs, a lap earlier, retained the lead by nearly four seconds over teammate Rhodes as third-place Heim trailed by nearly six seconds while Eckes and Crafton occupied the top five ahead of Garcia, Sawalich and DiBenedetto. Despite being marred into more lapped traffic while lapping 19th-place Zane Smith, Majeski continued to lead ahead of teammate Rhodes by Lap 60.

    When the first stage concluded on Lap 70, Majeski captured his third Truck stage victory of the 2023 season, having led every scheduled lap thus far. Teammate Rhodes followed suit in second while Heim, Eckes, Crafton, Sawalich, Garcia, Purdy, Matt Mills and DiBenedetto were scored in the top 10. By then, 16 of 36 starters were scored on the lead lap while names that included Hailie Deegan, Dean Thompson, Zane Smith, Rajah Caruth, Daniel Dye and Friesen were pinned a lap down. In addition, Corey Heim, who ended up in third place during the first stage’s break period, clinched the 2023 Craftsman Truck Series Regular Season championship.

    Under the stage break, the lead lap field led by Majeski pitted for service. Following the pit stops, Majeski retained the lead after exiting pit road first followed by Heim, Rhodes, Eckes, Crafton and Sawalich.

    The second stage started on Lap 79 as Majeski and Heim occupied the front row. At the start, Majeski rocketed ahead with a strong start on the outside lane and entering Turn 1 while Rhodes battled Heim for the runner-up spot through the backstretch. With Rhodes claiming the runner-up spot, teammate Crafton, who came into the event nine points above the Playoff cutline, made it a ThorSport Racing 1-2-3 on the track as he moved his No. 88 Menards Ford F-150 to third place over Heim. Heim, however, fought back on Lap 81 as he reclaimed third place before challenging Rhodes for the runner-up spot. Amid the battles, Majeski ran away from the field as he was ahead by eight-tenths of a second.

    Soon after, Purdy, who was in sixth and trying to race his way into the Playoff cutline, was assessed a pass-through penalty through pit road for a restart violation as he did not remain in his lane prior to the start/finish line during the second stage’s start. Meanwhile, Majeski extended his advantage to more than two seconds over Heim while Rhodes, Crafton and Eckes followed suit at the Lap 90 mark.

    At the Lap 100 mark, Majeski was leading by more than four seconds over Heim followed by Rhodes, Crafton and Eckes while Garcia, Taylor Gray, Hocevar, Sawalich and Enfinger were scored in the top 10. Meanwhile, Tanner Gray was in 11th ahead of Sanchez, DiBenedetto, Ankrum and Matt Mills while Bayley Currey, the final competitor on the lead lap, was in 16th. Meanwhile, Zane Smith, the first competitor a lap down, was mired in 17th ahead of Thompson, Colby Howard and Hailie Deegan while Caruth, Connor Jones, Daniel Dye, Lawless Alan and Friesen were mired in the top 25. In addition, Purdy was in 32nd while two laps behind the leaders.

    Ten laps later, the caution flew when Dean Thompson, who was running 18th in front of Deegan, spun in Turn 2 as he would be overtaken by the lead lap field while trying to re-fire his truck.

    When the race restarted under green on Lap 116, Heim gained a strong start on the inside lane as he muscled his No. 11 JBL Toyota Tundra TRD Pro into the lead through Turn 1 and the backstretch. With Heim leading, teammate Rhodes proceeded to challenge Majeski for second while Eckes followed suit in fourth. On Lap 118, however, the caution quickly returned when Justin Carroll spun in Turn 4. At the moment of caution, Deegan had managed to emerge as the first competitor scored a lap down ahead of Friesen and thus, receive the free pass to cycle back on the lead lap.

    During the proceeding restart on Lap 124, the field fanned out through the frontstretch as Heim fended off a three-wide attempt from Majeski to retain the lead through the first two turns and the backstretch. Then during the following lap, which marked the halfway mark of the event, Rhodes muscled his way to the lead through the frontstretch and from the outside lane over Heim. Majeski would follow suit during the next lap as he was locked in a tight side-by-side battle with Heim. As the three-truck battle for the lead involving Rhodes, Majeski and Heim continued to ensue, Majeski reassumed the lead on Lap 129 after overtaking teammate Rhodes through the first two turns. With Majeski out in front over teammate Rhodes and Heim, Eckes settled in fourth followed by Hocevar while Garcia, Crafton, Sawalich, Sanchez and Matt Mills were in the top 10.

