CONCORD, NC (March 11, 2026) – Every star of Late Model racing had a moment when they first made a name for themselves on the national stage. For Trey Mills, that moment came on Saturday night.

The 17-year-old St. Augustine, FL native had proven himself before in the regional ranks, scoring multiple big wins including last year’s Herald & Review 100 on the DIRTcar Summer Nationals trail at Macon Speedway, as well as Magnolia Motor Speedway’s Cotton Pickin’ 100 with the COMP Cams Super Dirt Series. Leading into the 2026 season, Mills and his family-owned operation signed up to chase the MD3 Rookie of the Year Award with the World of Outlaws Late Model Series presented by DIRTVision to put themselves in position for that breakout night.

Last week, the No. 14 team made the 90-minute drive up Interstate 95 to Golden Isles Speedway for the final stretch of Speedweeks to turn some more laps and refine their program ahead of three-straight weekends of World of Outlaws racing. But midway through the 50-lap finale, those goals shifted as the biggest win of Mills’ young career came within reach.

From his seventh starting spot, Mills rallied around the top lane to crack the top five in the opening laps. He cleared the likes of Ricky Thornton Jr. and Brandon Overton with ease to get to second, and with 14 laps in the books, he pulled the crossover on fellow Floridian Mark Whitener to take the lead.

As the $25,000 top prize drew closer, Mills remained unfazed by some of the sport’s best chasing him down. A handful of late-race restarts gave Hudson O’Neal the chance to throw some sliders for the lead, but Mills kept the winningest driver of 2026 behind him each time. With less than 10 laps to go, Mills looked destined to pull off one of the biggest upsets in recent memory – until things went sideways.

Like he had been doing all race long, Mills drove deep into Turn 1 to find every ounce of speed that the cushion had in it. But this time, he took one step over the limit and pounded the outside wall. With nowhere to go, O’Neal piled into the back of Mills, sending him airborne and tumbling onto the grass on the opposite side of the wall.

Mills climbed from the car uninjured and took full ownership of the error. Despite not making it to Victory Lane, Mills became an overnight sensation just the same. His phone began buzzing nonstop with messages of support from the Late Model world and beyond, and by Sunday night, the team had to temporarily stop accepting merchandise orders due to the overwhelming demand.

“It’s been pretty crazy,” Mills said. “A lot of people have been texting, making sure I was OK first. The T-shirt orders have been going crazy too. To see all the support is definitely really cool. It was pretty cool to be out front leading that race, just unfortunate that I got up in the wall, then Hudson had nowhere to go, and I ended up going over. Not the way we wanted to get publicity, but I guess it kind of worked out in a way. Got a lot of publicity, a lot of T-shirt orders, so we’ve been super pumped up to get back to the racetrack.”

Once the adrenaline of the night wore off, the team was left with a destroyed race car to load up with six days to turn around in advance of the resumption of the World of Outlaws season. A wreck of that magnitude is the last thing any first-year touring team needs, but Mills and crew have been working overtime to ensure their campaign can continue uninterrupted.

“We have two other cars, so we plan on taking both of those to Tennessee,” Mills said. “The car that I wrecked at Golden Isles is totaled out, so we won’t be able to race that one no more. But Longhorn Chassis has got my back, they’ve already got us in line, they should have us a car done by the end of this week. So, we’ll have somebody picking it up this weekend to make sure that we’re fully prepared to run this Outlaw deal.”

The outcome may not have been what Mills envisioned, but the signs of progress were clearly there. In the opening stretch of the World of Outlaws season in Florida, Mills found himself in a Last Chance Showdown more often than not. Less than a month later, he was in contention to win, and that’s due in large part to his gains in Qualifying.

In the last three nights at Golden Isles, Mills qualified second in his group on Thursday, third on Friday and second on Saturday. If he can maintain that speed consistently, he knows his finishes will eventually start reflecting it.

