Trey Mills Captures First Career Summer Nationals Feature in 100-lapper at Macon
Photo by Tyler Carr
MACON, Ill.—Trey Mills has arrived.
In his first run for the DIRTcar Summer Nationals title, the 17-year-old driver had to defend his position against several of the best drivers in dirt Late Model racing to score his first win in the Herald & Review 100.
“It’s just super awesome,” Mills said. “I’ve had a great car this whole time, I was just making too many mistakes. Tonight, I just got a whole night together. Qualified on pole, won the Heat race, started up front, and maintained the first half of the race, and then finally gave it all I had at the end.”
Mills began the 100-lap Feature on the bottom of the second row as polesitter Tyler Erb took early control of the race.
While the Jacksonville, FL driver bided his time by running in fifth place through the early stages, “Terbo” controlled the pace as he dealt with the challenge of Ryan Unzicker and Kyle Bronson on his back bumper.
Mills began to make ground as several cautions interrupted the first quarter of the Feature, with new attempts on each restart to try and pass the heavy hitters in front of him.
On Lap 30, Bronson made a costly mistake by entering the corner loose, and Mills capitalized by driving to the cushion into Turn 1, then slicing down the track exiting Turn 2 to gain a run on the No. 40B to take third place.
Mills discovered his new strategy with the move, and quickly passed Unzicker on Lap 36 for second place while he perfected his driving line.
“Terbo” and “The Future” then went to battle as the No. 14JR made hay through Turns 1-2, and performed slide jobs through Turns 3-4 while the No. 1 crossed down to the bottom to retain the lead. The two drivers continued the cycle until Mills got fully clear of Erb on Lap 46.
“Honestly, really what made me do that kind of cut down line in Turn 1 was (Kyle) Bronson,” Mills said. “I restarted behind him, and he got bobbled up entering in behind ‘Terbo’ and come down, and I actually got a pretty good run, so I started doing that.
“Once I had seen 'Terbo' sliding out coming off of Turn 2, I figured that was my best way to make ground on him, ‘cause everyone was pretty even through (Turns) 3 and 4. But (Turns) 1 and 2 was really were I was figuring out keeping my car straight, work on my break and gas, and trying to make sure I kept the posture right.”
While Erb and Bronson fell out of contention for the win in the second half of the race, it opened the door for New Berlin, IL’s Brandon Sheppard to enter the battle for the win.
Sheppard, who started the race in last place, grinded his way up the field towards second place on Lap 73 in his first Herald & Review 100 appearance since his first event win in 2020.
As Mills moved towards the middle of the bottom line, Sheppard kept his No. B5 on the tail of Mills in the final 15 laps, then made his move for the lead on Lap 92 by moving Mills out of the bottom lane and got clear with the lead.
Mills responded to Sheppard’s move with six laps to go by performing the same move, then created a 0.7-second distance before the “Rocket Shepp” sent a Hail Mary dive on the final lap for the win.
Between a 0.118-second margin, Mills snagged his first career Hell Tour win on its biggest stage and became the 115th different winner on the tour.
“I’d seen (Sheppard) start pulling to my inside with about 10 to go,” Mills said. “When he finally got by me, I thought I threw it away. But, I got a run on him, turned under him, and leaned on him just a little bit. But when you’re racing for a win like that, it is what it is. He gets a lot more (wins) than I do, so I feel like it was the right move.”
Leaving the Hell Tour's crown jewel race, Erb has a slim two-point lead over Feger in the overall championship, while Sheppard leads the Week 3 standings by 16 points over Erb.
Up Next: The DIRTcar Summer Nationals Late Models and DIRTcar Summit Racing Equipment Modified Nationals continue the Week 3 journey with a visit to Farmer City Raceway on Friday, June 27.
If you can’t make it to the track, you can watch all the action live on DIRTVision – either online or by downloading the DIRTVision App.