    When the second stage concluded on Lap 140, Majeski, who extended his advantage to more than four seconds over teammate Rhodes, claimed his second Truck stage victory of the night and fourth of the 2023 season. Teammate Rhodes settled in second while Heim fended off Eckes to claim third. Hocevar, Garcia, Crafton, Sawalich, Sanchez and Matt Mills were scored in the top 10. By then, 18 of 36 starters were scored on the lead lap while Connor Jones had managed to remain ahead of Friesen to be scored the first competitor a lap down and receive the free pass during the stage’s break period to cycle back on the lead lap.

    Under the stage break, the lead lap field led by Majeski returned to pit road for another round of service. Following the pit stops, Majeski initially retained the lead after exiting pit road first ahead of his teammate Rhodes, Hocevar, Heim, Eckes, Crafton and Garcia. Amid the pit stops, however, Majeski was penalized and sent to the rear of the field for speeding while entering pit road.

    With 101 laps remaining, the final stage started under green as Rhodes and Hocevar occupied the front row. At the start, Hocevar gained a strong start from the inside lane as he launched his No. 42 Worldwide Express Chevrolet Silverado RST into the lead while Eckes and Heim took Rhodes three wide in a battle for the runner-up spot. With Rhodes and Eckes battling dead even for the spot entering Turns 3 and 4, Heim settled in fourth while Garcia, Crafton and Zane Smith followed suit as the event reached its final 100-lap mark.

    Five laps later, Hocevar was leading by six-tenths of a second over Rhodes while third-place Eckes trailed by more than a second. With Heim retaining fourth, Zane Smith moved up to fifth after overtaking Crafton and Garcia earlier while Majeski was mired back in 18th.

    Another 10 laps later, Hocevar continued to lead by more than a second over Rhodes followed by Eckes, Heim and Zane Smith while Crafton, Garcia, Matt Mills, Tanner Gray and Sawalich were in the top 10. Behind, Enfinger was in 11th ahead of Sanchez, DiBenedetto, Majeski and Tyler Ankrum while Deegan, Currey, Connor Jones, Taylor Gray and Daniel Dye were in the top 20. By then, Friesen was mired in 22nd, the final competitor scored on the lead lap.

    Then with 78 laps remaining, late troubles occurred for Josh Reaume, who smacked the outside wall in Turns 1 and 2 due to a flat right-front tire. As Reaume attempted to turn his truck left to enter pit road, he was nearly T-boned by an oncoming DiBenedetto, though Reaume managed to steer his damaged truck to his pit stall and the race remained under green flag conditions. By then, Hocevar retained the lead by more than a second over runner-up Rhodes and more than four seconds over third-place Heim.

    With less than 60 laps remaining, Hocevar extended his advantage to more than two seconds over Rhodes while Heim retained third place. By then, Zane Smith was in fourth while Majeski, who re-entered the top five three laps earlier after overtaking Eckes, was in fifth.

    Down to the final 50 laps of the event, Hocevar continued to extend his advantage as he was leading by more than four seconds over a hard-charging Majeski, who overtook Heim and Rhodes during the five previous laps. In addition, Jake Garcia and Matt Mills both made a pit stop a few laps earlier under green.

    Two laps later, more green flag pit stops ensued as Zane Smith pitted his No. 38 Boot Barn Ford F-150. Then with 40 laps remaining, Hocevar surrendered the lead to pit under green as Majeski cycled his No. 98 Road Ranger Ford F-150 back into the lead. Heim would then pit from the runner-up spot along with Crafton and Sanchez with 36 laps remaining while Rhodes would pit during the following lap. Rhodes would eventually be penalized for a commitment line violation as seven of 36 starters led by Majeski were scored on the lead lap. Currey and Dye would also be penalized for a commitment line violation.

    With 25 laps remaining, Majeski was leading by more than 16 seconds over Eckes and more than 19 over Sawalich. Zane Smith, the first competitor who pitted, was in fourth followed by Garcia, who is placed in a “must-win” situation to make the Playoffs while Tanner Gray, DiBenedetto, Taylor Gray and Matt Mills were in the top 10. Behind, Heim was mired in 11th, Crafton was in 13th, Sanchez was in 15th behind Enfinger and Rhodes had fallen back to 16th.

