By Jordan Delucia
SALISBURY, NC (May 20, 2024) – The Xtreme Outlaw Midget Series presented by Toyota takes on one of the busiest stretches of the season this week with four races in five days spread across North Carolina and Ohio.
A homecoming at Millbridge Speedway in Salisbury, NC, kicks off the action Tuesday-Wednesday, May 21-22, with the third annual DIAEDGE Double Down Showdown. The 1/6-mile, red clay oval hosted the first event in Series history in 2022 and will present a 30-lap, $4,000-to-win main event Tuesday night before a 35-lap, $5,000-to-win finale on Wednesday.
Teams will take Thursday to make the drive north to Atomic Speedway in Chillicothe, OH, and get set for another two-day event at the high-banked, 3/8-mile oval Friday-Saturday, May 24-25. Running adjacent to the World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Cars, Midgets will race a 25-lap, $4,000-to-win main event on both nights.
Tickets for both events will be on sale at the gate on race day. Advance sale tickets are available for both nights at Atomic, which can be purchased at the link below.
BUY ATOMIC TICKETS
If you can’t be at the track to watch in person, stream every lap of both events live on DIRTVision.
Here are the drivers to watch and storylines to follow this week:
CANNON’S HOUSE – Cannon McIntosh maintains the lead in the standings by 74 points over Ryan Timms, coming into a track he’s come to know better than most of his competition since moving to the Mooresville, NC-area in 2023.
McIntosh, 21, of Bixby, OK, was dominant with the Xtreme Outlaw Series on the red clay bullring one year ago, sweeping the midweek program by winning both Features and leading 42 of the 66 total Feature laps contested between the two races.
In the time he’s spent living and working in the area, the 1/6-mile oval has become his unofficial home track away from home as he continues to carve into the weekly Micro Sprint program. McIntosh established himself as a major player in both the Winged and Non-Wing 600cc Micro Sprint ranks last year, winning several races in both divisions, and has continued his involvement in 2024 with the spawning of his new Micro Sprint team – Cannon McIntosh Development.
READY FOR LAUNCH – Currently sitting third in the Series standings, Chase McDermand is still searching for his first win of the season, which could come at either venue this week.
McDermand, the 23-year-old racer from Springfield, IL, was strong in his first appearance at Millbridge one year ago, posting back-to-back third-place finishes after starting on the pole of the Feature both nights of the two-day event.
He also started on the pole of the main event at Atomic last July but faded back to eighth by the checkered flag. However, McDermand has not been shy about his fondness for the larger, faster tracks, which Atomic is at 3/8ths of a mile and a high degree of banking.
THINK PINK – It’s been over a month since Taylor Reimer’s near-victory with the Xtreme Outlaw Series, but she’s set to return to the roster at Millbridge this week – a place she’s seen success at before.
Reimer, 24, of Tulsa, OK, will be back behind the wheel of the BuzzBallz, LynK/Toyota No. 25K for Keith Kunz/Curb-Agajanian Motorsports (KKM) as an owner of two podium finishes on the red clay. Her first came as a runner-up finish to McIntosh on the second day of the two-day event in 2022, which was later upgraded to a win via McIntosh’s disqualification in the following weeks, and the second came last year when she ran second to McIntosh again on Wednesday night.
She’s also seen success off the dirt track recently, scoring her first career Limited Late Model Feature win on the asphalt at Tri-County Speedway in Hudson, NC, driving for Toyota Racing Development-associated team Lee Faulk Racing.
FAMILY TIES – While Nick Hoffman has spent most of his career in Modifieds and Late Models, he might still know Millbridge Speedway better than most races on the roster.
Hoffman – the 32-year-old multi-time DIRTcar UMP Modified national champion and current World of Outlaws CASE Late Model Series points leader from Mooresville, NC – is the brother of track co-owner Ashly Burnett, who, with her husband Jeremy Burnett, have owned and operated the facility since purchasing the property in 2014. Hoffman has turned many laps around the oval in a variety of car types, including one of his self-built Elite Chassis Modifieds in a one-off test session.
