Matt Mills (racing driver)

Matthew R. Mills (born November 14, 1996)[1] is an American professional stock car racing driver. He competes full-time in the NASCAR Xfinity Series, driving the No. 5 Chevrolet Camaro/Toyota Supra for B. J. McLeod Motorsports.

Matt Mills
Mills at Richmond Raceway in 2018
BornMatthew R. Mills
(1996-11-14) November 14, 1996
Lynchburg, Virginia
NASCAR Xfinity Series career
71 races run over 4 years
Car no., teamNo. 5 (B. J. McLeod Motorsports)
2020 position25th
Best finish21st (2019)
First race2017 DC Solar 200 (Phoenix)
Last race2020 Desert Diamond Casino West Valley 200 (Phoenix)
Wins Top tens Poles
0 1 0
NASCAR Camping World Truck Series career
11 races run over 3 years
2018 position113th
Best finish42nd (2016, 2017)
First race2016 UNOH 200 (Bristol)
Last race2018 Corrigan Oil 200 (Michigan)
Wins Top tens Poles
0 0 0
Statistics current as of November 7, 2020.

Racing career

Early years

Mills started racing at age twelve in go-karts. A year later, he moved up to Junior Champ Karts and spent three years racing those. Mills started racing Open Wheel Modifieds at Midvale Speedway in 2012, winning rookie of the year and moving up to Outlaw Super Late Models in 2013. He attended a rookie seminar for NASCAR at Daytona Beach, Florida the following year and received clearance to race in the ARCA Racing Series and K&N Pro Series,[1] but has yet to race in either of those series, instead running a limited schedule in the JEGS/CRA Pro Series in 2015 as well as continuing his late model career.[2]

Camping World Truck Series

On June 29, 2016, it was announced that Mills would join SS-Green Light Racing for "select races" in the 2016 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series.[3] He made his first start at Bristol Motor Speedway in August,[4] finishing 27th.[5] Mills ran four more races for SS-Green Light in 2016, scoring a best finish of 21st in the season's penultimate race at Phoenix International Raceway.[6]

In 2017, he joined Faith Motorsports for three races because team primary driver Donnie Levister was unapproved by NASCAR to run intermediate tracks. He ran seventeenth in two of them, career-best finishes,[7] before he joined Martins Motorsports to run in multiple races in the truck No. 42 with sponsorship from Thompson Electric Inc. starting in Iowa.[8] The truck never hit the track at Iowa and was never entered thereafter, however, the truck was included in the original edition of the 2017 video game NASCAR Heat 2.[9] He drove the No. 44 for Martins the following week but fell out due to an accident. He then start and parked with Jennifer Jo Cobb Racing for a few races in the latter part of 2017.[10]

Xfinity Series

In March 2017, Mills was named the driver for B. J. McLeod Motorsports' No. 8 entry at Phoenix[11][12] in what looked to be a one race deal, replacing regular driver Jeff Green who had been signed to run the full season. Mills finished 30th in his debut.[13] He returned to the series over a month later at Richmond, again driving McLeod's No. 8.[14] His next start in the series came at Chicago in September with JD Motorsports, start and parking their fourth car, the No. 15.[15] In the season's final weekend, he failed to qualify with startup team NextGen Motorsports.[16]

On February 2, 2018, it was announced that Mills will drive the No. 15 car for all but one race in 2018, skipping the season-opening race at Daytona International Speedway.[17] He had previously been in consideration for the team's No. 0 car, which ultimately was driven by Garrett Smithley.[18] He didn’t qualify for the Texas race in April because of inspection issues. The agreement wound up falling through, as Mills was replaced by Joe Nemechek for the Fitzgerald Glider Kits 300 at Bristol Motor Speedway.[19] Mills returned for a couple more races but parted ways with JDM after the June Michigan race. He made a start for DGR-Crosley in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series at Michigan in August, but wrecked, self-admittedly due to inexperience.[20]

Mills returned to B. J. McLeod Motorsports for some fall Xfinity races, eventually becoming the team's full-time driver of the No. 8 in 2019.[21] However, the number changed to 5 after the team agreed to give up their No. 8 for JR Motorsports in a number swap, and McLeod's team received the No. 5, the car number JRM dropped so they could get the No. 8.[22]

Motorsports career results

NASCAR

(key) (Bold – Pole position awarded by qualifying time. Italics – Pole position earned by points standings or practice time. * – Most laps led.)