    Five laps later, Hocevar, who overtook Zane Smith to be the first competitor running on the track on four fresh tires, was up to second place as he trailed race leader Majeski, who has decided to roll the dice and remain on the track while on worn tires, by more than 15 seconds. By then, Garcia was mired in fourth ahead of teammate Eckes and Sawalich.

    Down to the final 15 laps of the event, Majeski, who started to lose ground on his advantage over Hocevar amid his worn tires, retained the lead by more than nine seconds over a hard-charging Hocevar. Majeski would continue to lead by more than five seconds over Hocevar with 10 laps remaining while third-place Zane Smith trailed by more than nine seconds as Garcia and Matt Mills followed pursuit in the top five.

    With five laps remaining, Majeski, who was trying to navigate his way through lapped traffic and lost more ground on his advantage, retained the lead by a second over Hocevar, who was also navigating through lapped traffic but had Majeski close within his sights.

    Then with four laps remaining, Hocevar gained massive ground on Majeski through the backstretch and overtook him through Turns 3 and 4 to reassume the lead through the frontstretch and with just three laps remaining.

    When the white flag waved and the final lap started, Hocevar remained as the leader by more than a second over Majeski. Having the four fresh tires to his advantage and with Majeski unable to mount a late rally on his worn tires, Hocevar was able to smoothly navigate his way around the circuit for a final time and streak across the finish line on four fresh tires to claim his third checkered flag of the 2023 season.

    With his third career victory in the series and third of the season, Hocevar became the first competitor to achieve three victories in this year’s Truck season as he also recorded the third victory of the season and the seventh overall for Niece Motorsports. The victory was also a monumental moment for Hocevar, who piloted a Worldwide Express-sponsored truck to the victory in a Worldwide Express-sponsored event as he is one of 10 competitors who will contend for the 2023 Craftsman Truck Series title throughout a seven-race Playoff stretch.

    “Man, I suck at this place and Niece Motorsports, ourselves, we’ve sucked terrible,” Hocevar said on FS1. “That [truck’s] splitter’s gone because we had a flat tire before we even went. We passed every single truck here. [Majeski] was class of the field, but I thought we were second, and when we won with (the) second best truck because I had the first best pit crew and first best crew chief [Phil Gould] on the [pit] box. I just love it. We’ve won two of our competitors’ title races and it sucks seeing our Worldwide Express trophy get handed to a Toyota [competitor]. We had to take it home and there’s gonna be a lot of happy faces. We’re gonna celebrate.”

    While Hocevar was left victorious in Victory Lane, Majeski, who had already secured his spot for the 2023 Truck Series Playoffs prior to tonight’s event at Richmond, was left disappointed on pit road after leading a race-high 168 laps and falling short of notching his first victory of the season.

    “[I was] Helpless,” Majeski said. “I just didn’t have enough there. Obviously, [I] made a mistake speeding on pit road. If I don’t speed on pit road, I feel like that strategy still wins. But regardless, we had a chance to win even with the penalty. I don’t know. It’s just disappointing. What an unbelievable race truck. That thing was so fast tonight. I don’t know if I’ve ever had a dominant vehicle that much better than the rest of the field. To not win with it, it is incredibly disappointing. Everyone’s working really hard at ThorSport [Racing] to get these trucks where they need to be for us for these Playoffs. This one’s gonna sting. Man, I’m so disappointed in myself, but we win and lose as a team. We can go make another run at the Playoffs.”

    Zane Smith came home in third place while rookie Jake Garcia and Matt Mills earned strong top-five results. Heim, the 2023 Craftsman Truck Series Regular Season champion, ended up sixth while Crafton, Sanchez, Enfinger and William Sawalich finished in the top 10.

    With their respective results of seventh, eighth and 17th, Matt Crafton, Nick Sanchez and Matt DiBenedetto secured the final three vacant spots in the 2023 Truck Series Playoffs, with Crafton claiming the final transfer spot by 39 points over Stewart Friesen, who concluded his long night in 27th place.

    “We live to fight another day,” Crafton said. “[We got to] Kick [the competition’s] teeth in.”

    “[We] Brought a dull knife to a gunfight tonight,” Friesen said. “It is what it is.”

