Tyler Millwood Earns First Career Hell Tour Win in LaSalle Speedway Return
Photo by Mike Ruefer
LASALLE, Ill.—Racing in unfamiliar territory for the majority of the 2025 DIRTcar Summer Nationals Late Models season, Tyler Millwood completed a major goal in his rookie season.
The Kingston, GA driver had a hard-charging night at the Hell Tour’s return to LaSalle Speedway with 10 spots gained to win his first Feature race.
Overall points leader Jason Feger controlled the pace early by outrunning Dillon McCowan with his No. 25 Longhorn Chassis holding the high side of the track. At the same time, his title opponent, Tyler Erb, performed slide jobs from a third-place starting spot to catch Feger.
Erb caught up to Feger’s bumper when he got caught in lap traffic, as both the high and low lanes were blocked. Feger attempted the middle lane, but could not keep his car stuck to the line as he slid up the track. “Terbo” used the high line to take the lead, but could not make the line stick around Turns 1-2 as the “High Side Hustler” crossed back under Erb to retake the lead.
Feger paced the field with Erb riding behind until a mechanical failure at the halfway flags ended his hopes to battle against Feger for the win.
Behind the leaders, Millwood climbed up onto the podium on the lap that Erb brought out the caution after starting in 10th place and using the cushion to his advantage. Millwood built momentum on the top lane to outrun his opponents into the corner for clearance.
When the cushion began to falter on the final restart, Millwood had to chop a 1.3-second gap on Feger as lapped traffic played a hand for the final time in the Freedom 40.
While Feger got blocked in his lane, Millwood crept to the middle line to crowd Feger in behind the lapped car. The two stayed door-to-door as the No. 31M slowly separated from Feger until he was fully clear for the lead with four laps remaining.
At the helm of the pack, Millwood crafted a 1.4-second gap to Feger as he became the 115th different Summer Nationals winner in the first visit to LaSalle since 2021.
“It’s awesome ‘cause this ain’t easy,” Millwood said. “It might look easy sometimes, but it’s not. This is really hard and it took every ounce of my knowledge to say ‘Can I move out and try to get by (Feger) there.’ This is badass, and hopefully we can get us a couple more (wins).”
DIRTCAR LATE MODEL RESULTS
Feature (40 Laps): 1. 31M-Tyler Millwood[10]; 2. 25F-Jason Feger[2]; 3. 18-Shannon Babb[6]; 4. 75-Dillon McCowan[1]; 5. 5S-Kyle Hammer[14]; 6. 29-Christian Hanger[19]; 7. 27M-Rodney Melvin[12]; 8. 5-Mark Whitener[18]; 9. 28B-Carson Brown[9]; 10. 33-Mike Harrison[11]; 11. 388-Jackson Hise[7]; 12. 38-Thomas Hunziker[20]; 13. 15-Clay Stuckey[15]; 14. 17SS-Brenden Smith[22]; 15. 21B-Rich Bell[17]; 16. 55X-Mike Lofgren[16]; 17. (DNF) 14-Haiden Cowan[5]; 18. (DNF) 14JR-Trey Mills[3]; 19. (DNF) 55-Eli Johnson[13]; 20. (DNF) 1-Tyler Erb[4]; 21. (DNF) 3-Dale Markham[21]; 22. (DNF) 81F-Jadon Frame[8]
