A diamond in the rough; How Millbridge Speedway transformed into a modern NASCAR hub

To the casual observer, Millbridge Speedway may seem like nothing more than just another dirt track hidden deep in the woods.

Yet on weeknights night during the summer, Millbridge turns into a de facto gathering spot for the NASCAR community, where many of the sport‘s top drivers share the tiny oval with the promising young stars of the future and local veterans.

The people responsible for Millbridge‘s transformation are track owners Ashly and Jeremy Burnett, who have poured endless resources into modernizing the track since they first started working there in 2011.

While Ashly did not initially foresee NASCAR Cup Series drivers like Kyle Larson, Kyle Busch and others competing in races at Millbridge, she said that the current state of the track perfectly encapsulates the passion she and Jeremy share towards keeping auto racing alive from a grassroots standpoint.

“We just have a love for racing,” Ashly said. “Jeremy and I grew up around racing and we both moved our families from the St. Louis area even though we didn‘t know each other at the time. The opportunity [to run Millbridge] came about and we both jumped into it. This is something we felt could help grow the racing community.”

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When Ashly and Jeremy were still traveling around the country competing in Outlaw Kart events, Millbridge was one of their favorite venues to compete at, which is why they were both stunned when the track ceased operations.

Not ready to see Millbridge‘s story end, Ashly, Jeremy and two of their closest friends came together to purchase the lease of the track before purchasing it outright in 2014, beginning a long and arduous process to revitalize the small but entertaining complex.

The goal for Ashly and Jeremy was simply to survive running a track of their own, which became slightly more challenging after their friends elected to step away from handling the day-to-day operations.

Ashly recalls many tough nights in which they struggled to break even. Once they developed a loyal fan and driver base, she and Jeremy utilized their knowledge of dirt tracks around the country to completely overhaul Millbridge.

Among the improvements Ashly and Jeremy have made to Millbridge during the past several years include refining the walls and fencing, installing more grandstands, the addition of a big screen television on the backstretch, the construction of a tech shed and adding more space for parking.

The strenuous undertaking in transforming Millbridge from a track that Ashly said was a circle with tires in the infield to a modern facility gradually began to catch the attention of both seasoned dirt track veterans and the top stars of NASCAR.

One name that now regularly frequents Millbridge on weeknights is two-time NASCAR Cup Series champion Kyle Busch, who has enrolled his son Brexton in Millbridge‘s Beginner Box Stock division while occasionally making laps around the track himself.

Busch has been impressed by how quickly car counts have grown at Millbridge since he and Brexton began racing there, but he attributes that trend to Ashly and Jeremy running a streamlined show that puts competitors first.

“[Ashly and Jeremy] are doing a really good job out there [at Millbridge],” Busch said. “They do a quick show, which is nice. We‘ve been to some of these other places where they draw it out for six, seven, eight hours and there is no need for that. We can get in and out of there in three-and-a-half hours probably, which I think the competitors really like as well. You just roll across the scales, and you go home.”

Busch‘s presence highlights a growing list of NASCAR drivers that now spend time at Millbridge on summer weeknights before traveling across the country.

Defending Cup Series champion Kyle Larson can be frequently spotted assisting his son Owen, who competes alongside Brexton in Beginner Box Stocks. Larson occasionally competes in Millbridge‘s 600 Micro division, sharing the track with a bunch of familiar names like Christopher Bell, Ben Rhodes, Brandon Jones and others.

Larson said the atmosphere at Millbridge compares to what he experienced at California’s Cycleland Speedway during his childhood and is thrilled that Owen gets to share similar experiences as he and so many other young drivers develop their skills, build connections, and enjoy their time on track.

“It‘s a great little thing they have over [at Millbridge],” Larson said. “For me, it just makes me kind of reminisce on the memories I had at Cycleland Speedway growing up and just playing with my buddies. Building memories is the cool thing that I take away from us going to Millbridge. Whether [these kids] all grow up to be race car drivers or not, they‘re all just making memories right now which is great at their age.”

Larson has made plenty of positive memories himself during his time at Millbridge. He won a Carolina Midget Showdown event there in 2020 before a 600 Micro feature on May 25 of last year that served as a support event to the debut of the Xtreme Outlaw Midget Series sanctioned by the World of Outlaws.

Veteran Millbridge competitor Tim Nye also competed the same week the Xtreme Outlaw Midget Series came to the facility, adding that the presence of a sanctioning body like the World of Outlaws further highlights the efforts that Ashly and Jeremy have put in towards modernizing the track.

“It means a lot to me to see what this track has become and what Ashly and Jeremy have done with it,” Nye said. “I‘ve been racing [at Millbridge] since moving down here in 2004 and to see it change from a little go-kart track with very little work done into what it is now is just incredible.”

Nye added that the 600 Micro division has thrived at Millbridge in recent years. In his first few years in the class, Nye only shared the track with a handful of drivers, but now has to fight every evening just to make an A-Main with car counts that average between 25-30 drivers.

Nye said the vibrant, competitive atmosphere of Millbridge would not be possible without the relentless effort Ashly and Jeremy have made towards putting the facility on the map and creating a cost-efficient ladder system that enables drivers to progress from Outlaw Karts into 600 Micros.

With an active driver base and determined ownership, Nye believes Millbridge will keep thriving well through the 2020s and is eager to continue racing alongside the next generation of competitors as a veteran of the 600 Micro division.

“I just love these cars,” Nye said. “I have a passion for building my own chassis, so I want to keep having fun, especially after the races. There‘s a bunch of families I really enjoy and I don‘t think I can critique what Ashly and Jeremy are doing in any way. I want them to keep doing what they‘re doing by bringing attention to Millbridge across the country.”

As Millbridge continues to gain more national exposure, Ashly admitted that she still finds herself in disbelief over how popular the facility has gotten.

What started as a mission to keep Millbridge alive evolved into sustaining a track populated by rising stars and NASCAR veterans. While Ashly attributes some of that to the track‘s location in Salisbury, which is 45 minutes from Charlotte, she believes Milbridge‘s popularity stems from creating an environment that mirrors other successful dirt tracks.

“I don‘t really know how we got to this point,” Ashly said. “We just showed our passion and put it into the track through all the upgrades we made. We grew up around so many good dirt tracks in the Midwest, so we put that into [Millbridge]. Not a lot of tracks in the South venture out like we do, so we look at what places like Eldora are doing and bring that back here.”

Even though Ashly said that she and Jeremy are running out of room to expand at Millbridge, the two plan to keep making renovations while also working with competitors to ensure they remain satisfied.

What Ashly does not plan on changing is the family atmosphere at Millbridge, which she said has been the track‘s strongest aspect since the day she and Jeremy took over the day-to-day operations more than a decade ago.

Ashly described the past 10 years as a hectic experience, but she and Jeremy take pride in the fact knowing that so many in the auto racing industry consider Millbridge to be so much more than just another dirt track.

“When you come to Millbridge, everybody is the same,” Ashly said. “We‘re all one big family and it doesn‘t really matter what your last name is. Little Jimmy down the road means the same as Kyle Busch or Kyle Larson, but a fan can come and walk up and talk to Kyle Larson or sit in the grandstands next to Kyle Busch. They will take the time out to sit with somebody and talk to them, so I really appreciate that.”