“That’s really been our main focus is Qualifying,” Mills said. “I feel like I’m usually pretty decent in the Features, but whenever you have to start so far back, it’s really hard to drive up through there. We’ve been focusing on trying to qualify up front, and even if you start up front and fall back a little bit, it’s still better than running in the back. That’s been our main focus is just trying to qualify better so we can start up front and be in contention to run up front in these big races.”

Mills will get his first chance at redemption this weekend when the World of Outlaws travels to Volunteer Speedway on Friday, March 13, and Smoky Mountain Speedway on Saturday, March 14. He’ll be a first-timer at Volunteer, but his Golden Isles run proved that fast, red dirt tracks are right up his alley. Mills does have some experience at Smoky Mountain to lean on though, as he finished 10th and 11th in two starts there with the Hunt the Front Super Dirt Series.

The upcoming schedule also includes tracks like Magnolia (Friday-Saturday, March 20-21), Senoia Raceway (Saturday, March 28) and Talladega Short Track (Friday-Saturday, April 24-25). All of them are places Mills has run well at in the past, meaning there’s no better time for him to start hitting his stride.

“I actually really like Smoky Mountain, I like the shape of the track,” Mills said. “It’s really just a momentum-based track, and I feel like that’s kind of where I strive more. I’m really looking forward to going back to Smoky Mountain, and then I’ve watched a lot of film on Bulls Gap and I’m super excited to go there too.

“I have a lot of confidence after our showing on Saturday, even though we didn’t finish how we wanted to. We had a lot of good speed, so I’m really excited to carry that momentum over to some of these tracks that I’ve ran good at in the past, and I’m just hoping to get that big win.”

Mills and the rest of the World of Outlaws Late Model Series presented by DIRTVision will resume the 2026 season at Volunteer Speedway on Friday, March 13, and Smoky Mountain Speedway on Saturday, March 14. Tickets for both events are available by clicking here.

Following Golden Isles Heartbreak, Mills Chasing Breakthrough Victory in Tennessee

CONCORD, NC (March 11, 2026) – Every star of Late Model racing had a moment when they first made a name for themselves on the national stage. For Trey Mills, that moment came on Saturday night.

The 17-year-old St. Augustine, FL native had proven himself before in the regional ranks, scoring multiple big wins including last year’s Herald & Review 100 on the DIRTcar Summer Nationals trail at Macon Speedway, as well as Magnolia Motor Speedway’s Cotton Pickin’ 100 with the COMP Cams Super Dirt Series. Leading into the 2026 season, Mills and his family-owned operation signed up to chase the MD3 Rookie of the Year Award with the World of Outlaws Late Model Series presented by DIRTVision to put themselves in position for that breakout night.

Last week, the No. 14 team made the 90-minute drive up Interstate 95 to Golden Isles Speedway for the final stretch of Speedweeks to turn some more laps and refine their program ahead of three-straight weekends of World of Outlaws racing. But midway through the 50-lap finale, those goals shifted as the biggest win of Mills’ young career came within reach.

From his seventh starting spot, Mills rallied around the top lane to crack the top five in the opening laps. He cleared the likes of Ricky Thornton Jr. and Brandon Overton with ease to get to second, and with 14 laps in the books, he pulled the crossover on fellow Floridian Mark Whitener to take the lead.

As the $25,000 top prize drew closer, Mills remained unfazed by some of the sport’s best chasing him down. A handful of late-race restarts gave Hudson O’Neal the chance to throw some sliders for the lead, but Mills kept the winningest driver of 2026 behind him each time. With less than 10 laps to go, Mills looked destined to pull off one of the biggest upsets in recent memory – until things went sideways.

Like he had been doing all race long, Mills drove deep into Turn 1 to find every ounce of speed that the cushion had in it. But this time, he took one step over the limit and pounded the outside wall. With nowhere to go, O’Neal piled into the back of Mills, sending him airborne and tumbling onto the grass on the opposite side of the wall.