    Corey Heim, Zane Smith, Carson Hocevar, Christian Eckes, Grant Enfinger, Ty Majeski, Ben Rhodes, rookie Nick Sanchez, Matt DiBenedetto and Matt Crafton have made the 2023 Craftsman Truck Series Playoffs and will embark on a seven-race Playoff stretch to contend for this year’s series title. Stewart Friesen, Tanner Gray, Chase Purdy, Tyler Ankrum, Hailie Deegan, Colby Howard, Dean Thompson, Lawless Alan and Spencer Boyd along with a bevy of rookies that included Jake Garcia, Taylor Gray, Daniel Dye, Rajah Caruth and Bret Holmes were among the remaining full-time competitors who did not make the Playoffs.

    There were nine lead changes for four different leaders. The race featured four cautions for 27 laps. While all 36 starters finished the event, seven finished on the lead lap.

    Results.

    1. Carson Hocevar, 64 laps led

    2. Ty Majeski, 168 laps led, Stage 1 & 2 winner

    3. Zane Smith

    4. Jake Garcia

    5. Matt Mills

    6. Corey Heim, nine laps led

    7. Matt Crafton

    8. Nick Sanchez, one lap down

    9. Grant Enfinger, one lap down

    10. William Sawalich, one lap down

    11. Christian Eckes, one lap down

    12. Ben Rhodes, one lap down

    13. Tyler Ankrum, one lap down

    14. Taylor Gray, one lap down

    15. Hailie Deegan, one lap down

    16. Tanner Gray, one lap down

    17. Matt DiBenedetto, one lap down

    18. Bayley Currey, two laps down

    19. Rajah Caruth, two laps down

    20. Connor Jones, two laps down

    21. Daniel Dye, two laps down

    22. Chase Purdy, two laps down

    23. Timmy Hill, two laps down

    24. Colby Howard, three laps down

    25. Dean Thompson, three laps down

    26. Will Rodgers, three laps down

    27. Stewart Friesen, three laps down

    28. Lawless Alan, three laps down

    29. Bret Holmes, three laps down

    30. Ryan Vargas, four laps down

    31. Justin Carroll, five laps down

    32. Christian Rose, six laps down

    33. Derek Lemke, seven laps down

    34. Mason Massey, eight laps down

    35. Spencer Boyd, 10 laps down

    36. Josh Reaume, 11 laps down

    The 2023 NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series Playoffs are set to start at Lucas Oil Indianapolis Raceway Park in Brownsburg, Indiana, on August 11, with the event’s coverage to occur at 9 p.m. ET on FS1.

  • Matt Mills climbing through the ranks

    Matt Mills climbing through the ranks

    In this week’s interview, we catch up with current NASCAR Xfinity Series driver Matt Mills. Mills is in his third year of driving the No. 5 Chevrolet for B.J. McLeod Motorsports.

    In this interview, we talk about how Mills got his early start in racing, how he got his ride with B.J. McLeod and if we’ll see him in a Cup Series car in the next few years.

    Early on in his career, like most drivers, Mills started racing go-karts at a young age. This is where current NASCAR drivers get there start.

    “Like the majority of the field, everyone starts in go-karts or quarter midgets,” Mills said. “I did that for two to three years, then realized I wanted to make the next move which was racing Modifieds up in Ohio. They’re pretty popular up north. Did that for a year and then I actually began testing Outlaw Late Models at the end of that year, then we would just stay in the Late Models for a couple of years, and then transferred over to the CRA Series and started to travel a little bit more around the Midwest and down south a little bit.”

    “We were getting more serious about it. Sponsorship kept kind of presenting more opportunities to us, kept chasing the dream to where I got my start with Bobby Dotter in 2016.”

    Mills knew from a young age that he wanted to do racing for a living.

    “I played baseball and football for about 10 years,” he continued. “My dad raced Motocross, AMA Series, when I was growing up. So he actually started me on a dirt bike at three years old. I went that route for a little bit but didn’t do anything competitive enough. I saw his injuries and stuff from racing. About 11 or so, my dad said, this is your time, you can go race Motocross. I really didn’t want to do that.

    “I loved racing, we were fans of NASCAR. We went down to a local track, just a couple of miles from down the road. We decided to give it a shot and fell in love with it.”

    Mills remembers the first time he sat in a racecar and believe it or not, it didn’t go quite as planned.

    “I remember the first time I sat in a go-kart,” he said. “I spun out on the first lap, in the very first turn. I held it to the floor, didn’t know what to expect so I held it wide open, quickly realized that wasn’t going to be the case.

