Trey Mills went on the road for his first full World of Outlaws Late Model Series presented by DIRTVision tour in 2026 with the goal of making a name for himself at the national level. Nights like Saturday at Modoc Speedway go a long way toward doing just that.
From ninth in the starting order, the 18-year-old St. Augustine, FL native methodically worked his way forward to fourth by the checkered flag, trailing only Jonathan Davenport, Ryan Gustin and Hudson O’Neal. It gave Mills the best night of his career in World of Outlaws competition, and his third top five of the season following a pair of fifths at Independence Motor Speedway and Ogilvie Raceway.
It didn’t come as a shock that Modoc was a fruitful stop for Mills. He has a knack for racing on the gumbo “gray clay” that was recently added at Modoc, creating a surface similar to that of Senoia Raceway, where Mills finished eighth in World of Outlaws action in March.
“I used Senoia, and then also a little bit of Magnolia [Motor Speedway] as what I was basing it off of,” Mills said. “The track, it races a lot like Senoia, and I tend to run good every time Senoia’s like that. We just kind of took what we know from Senoia and put it towards Modoc, and it worked out.”
His Modoc result was the latest illustration of the progress the No. 14 team has made in the past nine months. Mills had been competitive in Super Late Models when racing regionally, and completed the full DIRTcar Summer Nationals schedule in 2025, but the jump up to World of Outlaws racing is still brutal for newcomers regardless of what they accomplished before. In Mills’ first nine races as a full-time Outlaw, he recorded a 20.2 average finish and four DNQs.
Rather than throwing in the towel, Mills and crew went to work. The tide soon turned, as Mills recorded his first top 10 of the season at Magnolia on March 21, which turned out to be his first of eight top 10s in the next 10 races.
Further growth followed in the summer and fall, and Mills enters the season-ending Dave Smith Motors World of Outlaws World Finals (Wednesday-Saturday, Nov. 4-7) in a respectable eighth in the Series standings. He also has an outside shot at the MD3 Rookie of the Year Award, trailing Daulton Wilson by 73 points in the battle for top freshman honors.
Mills has also made his share of highlight reels throughout his 2026 campaign. From flipping over the wall while leading at Golden Isles Speedway in March, to leading a combined 87 laps in two of the sport’s biggest events – the Dirt Late Model Dream at Eldora Speedway and the Prairie Dirt Classic at Fairbury Speedway – Mills has grown his fan following to the point where you typically don’t have to look very hard to find someone sporting his T-shirt in the grandstands.
“Definitely leading laps at Eldora was probably number one on my list,” Mills said of his most memorable moments from his rookie season. “PDC was number two. I wouldn’t say I was going to win, but I definitely feel like I had a top-three car before that flat tire. [Brandon] Sheppard was pretty good on the long green-flag runs, but I definitely feel like we had a shot to contend for the win, and would have definitely ran top three if the flat tire wouldn’t have happened.”
He may not have pulled off the upset on either of those nights, but ask any veteran of the sport, and they’ll tell you that the only way to learn how to win crown jewels is by losing a few. Mills has already made strides in his ability to manage the longer-distance races since then, and considering he was still passing cars at the end of 60 laps at Modoc on Saturday, the potential is there for success in 2027 and beyond.
“Eldora, I feel like was probably my biggest learning experience as far as long races go,” Mills said. “Just kind of went too hard at the beginning just trying to stay out front, I ended up just burning my tires up. PDC, I feel like I did a pretty good job at managing my tires well. The tires looked really, really good after the race, I just ran something over and it went flat. I feel like I kind of learned from Eldora and translated it to the PDC and we had bad luck happen. But I feel like I’m learning every time I go out there for one of these long races. You have to be smart, be calculated with every decision you make. I definitely don’t have it figured out by any means, but we’re definitely getting better at it.”
As Mills prepares to close the book on 2026, he’s doing so with an eye on the future. He made it clear at the start of the season that fielding a family-owned car full-time with the World of Outlaws was likely going to be a one-year plan, and he would need to secure a ride elsewhere to continue making a living as a professional Late Model driver. Mills viewed his rookie season as an audition for a long-term home in the sport, and with “Silly Season” fast approaching, his name could be in the mix.
“That was one of our main focuses, really trying to get out there, get the exposure and kind of get my name on the map,” Mills said. “I feel like everybody kind of knew who I was before I did the Outlaw deal, but it’s definitely helping that cause. I feel like it’s working out for us, we’re in talks for a lot of things to come. I’ve gotten a lot of phone calls and stuff like that. I feel like it’s working out good, we’ll just have to wait and see what happens.”
Mills and the rest of the World of Outlaws Late Model Series presented by DIRTVision will wrap up the 2026 season at The Dirt Track at Charlotte as part of Dave Smith Motors World of Outlaws World Finals (Wednesday-Saturday, Nov. 4-7). Get your tickets in advance by clicking here.
Want to watch the World of Outlaws? Stream every race live on DIRTVision.