Xfinity Series
NASCAR Xfinity Series results
Year Team No. Make 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 NXSC Pts Ref
2017 B. J. McLeod Motorsports 8 Chevy DAY ATL LVS PHO
30		 CAL TEX BRI RCH
31		 TAL CLT DOV POC MCH IOW DAY KEN NHA IND IOW GLN MOH BRI ROA DAR RCH 109th 01 [23]
JD Motorsports 15 CHI
40		 KEN DOV CLT KAN TEX PHO
NextGen Motorsports 55 Toyota HOM
DNQ
2018 JD Motorsports 0 Chevy DAY ATL
36		 LVS
27		 53rd 43 [24]
15 PHO
38		 CAL
37		 TEX
DNQ		 BRI RCH TAL DOV CLT POC
27		 MCH
36		 IOW CHI DAY KEN NHA IOW GLN MOH BRI ROA DAR IND LVS
B. J. McLeod Motorsports 78 Chevy RCH
27		 CLT
8 DOV
28		 KAN TEX PHO HOM
2019 5 Toyota DAY
26		 TAL
17		 POC
30		 DAY
10		 21st 372 [25]
Chevy ATL
30		 LVS
29		 PHO
28		 CAL
23		 TEX
27		 BRI
21		 RCH
28		 DOV
31		 CLT
26		 MCH
24		 IOW
26		 CHI
27		 KEN
23		 NHA
20		 IOW
18		 GLN MOH BRI
18		 ROA DAR
31		 IND
25		 LVS
24		 DOV
24		 KAN
20
99 RCH
28		 CLT
78 TEX
18		 PHO
19		 HOM
30
2020 5 Toyota DAY
31		 TAL
38		 KEN
30		 KEN
19		 TEX
26		 KAN
26		 ROA DAY
16		 LVS
30		 TAL
21		 CLT
25		 KAN
25		 TEX
13		 25th 346 [26]
Chevy LVS
25		 CAL
27		 PHO
DNQ		 DAR
34		 CLT
30		 BRI
25		 ATL
30		 HOM
27		 HOM
24		 POC
25		 IND
30		 DAY
22		 DOV
33		 DOV
30		 RCH
13		 RCH
13		 BRI
22		 MAR
38		 PHO
35
99 DAR
22
2021 5 DAY DAY HOM LVS PHO ATL MAR TAL DAR DOV COA CLT MOH TEX NSH POC ROA ATL NHA GLN IND MCH DAY DAR RCH BRI LVS TAL CLT TEX KAN MAR PHO

Camping World Truck Series
NASCAR Camping World Truck Series results
Year Team No. Make 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 NCWTC Pts Ref
2016 SS-Green Light Racing 07 Chevy DAY ATL MAR KAN DOV CLT TEX IOW GTW KEN ELD POC BRI
27		 MCH MSP CHI NHA
23		 LVS TAL MAR TEX
29		 PHO
21		 HOM 42nd 32 [27]
2017 Faith Motorsports 44 Chevy DAY ATL MAR KAN
17		 CLT
24		 DOV
17		 TEX GTW IOW 42nd 50 [28]
Martins Motorsports KEN
29		 ELD
Jennifer Jo Cobb Racing 0 Chevy POC
27		 MCH BRI MSP CHI NHA LVS
25		 TAL MAR TEX PHO HOM
2018 DGR-Crosley 54 Toyota DAY ATL LVS MAR DOV KAN CLT TEX IOW GTW CHI KEN ELD POC MCH
31		 BRI MSP LVS TAL MAR TEX PHO HOM 113th 01 [29]

