The 2025 season has been a wild yet fruitful one for Virginia’s Mini Tyrrell. Three CARS Tour Late Model Stock wins have highlighted Tyrrell’s efforts, but the road to those victories has been anything but straightforward.
Tyrrell’s journey started with a rather dominant victory at Wake County Speedway back in March. The triumph broke a multi-year winless streak, with Tyrrell’s most recent victory up until that point coming all the way back in September 2021.
Following the massive feat at Wake County, a spell of inconsistency seemed to be cast upon Tyrrell and crew. A runner-up finish at Cordele Motor Speedway and a third-place run at North Wilkesboro Speedway were counteracted by two DNFs at Orange County Speedway and Langley Speedway. In this stretch of races, Tyrrell also scored a 17th-place finish at Ace Speedway.
With championship circumstances seemingly not working in Tyrrell’s favor, the wheelman had a lot to race for when it was time for the Mini’s Mission 125 at Dominion Raceway. The race, named for Mini, was about so much more than racing for Tyrrell and crew.
The event at Dominion was close to home for Tyrrell, both literally and figuratively. Mini’s Mission, Tyrrell’s nonprofit that focuses on childhood cancer research and more, brought several affected families to the track.
With so many people that were helped by Tyrrell’s philanthropic efforts present, the stage was huge. And Tyrrell lived up to the hype. His performance that day was another dominant one that resulted in yet another CARS Tour victory, giving the Manassas, Va., native his first ever multi-win CARS Tour season.
That was a positive boost, but one more DNF at Caraway Speedway would prevent Tyrrell from winning in back-to-back events. The misfortune at Caraway left his future uncertain. Multiple crashes and the general financial grind of short track racing left Tyrrell and his crew with doubts heading to Hickory Motor Speedway for the Throwback Classic.
One thing was guaranteed at the Throwback Classic, however, that being an astounding $50,000 payday for the winner. With eyes set on the grand prize, Tyrrell knew that a victory in the Throwback Classic could change the momentum of his entire year.
Fortunately for him, that’s exactly what it did.
Narrowly avoiding disaster when a massive pileup occured with less than ten laps remaining, Tyrrell inherited the lead in the race’s closing moments en route to the biggest purse of his racing career.
Tyrrell and his team considered not even attending the upcoming races at Anderson Motor Speedway and Florence Motor Speedway before claiming the win. But now, that extra financial blessing has dramatically shifted the team’s perspective.
Residing within the top five in series points and inching ever closer to the top of the standings, Tyrrell has a ton of momentum on his side. Only five races remain, so it’s make or break time for all of the top competitors.
Inconsistency might have plagued Tyrrell’s early efforts in 2025, but there’s significant reason to believe that he can make a late-season push towards short track glory.
Only time will tell what remains in the chaotic year of Mini Tyrrell.
The zMAX CARS Tour returns to action on Saturday, August 16th at Anderson Motor Speedway. The race will be streamed live on FloRacing.