SUPER LATE MODEL RESULTS
Feature (100 Laps): 1. 14JR-Trey Mills[3]; 2. B5-Brandon Sheppard[23]; 3. 24-Ryan Unzicker[8]; 4. 31M-Tyler Millwood[12]; 5. 40B-Kyle Bronson[4]; 6. 29-Christian Hanger[22]; 7. 25F-Jason Feger[13]; 8. 17SS-Brenden Smith[7]; 9. 1-Tyler Erb[1]; 10. 75-Dillon McCowan[19]; 11. 01A-Drew Armstrong[17]; 12. 14-Haiden Cowan[10]; 13. 44-Blaze Burwell[20]; 14. 15-Clay Stuckey[15]; 15. 17A-Austin Howes[9]; 16. 5-Mark Whitener[5]; 17. 388-Jackson Hise[14]; 18. 25E-Dakota Ewing[21]; 19. 9Z-Jayme Zidar[6]; 20. 55-Eli Johnson[11]; 21. 38J-Jake Little[2]; 22. 16-Rusty Griffaw[16]; 23. 55B-Rockett Bennett[18]
Consolation Race (8 Laps): 1. 16-Rusty Griffaw[4]; 2. 01A-Drew Armstrong[1]; 3. 55B-Rockett Bennett[2]; 4. 75-Dillon McCowan[5]; 5. 25E-Dakota Ewing[10]; 6. 27-Greg Kimmons[6]; 7. 17SR-Brody Smith[13]; 8. K24-Kade Ballinger[7]; 9. 35-Claude Walker[14]; 10. 44-Blaze Burwell[3]; 11. T2-Tim Boomer[15]; 12. 38-Thomas Hunziker[8]; 13. 1G-Graham Fate[11]; 14. (DNS) B5-Brandon Sheppard; 15. (DNS) 29-Christian Hanger; 16. (DNS) 18D-Daulton Wilson
Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 14JR-Trey Mills[1]; 2. 40B-Kyle Bronson[5]; 3. 17SS-Brenden Smith[3]; 4. 14-Haiden Cowan[6]; 5. 25F-Jason Feger[9]; 6. 01A-Drew Armstrong[7]; 7. 16-Rusty Griffaw[8]; 8. K24-Kade Ballinger[11]; 9. 25E-Dakota Ewing[10]; 10. 17SR-Brody Smith[4]; 11. 18D-Daulton Wilson[2]
Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 38J-Jake Little[1]; 2. 5-Mark Whitener[3]; 3. 24-Ryan Unzicker[2]; 4. 55-Eli Johnson[6]; 5. 388-Jackson Hise[4]; 6. 55B-Rockett Bennett[9]; 7. 75-Dillon McCowan[7]; 8. 38-Thomas Hunziker[8]; 9. 1G-Graham Fate[10]; 10. 35-Claude Walker[5]
Heat 3 (8 Laps): 1. 1-Tyler Erb[3]; 2. 9Z-Jayme Zidar[6]; 3. 17A-Austin Howes[5]; 4. 31M-Tyler Millwood[4]; 5. 15-Clay Stuckey[8]; 6. 44-Blaze Burwell[7]; 7. 27-Greg Kimmons[9]; 8. B5-Brandon Sheppard[1]; 9. (DNS) 29-Christian Hanger; 10. (DNS) T2-Tim Boomer
Qualifying 1 (2 Laps): 1. 14JR-Trey Mills, 00:11.401[7]; 2. 18D-Daulton Wilson, 00:11.576[2]; 3. 17SS-Brenden Smith, 00:11.583[10]; 4. 17SR-Brody Smith, 00:11.711[4]; 5. 40B-Kyle Bronson, 00:11.747[11]; 6. 14-Haiden Cowan, 00:11.804[3]; 7. 01A-Drew Armstrong, 00:11.891[1]; 8. 16-Rusty Griffaw, 00:11.976[9]; 9. 25F-Jason Feger, 00:11.979[6]; 10. 25E-Dakota Ewing, 00:12.132[8]; 11. K24-Kade Ballinger, 00:12.282[5]
Qualifying 2 (2 Laps): 1. 38J-Jake Little, 00:11.863[5]; 2. 24-Ryan Unzicker, 00:11.924[3]; 3. 5-Mark Whitener, 00:11.969[8]; 4. 388-Jackson Hise, 00:12.013[10]; 5. 35-Claude Walker, 00:12.092[6]; 6. 55-Eli Johnson, 00:12.135[1]; 7. 75-Dillon McCowan, 00:12.211[7]; 8. 38-Thomas Hunziker, 00:12.304[4]; 9. 55B-Rockett Bennett, 00:12.310[9]; 10. 1G-Graham Fate, 00:13.323[2]
Qualifying 3 (2 Laps): 1. B5-Brandon Sheppard, 00:11.684[1]; 2. 29-Christian Hanger, 00:11.769[6]; 3. 1-Tyler Erb, 00:11.881[5]; 4. 31M-Tyler Millwood, 00:12.119[7]; 5. 17A-Austin Howes, 00:12.275[8]; 6. 9Z-Jayme Zidar, 00:12.370[3]; 7. 44-Blaze Burwell, 00:12.440[2]; 8. 15-Clay Stuckey, 00:12.502[9]; 9. 27-Greg Kimmons, 00:13.019[10]; 10. T2-Tim Boomer, 00:14.239[4]