Mills climbed from the car uninjured and took full ownership of the error. Despite not making it to Victory Lane, Mills became an overnight sensation just the same. His phone began buzzing nonstop with messages of support from the Late Model world and beyond, and by Sunday night, the team had to temporarily stop accepting merchandise orders due to the overwhelming demand.

“It’s been pretty crazy,” Mills said. “A lot of people have been texting, making sure I was OK first. The T-shirt orders have been going crazy too. To see all the support is definitely really cool. It was pretty cool to be out front leading that race, just unfortunate that I got up in the wall, then Hudson had nowhere to go, and I ended up going over. Not the way we wanted to get publicity, but I guess it kind of worked out in a way. Got a lot of publicity, a lot of T-shirt orders, so we’ve been super pumped up to get back to the racetrack.”

Once the adrenaline of the night wore off, the team was left with a destroyed race car to load up with six days to turn around in advance of the resumption of the World of Outlaws season. A wreck of that magnitude is the last thing any first-year touring team needs, but Mills and crew have been working overtime to ensure their campaign can continue uninterrupted.

“We have two other cars, so we plan on taking both of those to Tennessee,” Mills said. “The car that I wrecked at Golden Isles is totaled out, so we won’t be able to race that one no more. But Longhorn Chassis has got my back, they’ve already got us in line, they should have us a car done by the end of this week. So, we’ll have somebody picking it up this weekend to make sure that we’re fully prepared to run this Outlaw deal.”

The outcome may not have been what Mills envisioned, but the signs of progress were clearly there. In the opening stretch of the World of Outlaws season in Florida, Mills found himself in a Last Chance Showdown more often than not. Less than a month later, he was in contention to win, and that’s due in large part to his gains in Qualifying.

In the last three nights at Golden Isles, Mills qualified second in his group on Thursday, third on Friday and second on Saturday. If he can maintain that speed consistently, he knows his finishes will eventually start reflecting it.

“That’s really been our main focus is Qualifying,” Mills said. “I feel like I’m usually pretty decent in the Features, but whenever you have to start so far back, it’s really hard to drive up through there. We’ve been focusing on trying to qualify up front, and even if you start up front and fall back a little bit, it’s still better than running in the back. That’s been our main focus is just trying to qualify better so we can start up front and be in contention to run up front in these big races.”

Mills will get his first chance at redemption this weekend when the World of Outlaws travels to Volunteer Speedway on Friday, March 13, and Smoky Mountain Speedway on Saturday, March 14. He’ll be a first-timer at Volunteer, but his Golden Isles run proved that fast, red dirt tracks are right up his alley. Mills does have some experience at Smoky Mountain to lean on though, as he finished 10th and 11th in two starts there with the Hunt the Front Super Dirt Series.

The upcoming schedule also includes tracks like Magnolia (Friday-Saturday, March 20-21), Senoia Raceway (Saturday, March 28) and Talladega Short Track (Friday-Saturday, April 24-25). All of them are places Mills has run well at in the past, meaning there’s no better time for him to start hitting his stride.

“I actually really like Smoky Mountain, I like the shape of the track,” Mills said. “It’s really just a momentum-based track, and I feel like that’s kind of where I strive more. I’m really looking forward to going back to Smoky Mountain, and then I’ve watched a lot of film on Bulls Gap and I’m super excited to go there too.

“I have a lot of confidence after our showing on Saturday, even though we didn’t finish how we wanted to. We had a lot of good speed, so I’m really excited to carry that momentum over to some of these tracks that I’ve ran good at in the past, and I’m just hoping to get that big win.”

Mills and the rest of the World of Outlaws Late Model Series presented by DIRTVision will resume the 2026 season at Volunteer Speedway on Friday, March 13, and Smoky Mountain Speedway on Saturday, March 14. Tickets for both events are available by clicking here.

Want to watch the World of Outlaws? Stream every race live on DIRTVision.