MARTINSVILLE, Va. — NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series driver Matt Mills said Friday that he was in far better health after last weekend’s fiery crash at Homestead-Miami Speedway, adding that he not had a conversation with rival Conner Jones since their on-track run-in.
Mills was transported to a local hospital after his wreck in last Saturday’s Truck Series race, and his Niece Motorsports team indicated that he was treated for smoke inhalation. Mills spent two nights at Jackson South Medical Center in Miami, where Mills said he was held for further evaluation until his oxygen levels improved. He was subsequently cleared by NASCAR officials to return to competition after his Monday release.
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“I’m feeling a lot better each day,” said Mills, a 27-year-old Virginian in his first full season with the Al Niece-owned organization. “It’s five times better, so it’s good to be progressing so fast through this week, and I’m just grateful for everyone down at Jackson South Hospital in Miami, NASCAR medical team and just everyone that’s had my support through this whole thing. It’s definitely helped me just progress so fast during the week to get better, and I feel good, feel normal. It’s definitely been a recovery process, but going to the simulator last night and everything, everything felt great. I’m ready to get back to this race car and just move on from everything.”
NASCAR officials gave Jones a two-lap penalty during Saturday’s Baptist Health 200, and suspended him for one race on Wednesday’s penalty report. Former series champion Johnny Sauter will fill in for Jones in the ThorSport Racing No. 66 Ford for Friday night’s Zip Buy Now, Pay Later 250 (6 p.m. ET, FS1, MRN, SiriusXM) at Martinsville Speedway.
Jones, 18, did not speak to reporters after last Saturday’s race at Homestead, apologizing for his actions in a statement on social media later that day. Mills said that Jones had reached out to him through text message and phone call, but that he had not responded to Jones’ communications.
“It’s been such a hectic week, just physically and mentally,” Mills said. “It was exhausting, just being in the hospital. It might sound dramatic, but just getting back to reality and feeling normal again, that was a lot to process itself. It’s been a hectic week just getting my safety gear, stuff like that, all replaced. A lot of that had to get replaced, so he has reached out, but being how it’s recent and how hectic the week was, just in all scenarios, I don’t feel like I could have a healthy conversation with him, so I was going to just maybe talk to him soon. But this week, I was focused on getting back to the race track and listening to all my doctors and everyone. So when I feel like I can have a healthy conversation about it, maybe I’ll reach back out, but I’m just looking to move on.”
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Mills explained that the contact that led to the altercation was “just a racing deal,” when Jones’ No. 66 slid up in front of Mills’ No. 42 Chevrolet. Mills said he heard Jones lift off the throttle to get behind him, and said that his spotter had warned him that retaliation was coming. Mills indicated that he drove harder into Turn 3 to avoid contact, but said “he seemed pretty committed to getting to me.”
Jones blasted out an angry missive on his radio communications after the incident, seeming to indicate that he had been run into multiple times throughout the season. Mills said he was uncertain “if that was directed towards me or just everyone,” saying that he wasn’t aware of a history of issues between the two.
Asked if he felt that the one-race suspension was warranted or appropriate, Mills said he hoped a bigger-picture influence might come from it.
“I mean, I’m not a vengeful person, and I don’t think it should be really looked at as a punishment or a penalty,” Mills said. “I think Conner has talent, and I think this more should be looked at as a lesson that we can’t have that in our sport, especially at a track like that (with) high speeds. So I don’t want to say, like, ‘Oh, I’m glad he got what he …’ I don’t think that way. Like I’m just that nice, kind of quiet kid, kept to himself, like I’m not a vengeful person. So my whole thing, I want this to be a lesson or an eye-opener for him. Kids coming up through the sport, we can’t do that. We’re professional race car drivers. Each time we get on the race track, we are auditioning is how I treat it, whether it’s for the race team that we want to stay on, or move to the Xfinity, the Cup Series. People are watching us, so it needs to be a lesson, I think.”