DIRTCAR SUMMER NATIONALS OVERALL DRIVER STANDINGS
Points Updated: June 26, 2025
Pos # Driver Hometown Points Gap Wins Top 5 Top 10 Features
1 #1 Tyler Erb New Waverly, TX 702 -0 3 5 10 13
2 #25F Jason Feger Bloomington, IL 700 -2 2 5 8 13
3 #28 Dennis Erb Carpentersville, IL 588 -114 0 6 7 11
4 #75 Dillon McCowan Urbana, MO 583 -119 0 1 7 13
5 #40B Kyle Bronson Brandon, FL 571 -131 0 2 5 13
6 #5 Mark Whitener Middleburg, FL 527 -175 0 2 5 11
7 #14JR Trey Mills St. Augustine, FL 510 -192 1 1 3 9
8 #31M Tyler Millwood Kingston, GA 479 -223 0 1 3 7
9 #15 Clay Stuckey Shreveport, LA 478 -224 0 0 0 11
10 #22* Drake Troutman Hyndman, PA 473 -229 3 3 6 10
==========================================================================================================================
MICHAEL LEDFORD STRIKES SECOND SUMMIT MODIFIED NATIONALS FEATURE TRIUMPH AT MACON SPEEDWAY
MACON, Ill. -- Returning to DIRTcar Summit Racing Equipment Modified Nationals Victory Lane for the first time since 2023, Michael Ledford had to drive with precision for the win at Macon Speedway.
Summit Modifieds points leader Trevor Neville led the first five circuits on the bottom lane while Chase Holland ran the cushion of the track to take over the lead through Turns 1-2.
Ledford rode behind in third place until the caution on Lap 11 had Neville choosing the bottom lane while Ledford rode around the cushion. Neville and Ledford stayed side by side until the Mackinaw, IL driver’s No. 777 spun around in Turn 1 and collected multiple cars.
Holland kept Ledford at bay by keeping a car’s length distance on the Pontiac, IL driver’s No. 09 until his driveshaft fell onto the track in Turn 3, which immediately washed away his chances for a first Summit Modified Nationals victory.
Ledford inherited the lead for the five-lap dash to the finish, with his UMP Modified creating a 1.3-second bubble on Ray Bollinger as he crossed under the twin checkered flags for his second career win with the tour since 2023.
“Yeah, really fun race,” Ledford said. “I got a lot of respect for Chase, and I don’t know how many side-by-side laps we ran, but I hate to see him break there. It means a lot, I never would have thought it would be here, but I’ve been here a couple times and really struggled, so it just shows how good this car is.”
Leaving the return of the Summit Modified Nationals since Sunday night at Lincoln Speedway, Neville continues to grip the points lead by 106 points over Holland.
Up Next: The DIRTcar Summer Nationals Late Models and DIRTcar Summit Racing Equipment Modified Nationals continue the Week 3 journey with a visit to Farmer City Raceway on Friday, June 27.
If you can’t make it to the track, you can watch all the action live on DIRTVision – either online or by downloading the DIRTVision App.