    “The first time I was in a racecar, I kind of got the basics down. My very first heat race, I led every single lap and spun out on the last lap. I got to the white flag and I was thinking, I’m going to win my very first heat race, but no, it’s definitely a surreal feeling. It’s something that you start out playing matchbox cars, wonder what it would be like to get in an actual car. Just to get that opportunity, oh crap this is real. You get freaked out a little bit, I always got nervous before races, still do to a certain extent.”

    Mills also remembers the first time he went to a racetrack.

    “Every Sunday we watched racing, just me and my dad” Mills said. “I think we didn’t start going to NASCAR races until about nine. My first race was Bristol, the year where Kurt Busch won and Matt Kenseth and Jeff Gordon got into a shoving match with each other and it snowed that year. That was my first NASCAR race. Then my first NASCAR race I was in was at Bristol (2016).

    “So yeah, we had been traveling to one or two NASCAR races a year. We didn’t have a whole lot of money growing up, so it’s kind of able to go do what we were able to do and just watch it on TV. I actually have a picture when I was 11-years-old at Darlington and the caption says, “Wouldn’t it be cool to race here someday?” So I’m looking forward to being able to post that when we go back to Darlington later this year.”

    While his first memory was going to Bristol, Mills says a driver should be warned about making their first start there.

    “I quickly realized that Bristol is probably not one of the best places to make your debut there,” he said. “Like I said, you can’t catch a break there. You’re always around somebody, you’re always working, it’s a hard racetrack. So the first 100 laps of the race weren’t too pretty. We weren’t wrecking or anything like that, we finished the race. The last 100 laps, however, I started to figure it out and starting passing people. It’s definitely a humbling moment.”

    Growing up, Mills received some fluff from his peers, especially his grandma, questioning his career choice.

    “I think that kind of comes from everywhere,” Mills said. “You always tell people that you want to be a NASCAR driver. Like I told my grandma that and she was like, yeah whatever. When we first started making our NASCAR debut, we had haters back home but then when you get to a certain point like now, you don’t have anybody talking crap, unless it’s NASCAR critics or keyboard warriors. If you wreck or something, they’re like who is this underfunded guy? He doesn’t belong out there, which really doesn’t happen anymore unless you wreck or something.

    “Last weekend, I had no negative comments (finishing 10th at Daytona). Nobody saying, like he doesn’t deserve to be there. Eventually, they all kind of turn over, it’s a bandwagon thing.”

    For a driver like Mills who doesn’t have the equipment to compete for wins, he explains the misconception of what it is like to be a driver.

    “The biggest way to prove those people wrong is just go out there and do your job,” he said. “They really don’t understand the underfunding aspect of it. It’s not that I blame the media coverage for it, but they (TV) really only show the top-10. All the fans that don’t see us, people, they think we’re bad or something. If they would talk about the underfunded teams a little bit more, like at Daytona where Justin Haley won in that Spire car. So if they would just talk about us a little bit, they would understand, wow, they know what they’re doing. Like Corey Lajoie, Ross Chastain, they talk about how hard it is to race for 30th than to race for top five.

    “I talked to Matt Tifft about and he says this year has been way harder to run 25th then it was at RCR to run top five. I think the fans need a little bit more help on the media coverage side, where they can see we’re back there racing our tails off trying to keep a job. At the same time, there are a lot of fans supporting us. You would be surprised how many fan letters we get in the mail.”

    Even with the top-10 run at Daytona, the Xfinity Series driver says it doesn’t raise his expectations that much more.

    “We still have the same goal going into every weekend,” Mills said. “That’s to bring all the cars home in one piece. Try to have the best finish we can, but also to be smart about it. That also goes for the rest of the year, just bringing clean racecars home. Trying to stay up in the owner points. That was the biggest change from last weekend, it helped out from a points position. It really helps a small team in a position like that and build a points gap, to try and qualify in on races. So we really got a good edge there at Daytona, but it doesn’t really change our aspect of races.

    “You know, we didn’t have any more financial sponsors come on-board, just because we finished good at Daytona. It’s just really building a comfort level as far as points go.”

    Mills continues on to explain why it seems that fans cheers for a guy like him, rather than a guy who has a chance to win every week.