* Season still in progress
1 Ineligible for series points

References
  1. E.A.Schaeffer Oil Company (Zoilracing) (2014-10-29). "Matthew mills racing young guns and legends of ohio". Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  2. "Season Preview: Matt Mills". Retrieved 2017-04-25.
  3. Wilson, Steven B. "Late Model Standout Matt Mills to Join SS Green Light Racing". Retrieved 2017-04-25.
  4. "Matt Mills to Make Truck Debut at Bristol". www.onpitroad.com. Retrieved 2017-04-25.
  5. "TRUCKS: Matt Crafton scores first career NASCAR last-place finish". brock.lastcar.info. Retrieved 2017-04-25.
  6. "Driver Matt Mills 2016 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Results - Racing-Reference.info". racing-reference.info. Retrieved 2017-04-25.
  7. "NCWTS: Matt Mills Matches Career-Best Finish at Dover – Rubbings Racing". rubbingsracing.com. Retrieved 2018-01-12.
  8. "Martins Motorsports returns to Truck Series competition with Matt Mills in Iowa". ESPN.com. Retrieved 2018-01-12.
  9. "NASCAR Heat 2 NCWTS Roster – NASCAR Heat". NASCAR Heat. 2017-07-19. Retrieved 2018-01-12.
  10. "Driver Matt Mills 2017 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Results - Racing-Reference.info". racing-reference.info. Retrieved 2018-01-12.
  11. "Matt Mills Joins BJ McLeod Motorsports At Phoenix » Race Pro Weekly". raceproweekly.com. Retrieved 2017-04-25.
  12. Bonkowski, Jerry (2017-03-16). "Latest young gun makes Xfinity debut: Matt Mills to race at Phoenix". NASCAR Talk. Retrieved 2017-04-25.
  13. "03/18/2017 race: DC Solar 200 (NXS) - Racing-Reference.info". racing-reference.info. Retrieved 2017-04-25.
  14. "30th Annual ToyotaCare "250" – NASCAR XFINITY Series – Richmond International Raceway – 4/29/2017" (PDF). Jayski's Silly Season Site. April 24, 2017. Retrieved April 24, 2017.
  15. "XFINITY: Matt Mills finishes last at Chicagoland when JD Motorsports' No. 15 withdrawn, re-entered, then parked". brock.lastcar.info. Retrieved 2018-01-12.
  16. "Driver Matt Mills 2017 NASCAR Xfinity Series Results - Racing-Reference.info". racing-reference.info. Retrieved 2018-01-12.
  17. Vincent, Amanda. "NASCAR Xfinity: Matt Mills joins JD Motorsports at Atlanta". Auto Racing Daily. Retrieved 2018-04-15.
  18. Herbst, Alex (2018-01-16). "NASCAR: JD Motorsports expanding to four cars in 2018". Beyond the Flag. Retrieved 2018-04-15.
  19. "Joe Nemechek to drive for JDM at Bristol". ESPN.com. Retrieved 2018-04-15.
  20. Catanzareti, Zach. "Matt Mills Striving for Seat Time Following Time Away". KickinTheTires.net. Retrieved 5 October 2018.
  21. "BJ McLeod Motorsports announces it is expanding to three (3) full time NASCAR Xfinity Series teams in 2019". B. J. McLeod Motorsports. January 10, 2019. Retrieved January 10, 2019.
  22. "BJ McLeod Motorsports Reveals the Replacement of the NASCAR Xfinity Series Car No. 8". B. J. McLeod Motorsports. February 1, 2019. Retrieved February 1, 2019.
  23. "Matt Mills – 2017 NASCAR Xfinity Series Results". Racing-Reference. Retrieved February 1, 2019.
  24. "Matt Mills – 2018 NASCAR Xfinity Series Results". Racing-Reference. Retrieved February 1, 2019.
  25. "Matt Mills – 2019 NASCAR Xfinity Series Results". Racing-Reference. Retrieved February 16, 2019.
  26. "Matt Mills – 2020 NASCAR Xfinity Series Results". Racing-Reference. Retrieved November 7, 2020.
  27. "Matt Mills – 2016 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Results". Racing-Reference. Retrieved February 1, 2019.
  28. "Matt Mills – 2017 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Results". Racing-Reference. Retrieved February 1, 2019.
  29. "Matt Mills – 2018 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Results". Racing-Reference. Retrieved February 1, 2019.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.