MODIFIED RESULTS
Feature (25 Laps): 1. 09-Michael Ledford[4]; 2. 77-Ray Bollinger[3]; 3. 24-Zeke McKenzie[9]; 4. 1A-Steve Meyer Jr[6]; 5. 75-Daniel Adam[8]; 6. 150-Collin Alexander[20]; 7. 24M-Matt Milner[12]; 8. 71-Jeff Graham[17]; 9. 88L-Christian Lee[15]; 10. 23B-Ethan Boomsma[11]; 11. J13-Justin Coffey[16]; 12. 45H-Chase Holland[2]; 13. 10M-Chris Morefield[14]; 14. J24-Jeremy Nichols[10]; 15. 27-Dalton Ewing[5]; 16. 777-Trevor Neville[1]; 17. Z24-Zach Taylor[7]; 18. 78-Maxx Emerson[13]; 19. (DNS) 87C-Alan Crowder; 20. (DNS) 28S-Joe Strawkas; 21. (DNS) 99-Hunt Gossum
Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 777-Trevor Neville[3]; 2. 09-Michael Ledford[2]; 3. Z24-Zach Taylor[1]; 4. J24-Jeremy Nichols[7]; 5. 78-Maxx Emerson[6]; 6. J13-Justin Coffey[5]; 7. 28S-Joe Strawkas[4]
Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 45H-Chase Holland[1]; 2. 27-Dalton Ewing[5]; 3. 75-Daniel Adam[3]; 4. 23B-Ethan Boomsma[4]; 5. 10M-Chris Morefield[6]; 6. 71-Jeff Graham[7]; 7. 150-Collin Alexander[2]
Heat 3 (8 Laps): 1. 77-Ray Bollinger[1]; 2. 1A-Steve Meyer Jr[5]; 3. 24-Zeke McKenzie[2]; 4. 24M-Matt Milner[4]; 5. 88L-Christian Lee[7]; 6. 87C-Alan Crowder[6]; 7. 99-Hunt Gossum[3]
Qualifying 1 (3 Laps): 1. Z24-Zach Taylor, 00:12.008[1]; 2. 09-Michael Ledford, 00:12.097[7]; 3. 777-Trevor Neville, 00:12.179[6]; 4. 28S-Joe Strawkas, 00:12.734[5]; 5. J13-Justin Coffey, 00:12.908[2]; 6. 78-Maxx Emerson, 00:13.516[3]; 7. (DQ) J24-Jeremy Nichols, 00:12.484[4]
Qualifying 2 (3 Laps): 1. 45H-Chase Holland, 00:12.055[4]; 2. 150-Collin Alexander, 00:12.237[5]; 3. 75-Daniel Adam, 00:12.285[6]; 4. 23B-Ethan Boomsma, 00:12.574[1]; 5. 27-Dalton Ewing, 00:12.580[2]; 6. 10M-Chris Morefield, 00:12.595[7]; 7. 71-Jeff Graham, 00:12.729[3]
Qualifying 3 (3 Laps): 1. 77-Ray Bollinger, 00:12.159[3]; 2. 24-Zeke McKenzie, 00:12.406[1]; 3. 99-Hunt Gossum, 00:12.422[6]; 4. 24M-Matt Milner, 00:12.446[4]; 5. 1A-Steve Meyer Jr, 00:12.540[7]; 6. 87C-Alan Crowder, 00:12.845[2]; 7. 88L-Christian Lee, 00:13.060[5]
SUMMIT MODIFIED NATIONALS OVERALL DRIVER STANDINGS
Points Updated: June 26, 2025
Pos # Driver Hometown Points Gap Wins Top 5 Top 10 Features
1 #777 Trevor Neville Mackinaw, IL 525 -0 1 6 7 9
2 #45H Chase Holland Success, MS 420 -105 0 3 5 9
3 #66 Cole Falloway Owensboro, KY 364 -161 0 3 7 7
4 #23B Ethan Boomsma Wheatfield, IN 348 -177 0 0 1 6
5 #1A Steve Meyer Caseyville, IL 316 -209 0 1 3 8
6 #75 Daniel Adam Peru, IL 287 -238 0 1 2 5
7 #37 Michael Ledford Pontiac, IL 256 -269 1 3 3 4
8 #8A Austin Holcombe Elm City, NC 200 -325 0 1 3 5
9 #J82 Treb Jacoby O'fallon, MO 199 -326 3 3 3 3
10 #99 Hunt Gossum Mayfield, KY 193 -332 1 2 3 3
Our Partners
.png)