This weekend, Hoffman will climb back behind the wheel of the NOS Energy Drink, King/Stanton No. 2H for Rockwell Security/RAMS Racing for the first time since the season opener in Du Quoin, ready to try for his first career victory in a Midget. While he did not compete with the Midgets at Millbridge last year, he finished fourth and fifth at the Double Down Showdown in 2022.
BIG LEAGUE STARS – Located only 30 minutes north of Charlotte Motor Speedway – the site of the Coca-Cola 600 – Millbridge is the place to race Tuesday and Wednesday night for a select few NASCAR stars before competing on the big track Saturday and Sunday.
News broke last Thursday of J.J. Yeley’s plans to make his Xtreme Outlaw Series debut at Millbridge, piloting the Avanti Windows & Doors, Ripper/Stanton No. 2 for Petty Performance Racing (PPR). The 47-year-old NASCAR Cup and Xfinity Series veteran from Phoenix, AZ, has not made a national Midget series start since the USAC-sanctioned BC39 in 2022, but has made multiple starts on dirt in a PPR-backed Non-Wing Sprint Car this year, most notably logging a top-10 finish at a USAC CRA event in April.
Chase Briscoe has been a Millbridge entry to count on in each of the last two years and is scheduled to compete again in the Mahindra Tractors No. 5. The NASCAR Cup Series regular from Mitchell, IN, originally planned to compete on both nights of last year’s event but suffered terminal mechanical failure in the opening Hot Lap session and was forced to sit out the remainder of the week. However, Briscoe did record finishes of 12th and eighth in 2022.
ATOMIC EXCITEMENT – Last July, Jade Avedisian gave the fans of Atomic Speedway plenty of reason to come back to see the Xtreme Outlaw Series in 2024.
The 17-year-old Californian stole the show and the Feature win from fellow California racer Daniel Whitley out of Turn 4 on the final lap, collecting her third checkered flag of the season in one of the closest finishes in Series history. This year, Avedisian will be back to defend her win in the Yahoo, LynK/Toyota No. 71 as part of the KKM stable.
Last weekend, Avedisian was back on the pavement with the Toyota GR Cup Series at Circuit of the Americas, where she drove 21st-to-12th and eighth-to-fourth in the two races at the Texas road course.
THIS WEEKEND AT A GLANCE
When and where
Tue-Wed, May 21-22 at Millbridge Speedway in Salisbury, NC
Fri-Sat, May 24-25 at Atomic Speedway in Chillicothe, OH
On the internet
Xtreme Outlaw Midget Series presented by Toyota
Twitter/X – @Xtreme_Outlaw
Instagram – @XtremeOutlaw
Facebook – @XtremeOutlawSeries.WRG
Live broadcast
DIRTVision – DIRTVision.com. Annual FAST PASS for $299 or monthly FAST PASS for $39/month.
Current championship points standings (view full standings)
Cannon McIntosh: 1744 points | Keith Kunz/Curb-Agajanian Motorsports #71K
Ryan Timms: 1670 points (-74) | Keith Kunz/Curb-Agajanian Motorsports #67
Chase McDermand: 1669 points (-75) | CMR-Mounce/Stout Motorsports #40
Ashton Torgerson: 1597 points (-147) | Keith Kunz/Curb-Agajanian Motorsports #67K
Karter Sarff: 1524 points (-220) | Karter Sarff Motorsports #21K
Zach Daum: 1422 points (-322) | Trifecta Motorsports #7U
Hayden Reinbold: 1407 points (-337) | Reinbold/Underwood Motorsports #19AZ
TJ Smith: 1294 points (-450) | Mounce/Stout Motorsports #14S
Gavin Miller: 1250 points (-494) | Keith Kunz/Curb-Agajanian Motorsports #97
Trevor Cline: 1231 points (-513) | Cline Racing #55