    “It’s easier to pull for someone that has a chance of winning every week,” Mills added. “Where us, it’s like man, I hope he gets a top-20. It’s really an inspirational story, I guess. The people who come to our race shop, they see we finish top-20 and say, that’s a good day. So it’s a little harder to cheer for, but then again, it goes back to the media aspect of it, where there are a lot of good battles throughout the field. There are 30 cars out there they don’t know, they’re racing their ass off. I think that would help a little bit of it, but right now, it’s hard to find funding, even for the underfunded guys that are asking for a lot less. That’s what keeps us apart (from the competition) and I think fans need to realize that a little bit more.”

    Before making his NASCAR Xfinity Series start, Mills was racing in the JEGS/CRA Touring Series, which then lead him to his full-time job at B.J. McLeod Motorsports. Mills explains how that opportunity came about.

    “I met B.J. my very first NASCAR start with Bobby Dotter, you know, they kind of help each other,” he said. “B.J. was right there and taught me a lot about Bristol that first day and then, we always have just kind of been friends. We would see each other at the racetrack, ask each other for advice. Then that following year, I ended up running a couple of Xfinity races for him, then I ran out of funding. So I just kind of hung around the garage, Tommy Joe (Martins) was running for B.J. McLeod in the Xfinity Series that year. I was asking Tommy about the Truck stuff and I got to run Truck stuff for Tommy Joe for a lot cheaper at the moment.

    “Then the following year, I was running for JD Motorsports and I wasn’t having a lot of good luck as a big-time rookie in the series. So, it just wasn’t a good fit. Therefore, B.J. and I were becoming better friends off the track really well, and he was seeing what I was going through. He thought man, I want to give you a shot the following year. So I was like alright, let’s do a couple of races this year and talk about the area with JD Motorsports, and see how that goes. It went decent, wasn’t anything spectacular but I just enjoyed the atmosphere over there (B.J. McLeod) a lot more. At that moment, B.J. was trying to gain more inventory, more employees, got a new shop.

    “The following year was looking really good, he was like, I will give you this opportunity if you give me this opportunity. So we took a shot and I absolutely had a blast this year so far. I think we’ve got like six career-best finishes now. The top-10, that’s going to be pretty hard to beat. I’ve had a ton of fun, I’ve learned so much from B.J. We’ve had great support this year from the sponsors. The whole team, we’re turning a lot of heads. Really, all three of our cars ran good all year. B.J. and Jessica, they’ve done a lot with this race team and they’re continuing to grow it.”

    With that said, Mills kind of already has an idea what 10 years would look like from now.

    “I think a lot of it right now depends on NASCAR,” Mills said. “I’ve got a good showing on my sponsorship for the next six to seven years, but it just depends on NASCAR. It changes so much, every year and with this new GEN7 car they’re talking about, I don’t know what that means for the sport. It might be good, it might be bad, I really don’t know at this moment and I don’t think anybody does. So, I think NASCAR is going to go through a change, I can’t tell. The plan right is now is try to go back to B.J.’s the following year, maybe a year after that I don’t know. I have a good idea on my funding, my hope is to be in the Cup Series five years from now, but it depends how the sport does.”

    The Virginian native also gives his take on whether it’s more difficult or easier now to break into the sport as a rookie.

    “The price for a ride was a lot cheaper now then it was 10 years ago,” he added. “I really don’t know what it was like 10 years ago, were they seeking out talent? But right now, the sponsorship dollars are cheaper to go buy a ride, however, at the same time, it’s a little bit harder to go find something. The economy has changed the past 10 years. It’s not terribly hard for a rookie to have the opportunity, the main thing is about these underfunded teams or big teams, what they’re looking for is to finish races. Don’t go out there and wreck every time. It doesn’t matter if you go out there on the first lap, put it on top of the board and then lap 2, you’re in the fence. Every team owner looks at that.”

    Mills also gives his take on why you should cheer for him as a driver.

    “I mean, if you go up to us on any given weekend, we’re just normal guys,” Mills said. “We’re coming from humble beginnings. I didn’t have a family owned company or anything like that, so we are out there just trying to make a living doing what we love. I would love to have more fans to cheer for me, it grows every day but we’re still trying to make it right now.”

    Mills has 28 starts and counting overall in the Xfinity Series in a span of three years. He has just one top-10 finish, which came at Daytona in July. Prior to his best finish at Daytona, Mills finished 17th at Talladega earlier this year.

    Mills also has 11 Truck Series starts to his credit, his last coming in 2018.

    You can follow Mills on Twitter and like him on Facebook.