Mills Makes Xfinity Debut, Attica, Hilltop & Mansfield Set to Open; Motorsports News and Notes

Matt Tifft wasn’t the only driver in last Saturdays NASCAR Xfinity Series race at Phoenix International Raceway with ties to Ohio. Matt Mills, a native of New Philadelphia made his NXS debut with McLeod Motorsports. The 19-year-old has run karts, modifieds and super late models. Mills won the midseason championship at Midvale in the late model in 2014 and a year later was running the JEGS/CRA All-Star Tour. Mills made four starts in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series in 2016.

Despite a 30^th place finish in Saturday’s NXS race, Mills stayed out of trouble and learned a lot in his series debut. Tifft led 4 laps and finished 12^th in his Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota. The Hinckley native is 8^thin the NXS points.

Attica Set To Open Friday

Attica Raceway Park(Attica, Ohio) is set to get racing started Friday night. 410 sprints, UMP late models and 305 sprints are on the schedule. A rain date is set for Saturday. The home of “Ohio’s Finest Racing” located inside the Attica Fairgrounds is offering high purses for all three divisions in 2017.

“Our weekly purses and season point fund are some of the best in Ohio. We are able to reward our race teams because of the tremendous support we get from our area business partners and of course the fans,” said John Bores, Attica Raceway Park Promoter in a release on the tracks website.

Hilltop Slated To Run Friday

Hilltop Speedway(Millersburg, Ohio) will also attempt to run its season opener Friday night. Late models, mini stocks, street stocks, modifieds, modlites and trucks are all set to hit the track. Hilltop has a number of big shows on the 2017 schedules, including the opener of Buckeye Late Model Dirt Week on Thursday, July 20^th.

Mansfield Set For Opener In Triple Crown Spring Series

The first of three Triple Crown Spring Series events is scheduled for Saturday at Mansfield Motor Speedway(Mansfield, Ohio). This is the first event set to run on the new dirt as the old pavement was ripped out as the speed plant was transformed back to dirt over the winter. The three weekend event features super late models, 410 sprints and non-winged sprint cars.

Tickets are available on the tracks website for all three rounds of the Triple Crown Spring Series scheduled for this Saturday, April 1^st and April 8^th.  All three dates feature 410 sprints, non-wing sprints and super late models. The feature winner in each division will bring home $5,000.

Atomic Opener Postponed

The 3^rd annual Buckeye Spring 50 with the Lucas Oil Late Model Series originally scheduled for this past Saturday at Atomic Speedway in Chillicothe was postponed due to cold temperatures and precipitation. The event has been moved to Thursday, April 20^th and will now precede the series’ scheduled event at Sharon Speedway in Hartford, Ohio set for Friday, April 21st.

Dragway 42 Job Fair

Set to reopen this spring, Dragway 42 will hold a job fair Saturday. Those interested in working at the track can attend the from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the Dragway 42 office, 674 Oberlin-Elyria Road in Elyria. Applications are available on the Dragway 42 website.