Matt Mills opened up about his crash last weekend at Homestead-Miami Speedway, which was caused by Conner Jones, who was suspended this week by the sanctioning body for this weekend’s NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series Zip Buy Now, Pay Later 200 at Martinsville Speedway in a media availability at his Niece Motorsports hauler on Friday.
Mills was shocked by the contact from Jones, which sent him into the outside wall in Turn 4 at Homestead because he had just made a move on Jones, and expecting a little retaliation, he entered Turns 3 and 4 with more speed than he had carried all weekend.
Jones, determined to get to Mills, carried even more speed into the corner.
Video: Conner Jones Eliminates Matt Mills from Homestead Truck Race
“So, I sent it off into Turn 3 as hard as I could, and he sent it off even harder,” Mills noted. “[He] Seemed pretty committed to getting to me. That’s why I felt like I overcorrected so easily because that’s the fastest I’ve entered that corner all day. And if you know Homestead, once you get off the bottom line, there’s no grip there. It just took off.”
Mills says he can’t think of any previous run-ins that he has had on track with Jones, despite the ThorSport Racing driver shouting on his radio that Mills had done whatever he had done to make Jones irate all year long, and he had finally had enough.
“I don’t feel what I did was that harsh to where — I don’t know if something led up to that. I’ve never had any problems, that I know of with him,” Mills explained. “I’ve never spoke[n] to the kid. So, I’ve never had any incidents with him before leading up to this.”
Even after the crash, Mills says he still hasn’t spoken with Jones. The driver of the No. 42 Niece Motorsports Chevrolet Silverado says it isn’t for lack of effort from Jones, who has attempted to text and call Mills, but Mills says it’s been a rough week for him, and he hasn’t mentally been ready to have a productive talk with his competitor.
“He has reached out through text, and trying to call me. It’s been such a hectic week. You know just physically, and mentally, it was exhausting just. being in the hospital. It might sound dramatic, but just getting back to reality and feeling normal again, was a lot to process itself,” Mills said. “It’s been a hectic week just getting my safety gear, all of that replaced. You know, a lot of that had to get replaced. He has reached out, but being recent, and how hectic the week was in all scenarios, I don’t feel like I can have a healthy conversation with him.”
Mills says when he finally gets to a point where he feels he can talk to Jones about it in a constructive manner, that he’ll probably reach back out. But for now, Mills is looking ahead, and trying to push past the accident, which sent him to a local area hospital for two days after the race at Homestead-Miami Speedway.
While the shot into the outside wall that Mills sustained was hard, it was the fire that broke out under the hood, which caused his hospital stay as the driver inhaled smoke from inside the cockpit of his No. 42 truck.
“It was more just immediately breathing treatments,” Mills said of the care he needed following the crash. “When I got out of the truck, like I dropped because I was gagging for air. And just everything I inhaled, immediately kind of, my face was hot. Felt like it was on fire, even though it wasn’t, I don’t have any burn marks or anything. But that’s just kind of how it felt.”
While he didn’t have any burn marks on his face, Mills says the impact into the wall knocked the floor pan, and right side crush panels out of his truck, which allowed the flames to reach the cockpit.
Mills says his helmet, head skirt, and gloves as well as his facial hair all had fire damage, but all-in-all, his fire retardant safety gear held up. While in the infield care center, Mills, was informed he was likely going to have to go to the hospital due to low oxygen levels following the crash.
“I knew I was going to have to go to the hospital, it wasn’t my decision,” Mills stated. “I definitely don’t want to go to the hospital, but NASCAR definitely knew it was in my best interest to go to the hospital.”
Better safe than sorry. Mills, who was cleared and released from the hospital on Monday, and flew home, has been cleared to race this weekend after meeting with a specialist earlier this week. Now, the Virginia native will look to snag a decent finish in his return to the track at the 0.526-mile Virginia short track Martinsville Speedway in Friday’s Zip Buy Now, Pay Later 200.
