Mini Tyrrell Scores Special Victory in Mini's Mission 125 at Dominion

Mini Tyrrell earned his third zMAX CARS Tour Late Model Stock Car victory on Saturday at Dominion Raceway, and this one was undoubtedly the most special.

In recent years, Tyrrell has utilized the CARS Tour's visit to Dominion as a platform for his philanthropic efforts with "Mini's Mission," raising awareness and donations for childhood cancer and other causes. On race day, Tyrrell hosted nearly three dozen families from the Walter Reed National Military Medical Center, Children’s National Hospital and the Make-A-Wish Foundation, and the entire weekend was filled with activities and functions to entertain those guests and raise awareness of Mini's Mission.

"This one, I'm speechless, man," said Tyrrell. "This whole weekend has been nothing but amazing for Mini's Mission. My whole team, Coleman Rector joining us with Jesus is Lord, allowing me to put that on the hood. I'm just so blessed to be here, man. God's got a plan. His plan was for me to set this race up, invite all these kids, give them an experience of a lifetime to win this thing. That's what we did."

Tyrrell nearly led all 125 laps of the Mini's Mission Burn Rubber to Help Another 125, but it was not without challenge. Chad McCumbee threatened for the lead throughout the race, as did Conner Jones before he was involved in an incident on a restart during a three-wide battle into turn one.

At the end of the race, it was Connor Hall putting the pressure on Tyrrell for the win after a charge through the field after qualifying 10th. Still, Tyrrell held them all off for the win.

"I knew we were good. I knew the guys behind us were pretty good, too. If I could take my time on the corner, I would. If they were far enough back, I could take a turn or two off and kind of save that right front. That's what we needed to do. It worked out, you know, 125 laps, we're in victory lane."

Tyrrell has been close to winning the CARS Tour event at Dominion several times, including finishes of third and fifth in the last two years. Finally, he went to victory lane in the event on Saturday, capping off an incredible weekend.

"I don't know the words for it. Dominion, I've raced here for five years with the CARS Tour, this is my sixth try at it. I've finished second, third, fourth, fifth and sixth. For three of those years, it's been my race, it's been the Mini's Mission 125. Each year, you know, everybody asks me, are you gonna win the thing? Are you gonna win it? Are you gonna win?

"I say, you know, what we're doing this weekend is bigger than racing. Everybody here won this race tonight, making these kids smile. It's just a cherry on top that we can sit here and celebrate with a CARS Tour check in victory lane."

While Hall was disappointed to finish second, he was also pleased to get his CARS Tour season back on track. After opening the year with two wins and a runner-up finish, Hall's best finish was a seventh at Langley Speedway in the last four events entering Dominion.

"Obviously, as a competitor, I wanted one more spot," said Hall. "Given the kind of the bad luck and the last four weeks we've had at the racetrack, you know, I think this is a good step in the right direction. We fought pretty tight tonight. It made it pretty hard to race for certain positions. That kind of penalized us a little bit, but overall, I thought we had a really, really fast Bass Pro Shops Johnny Morris No. 88."

McCumbee rounded out the podium, backing up a fifth-place finish at Langley Speedway in the last race for the series. He battled hard for a win to celebrate with the family he spent time with throughout the weekend as part of Mini's Mission, but was also happy to see Tyrrell win his home race.

"This is a special race," said McCumbee. "I certainly wanted to win it for my group, for my whole team, and our family we supported. We've had an amazing relationship over the past 12 months. I'm super happy for Mini. That was a lot of fun. That last restart, with so much side-by-side and super clean, we never touched not one time. He just had a little bit better car than we did today."

Tristan McKee finished fourth, with Lanie Buice rounding out the top five.

The next event for the zMAX CARS Tour takes place at Caraway Speedway. That will be a midweek special, taking place on Wednesday, July 2, with both the Late Model Stock Cars and Pro Late Models in action.

-Photo credit: zMAX CARS Tour

Mini's Mission Burn Rubber to Help Another 125 Unofficial Results