On a normal CARS Tour weekend, there’s no question that everybody in the pit area is thinking about two things: Winning the race, and how to make their car go faster. But not this weekend. Not when the CARS Tour heads to Dominion Raceway. On this weekend there’s a third item that is even more important, and that’s coming together to make a group of sick children and their families forget about their ailments for a day or two. 

That’s the goal of CARS Tour driver, Mini Tyrrell, and the “Mini’s Mission 125” weekend at Dominion, now in its third year. Mini’s Mission pairs a child fighting cancer, as well as their family, with a CARS Tour driver and their team for the weekend.

The weekend starts off like any other, with a multi-hour practice session on Friday afternoon. But after that, instead of each team going their separate ways for a team dinner, or maybe a movie, or maybe even a trip to the bar, the entire pit area heads to a banquet room on property and has dinner together. They’re joined by the families that they’ve been paired with so that they can get to know each other. Last year, there happened to be a drag racing event also taking place on property so after the dinner ended, everyone went out and watched some drag racing and had a ton of fun together, even though it was unplanned.

On Saturday, the teams and the families are invited to a chapel service, and then the families are invited into the pits where the drivers get to show all of them their race cars. Later on, each child and their family will be introduced to the crowd along with the driver they were matched with during driver introductions.

All of this is the brainchild of Tyrrell, his father, Timmy, and his mother, Tina. It was born out of a very young Mini Tyrrell watching his childhood friend, Ella, fight cancer. “Mini’s Mission” has been finding a way to help out children fighting cancer ever since.

This event itself began in 2023. A dozen children and their families were paired with CARS Tour competitors. Fast-forward one year and Tyrrell was fielding requests from even more drivers in the field who wanted to be involved. Now, in Year Three, Tyrrell told FloRacing that there’s not a single person who isn’t asking how they can be involved in some way.

“Every person I’ve talked to has said, ‘What can I do to help? Where do I need to be, and what do I need to do,’” explained Tyrrell. It’s just been super awesome. The support from everybody, not just within the series, but just in general has been overwhelming.”

Tyrrell said that one of his favorite parts of putting on this event is watching how his competitors change and how they interact with the children they’re hosting for the weekend.

“Everybody has kind of put racing aside. We see how we’re so lucky to wake up in the morning and not really have to worry about anything except making a race car go fast, and work. It’s been really cool to watch everybody go from rough and gruff like how most of us are, to big softies.”

Veteran CARS Tour driver Brandon Pierce, who just celebrated his 100th start with the Tour last race, has been involved each year. He told FloRacing that this weekend at Dominion has become one of the most anticipated events on the calendar now.

“I think it’s great what Mini and his family and their mission is about,” Pierce said. “I’ve enjoyed getting to be a part of this for the past couple of years. I always have this race circled on the calendar now. For that weekend, our worries and problems don’t matter. Or at least, that’s how I view it. My goal and focus is to give these kids and their families a weekend to remember, and put a smile on their face.”

Buddy Isles Jr., who will be part of this event for the second time this weekend, echoed Pierce’s thoughts.

“It’s a chance for kids to experience what it’s like to be a race car driver, be behind the scenes, and just have a great time,” said Isles Jr. “The dinner is always a highlight. Mini and his family put in so much heart and time to make this happen, and it shows. Everyone, drivers, crews, and especially the families, really look forward to it. I’m all about doing things for kids, and this tops it all.”

And that’s exactly the goal of the Tyrrell family for this weekend each year. This year, they’ve added another element to it as the Tyrrells are hosting a handful of the families at their house on Lake Anna to go out on their boat and do some tubing and some fishing, and have plenty of fun before the rest of the weekend’s festivities at the track even begin.

It’s another added layer to the weekend, and definitely more work, but Tyrrell said the extra work he and his family have to deal with (on top of getting their No. 81 race car ready) is worth it in the end.

“It’s extremely challenging. Really and truly, there’s a lot of people that are volunteers that are behind putting this together,” Tyrrell explained. “There’s a lot of people that come forward and help us put this together, but really, a majority of the legwork is me, my mom, and my dad. It’s super hard. To coordinate everybody, where they’re supposed to be, what they’re supposed to do, answering a hundred questions. It’s a lot, man. It’s a ton. It wears you out. 

“And balancing it with the racing, I try to kind of just take it like any other weekend. It’s still a lot and it can be hard to focus on what you need to do. But I’ve done it for three years now, and to me, yeah, it’s a lot of work. It’s probably more work to make sure the event is good to go and the kids are good to go, than it is actually racing. This stuff is so hard and the CARS Tour is so competitive that you have to be focused at all times when you’re in the race car. It’s hard, but we make it work.”

People say that annual events often take three years to determine if it will end, or if it will keep being successful year after year. Tyrrell said the goal is to keep this event going long beyond this year.

But should it end after this year, for any reason, Tyrrell had a great answer when asked what he’ll take away from the experience of each one.

“I feel like the best thing about this, and the best I can leave you with is just watching how people come together. Obviously, we go head-to-head at each other all the time. We might have an altercation with someone in the field, or whatever it is. But you watch how this stuff grounds people from racing and competitiveness. It makes you realize what you have in life, and how lucky we are as people to live life worry free. I think that’s probably something I can take away from it. Just watching what this does to my competitors, and the people involved in it, and how it influences them. Seeing their reactions, and how they interact with the kids, it’s just awesome. 

“I hope this isn’t the last year, but should something happen and we aren’t able to do this next year, we’ll find a way to keep on doing awesome things with Mini’s Mission.”

For anybody who is looking to donate, Mini’s Mission is asking that any and all donations be made to two different places. Donations can be made out to the “Friends of Jaclyn Foundation” and the Jeff Gordon Children’s Foundation.

Race fans can watch the best of the CARS Tour compete in the “Mini’s Mission 125” from Dominion Raceway on Saturday, June 14. The green flag is expected to be waving at 7 p.m. ET. 

Fans can watch Saturday’s race with a FloRacing subscription. Fans can join FloRacing by clicking here.