Mini Dominates, first WIN at Dominion in Mini's Mission 125
- Cody Sealey
- 23 hours ago
- 3 min read
For the first time in three tries, Mini’s Mission is complete. Mini Tyrrell, the titular driver of the
annual CARS Tour date at Dominion Raceway, dominated his night at his home track.
After a weekend of charity and hosting families affected by childhood cancer, Mini Tyrrell took
the checkered flag of the Mini’s Mission 125. As he crossed the stripe Flo Racing announcer,
Blake McCandless summed up the night well with his call.
“[Tyrrell] said prior to the race ‘all I want is for these families to have a good time,’ but he is
gonna have the best time.”
The driver out of Manassas, Virginia, had a dream day at DR and it almost felt divine to the
racer.
“I’m speechless,” Tyrrell said. “This whole weekend has been nothing but amazing for Mini’s
Mission. I’m so blessed to be here. God’s got a plan and his plan was for me to set this race up,
invite all these kids, give them the experience of a lifetime and go win this thing, which is what
we did.”
A harbinger of things to come, Tyrrell secured the pole during qualifying with a time of 15.062.
He never looked back. Rain in the forecast failed to materialize and as the sun shone on
Dominion, Tyrrell shined on the track.
He led the first 38 laps before the first competition caution, including lap 1, which saw defending Dominion Raceway Late Model Track Champion, Landon Pembelton, caught up in a wreck on the backstretch with Tate Fogelman.
The restart saw the demise of another Dominion regular, Conner Weddell. The driver of the #8c was making his CARS Tour debut and got caught in a cluster and wrecked on the front stretch with Caden Kvapil, Carson Loftin, Jonathan Findley.
Tyrell maintained the lead to the halfway point and a second competition caution on lap 90.
The subsequent restart gave Tyrrell his toughest battle, as he jostled for the lead with Conner
Jones. Tyrrell ran Jones up toward the wall coming out of Turn 4 and the driver of the #81
maintained the lead. Chad McCumbee would pass Jones for 2nd and Connor Hall would get by
for 3rd.
Another caution would come out on lap 102 for Donovan Strauss. Tyrrell and McCumbee would be side-by-side for multiple laps, but with 18 to-go, Tyrrell would pull away. Hall would pass McCumbee for 2nd.
The final caution came on lap 119 for a stalled Brandon Pierce, but the restart was clean for the
top 3 and they would finish in the same running order, resulting in a monumental win for Mini.
“I don’t know the words for it,” Tyrrell said. “I’ve raced at Dominion five years in the CARS Tour
and I’ve finished second, third, fourth, fifth and sixth. For three of those years, it’s been the
Mini’s Mission 125. What we’re doing this weekend is bigger than racing. Everybody here won
this race [on Saturday] by making these kids smile.”
The win was Tyrrel’s second win on the CARS Tour season: his first came at Wake County in
March.
After the CARS Tour feature, local divisions took to the track and Eli Van Patten celebrated Flag Day by putting his American flag Bandolero in Bugsy Auto Repair Victory Lane.
Van Patten capitalized on an opportunity when a lap car in front of leader James Monolo created an opening.
“[The race] was intense,” said Van Patten. “I saw him go high, so I tucked low.”
Charlie Beals outdueled Miles Murray in a 25 lap Legends race, his third win on the season and
second in a row.
“We’ve had a bad fast car for two weeks in a row,” said Beals.
The finale of the night was a 30 lap Dominion Stocks race won by Todd Ruggles.
“I’ve been trying to get the monkey off my back all season,” said Ruggles. “My son won on the
CARS Tour night before and now I have.”
Next Saturday, June 21, is Miller Pipeline Classic Cruise-In Night at the Races along with Caliber Collision, which will feature Twin America Racer Late Model races, VA Modifieds, UCars, 6/8-Cyl Any Cars, Legends, Bandos, and Southern Ground Pounders.
