RALEIGH, N.C — Once again, Wake County Speedway delivered.
The zMAX CARS Tour made its second stop of the 2025 season Saturday, March 29, as the Late Model Stock car stars invaded the series’ only 0.25-mile track on the schedule.
🏁 @MiniTyrrell survives a late race restart to complete a dominant performance in the Accent Imaging 125 at @WCSpeedway!@CARSTour #CARSTour pic.twitter.com/gcYJmlxrSI
— FloRacing (@FloRacing) March 30, 2025
After a nearly four-year hiatus from CARS victory lane, Mini Tyrrell picked up the win. Behind him, there were plenty of bent racecars and hurt feelings, as is expected at America’s Favorite Bullring.
From a winless streak broken to a new rivalry ignited, here are three takeaways from the Accent Imaging 125 at Wake County.
Finally, the Drought Is Over for Mini
1,295 days. That’s how long it had been since Tyrrell’s last CARS win.
In case you’re wondering, that was Sept. 11, 2021, at Tri County Speedway. Yeah, it’s been a long time coming for Tyrrell and the No. 81 team.
1,295 days. That’s how long it’s been since his last @CARSTour win.
— Chase Folsom (@cfolsom_racing) March 30, 2025
Enjoy it @MiniTyrrell, you earned it.#CARSTour pic.twitter.com/4ks0UcllQf
They were so close to breaking through so many times in 2024, including Tri County itself late in the season when Tyrrell ran out of gas while leading in the final stages of the race.
To see not just the team but also the all-around good guy who Tyrrell is find his way back to victory lane was something special to witness. Racing, and more specifically short-track racing, thrives on emotion, and there was no shortage of it in victory lane on Saturday night.
“It’s incredible,” Tyrrell told Frontstretch. “It’s definitely a giant monkey off the back. I’m just so proud of all these guys. We had such a good year last year and we were so close so many races, showed so much speed. … To come here, qualify on the pole and lead all the laps, just absolutely drive away with it was just incredible, it needed to happen.”
Tyrrell was the dominant car, setting the fast time in qualifying and eventually leading flag to flag in the race. A spree of late-race cautions kept the field close, but Tyrrell kept the field at bay for his second-career CARS victory.
“I really, to be honest, did not think we were that astonishing yesterday,” Tyrrell said. “I thought we had a really good car, I thought we would’ve had a shot at it, but I didn’t think it was going to be the pole or anything. … Really, really awesome stuff, awesome car, and I can’t thank them enough for that.”
After a rough outing at New River All American Speedway, the win puts Tyrrell right back in the title hunt. Should he keep this same form throughout the season, he could emerge as the biggest title contender to Connor Hall as the season progresses.
Landon Huffman, Ryan Millington Clash Costs Both Drivers Good Days
Sometimes you just have to chalk an incident up as short track racing.
What happened with the NASCAR Xfinity Series at Martinsville Speedway last weekend is a far cry from it. However, the late race incident between Ryan Millington and Landon Huffman is a textbook example.
As Tyrrell had set sail on a late race restart, the two CARS veterans began to duke it out for second. Huffman had run top three all night, while Millington had slowly climbed the leaderboard.
Both in need of good runs, they probably both could have benefited greatly from a third-place finish. But that’s not how a racer thinks, and with second place within reach, they each took a gamble they hoped the other wouldn’t take.
What resulted was Millington around backward, Huffman sent to the rear and a 2-3 finish turned 12th and 13th. The incident lead to a pretty heated discussion post-race in which both parties showed respect to one another while seemingly agreeing to disagree.
“I for sure haven’t watched a replay yet, so I don’t 110% know,” Millington told Frontstretch. “I think he was barely there. I for sure cleared him, and he sure the hell didn’t back out.”
“I don’t know if he just lost his brain or what, he’s raced his whole life,” Huffman added. “Maybe the spotter didn’t tell him I was there, if that’s the case, then I don’t know. … Yeah, it’s unfortunate, we fucking wrecked, it is what it is.”
When the two discussed the incident post-race, tempers were high but controlled, as adults should be (talking to you, Xfinity drivers). Huffman said he thought Millington should’ve left him a lane. Millington said he thought Huffman should have backed out, living to fight another lap.
In the end, both present a fair argument, and when you watch the replay, it’s hard to place blame without bias. It truly was a racing deal if anything ever has been, and both ultimately suffered the consequences of each other’s choices.
Connor Hall Turns Subpar Day Into Runner-Up
If that’s what an off day looks like for Hall and the No. 88 team, the rest of the field is in trouble.
Fresh off the season opening win at New River, Hall and JR Motorsports unloaded at Wake County lacking race-winning speed. As a racer, Hall would always tell you he thinks he can win , but if you asked him to give you his honest assessment of the car pre-race, they weren’t very good.
Hall qualified 13th and spent a majority of the race in the seventh-to-10th range, including an incident with 52 laps to go that saw Hall climb the door of Kade Brown‘s No. 4.
When chaos ensued, Hall found his way through, and what looked like an off day for the JRM group turned in to a runner-up finish. Hall got better as the night went on and saved his best for when it mattered most, so much so that his fastest lap of the race was the last one, lap 125.
“Just a lot of hanging on, I feel like,” Hall told Frontstretch. “This weekend definitely didn’t go to plan by any means, all my JR Motorsports guys kept their heads in it and worked really, really hard to try to get me the best piece that we could. Absolute blessing to work with this group.”
Through two races, Hall holds an average finish of 1.5 and extends his points lead on a night he very well could have lost it all together. In case anyone wasn’t aware, the JRM-Hall combination is dangerous, and anyone who plans on dethroning them at the top has a tall task ahead of them.
What’s Next?
The CARS Tour is back in action with both the Late Model Stock cars and Pro Late Model’s on Saturday, April 12, at Cordele Motor Speedway. The Tour takes its first trip to the Georgia as it’ll invade the Watermelon Capital of the World.
Coverage of both races can be found live on FloRacing with PLMs at 5 p.m. ET, followed by LMSC at 7:30 p.m.
Chase began working with Frontstretch in the spring of 2023 as a news writer, while also helping fill in for other columns as needed. Chase is now the main writer and reporter for Frontstretch.com's CARS Tour coverage, a role which began late in 2023. Aside from racing, some of Chase's other hobbies include time in the outdoors hunting and fishing, and keeping up with all things Philadelphia sports related.