Trey Mills put on a whale of a show on Saturday night at Golden Isles Speedway, but unfortunately it all came to an end when drove it in too deep in turn 1 and hit the outside wall hard and then flipped out of the track after being struck by Hudson O’Neal.
Mills started the race in 7th, but quickly worked his way to the front. Following a wild wreck that saw Blair Nothdurft lose a wheel and smack the outside wall hard, Mills went to the outside on the restart and was able to pass Tyler Erb, Brandon Sheppard, and Ricky Thornton Jr. within three laps. He then set his eyes on Brandon Overton a lap later. He dove to the inside of him down the back stretch and slid him through 3 and 4 to grab the spot. Within 5 laps, he had moved to second.
It took him about 6 or 7 laps to run down leader Mark Whitener, but once he got to him he began testing his defenses. With 36 to go, he found an opening and dove to the bottom of Whitener coming out of turn 2 and down the back stretch. He then went to the outside through 3 and 4 and was able to keep his momentum to take the lead.
Mills would maintain that lead until a caution came out for Dennis Erb Jr. and brought Brandon Overton and Hudson O’Neal right to his rear with 12 to go. On the restart, O’Neal worked by both Overton and Mills heading into turn 1, but Mills crossed him over down the back stretch and slid him through 3 and 4. The two would slide each other for the next 3 laps. With 9 to go it appeared that Mills had finally cleared O’Neal and began pulling away down the back stretch. However, when he came back through turns 1 and 2 the next lap he got up into the outside wall. O’Neal, who had nowhere to go, hip checked him and sent Mills’ car flipping over the outside wall.
Mills was okay after the brutal wreck and was clearly heartbroken talking to FloRacing’s Ben Shelton, “I was going for the biggest race in my career. I was giving Hudson everything he had and I just drove it in too deep and got into the fence. I don’t know. Somebody hit me from behind and it just went over. But my car was just so good. I just hate it for my guys. I feel like I should have won that race and I didn’t.”
In a post to Facebook, following the race, Mills shared a message assessing his race, “Qualified good. Started up front in the heat race, run second. Started 7th in the feature and took the lead. Led my first laps in a Lucas Oil race. And then me and Hudson were having a good battle for the lead and I just kind of overdrove the car a little bit getting into turn 1 and caught that rut in the wrong spot and just got up in the wall. And then Hudson had nowhere to go and I ended up going over.”
“I am okay,” he continued. “It was a pretty nasty flip. It was pretty wild from inside the car, but thankful for Longhorn Chassis, and UltraShield Seats, and Simpson’s Racing Products, and all the safety girl that I had on [that] managed to keep me safe. And I was able to get out of the car pretty quick and walk away from it.”
He concluded, “I am okay. It was pretty exciting to be out front, leading a Lucas Oil race like that. So we’re just going to put our heads down and get this thing fixed up and we’ll be back with the World of Outlaws next weekend at Bull’s Gap and Smoky Mountain. I appreciate you guys and wish me luck.”
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