Last Chance Showdown (B-Main) (10 Laps): 1. 21B-Rich Bell[2]; 2. 5-Mark Whitener[9]; 3. 21XXX-Neil Baggett[1]; 4. 38-Thomas Hunziker[6]; 5. 17SS-Brenden Smith[11]; 6. 3-Dale Markham[5]; 7. 17-Andy Clark[8]; 8. 21K-Jacob Kolwyck[14]; 9. 17SR-Brody Smith[10]; 10. 13-Dylan Thornton[7]; 11. 9-Lyle Zanker[13]; 12. 22M-Sean Mattingly[12]; 13. 22-Jeremy Spoonmore[16]; 14. 33R-Collin Rutledge[15]; 15. 79W-Greg Wagner[19]; 16. 90-Brian Rickman[3]; 17. (DNS) 32XXX-Cam Harris; 18. (DNS) M27-Mike Provenzano; 19. (DNS) 29-Christian Hanger
Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 14JR-Trey Mills[3]; 2. 14-Haiden Cowan[2]; 3. 28B-Carson Brown[1]; 4. 55-Eli Johnson[4]; 5. 21XXX-Neil Baggett[7]; 6. 3-Dale Markham[5]; 7. 5-Mark Whitener[8]; 8. 9-Lyle Zanker[9]; 9. (DNF) M27-Mike Provenzano[6]
Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 1-Tyler Erb[1]; 2. 388-Jackson Hise[2]; 3. 33-Mike Harrison[7]; 4. 15-Clay Stuckey[5]; 5. 90-Brian Rickman[8]; 6. 13-Dylan Thornton[6]; 7. 17SS-Brenden Smith[3]; 8. 21K-Jacob Kolwyck[9]; 9. 29-Christian Hanger[4]
Heat 3 (8 Laps): 1. 75-Dillon McCowan[1]; 2. 18-Shannon Babb[2]; 3. 31M-Tyler Millwood[3]; 4. 5S-Kyle Hammer[4]; 5. 21B-Rich Bell[6]; 6. 38-Thomas Hunziker[5]; 7. 17SR-Brody Smith[7]; 8. 33R-Collin Rutledge[8]; 9. 79W-Greg Wagner[9]
Heat 4 (8 Laps): 1. 25F-Jason Feger[1]; 2. 81F-Jadon Frame[3]; 3. 27M-Rodney Melvin[2]; 4. 55X-Mike Lofgren[8]; 5. 32XXX-Cam Harris[6]; 6. 17-Andy Clark[5]; 7. 22M-Sean Mattingly[4]; 8. 22-Jeremy Spoonmore[7]
Qualifying A (2 Laps): 1. 28B-Carson Brown, 00:13.276[6]; 2. 1-Tyler Erb, 00:13.432[8]; 3. 14-Haiden Cowan, 00:13.457[2]; 4. 388-Jackson Hise, 00:13.544[14]; 5. 14JR-Trey Mills, 00:13.692[18]; 6. 17SS-Brenden Smith, 00:13.743[10]; 7. 55-Eli Johnson, 00:13.780[1]; 8. 29-Christian Hanger, 00:13.853[17]; 9. 3-Dale Markham, 00:13.859[12]; 10. 15-Clay Stuckey, 00:13.897[15]; 11. M27-Mike Provenzano, 00:13.963[5]; 12. 13-Dylan Thornton, 00:14.007[9]; 13. 21XXX-Neil Baggett, 00:14.008[11]; 14. 33-Mike Harrison, 00:14.031[13]; 15. 5-Mark Whitener, 00:14.041[16]; 16. 90-Brian Rickman, 00:14.109[4]; 17. 9-Lyle Zanker, 00:14.344[3]; 18. 21K-Jacob Kolwyck, 00:14.705[7]
Qualifying B (2 Laps): 1. 75-Dillon McCowan, 00:13.593[11]; 2. 25F-Jason Feger, 00:13.665[17]; 3. 18-Shannon Babb, 00:13.691[10]; 4. 27M-Rodney Melvin, 00:13.736[1]; 5. 31M-Tyler Millwood, 00:13.815[4]; 6. 81F-Jadon Frame, 00:14.100[7]; 7. 5S-Kyle Hammer, 00:14.182[9]; 8. 22M-Sean Mattingly, 00:14.190[2]; 9. 38-Thomas Hunziker, 00:14.201[5]; 10. 17-Andy Clark, 00:14.263[6]; 11. 21B-Rich Bell, 00:14.292[16]; 12. 32XXX-Cam Harris, 00:14.342[15]; 13. 17SR-Brody Smith, 00:14.419[3]; 14. 22-Jeremy Spoonmore, 00:14.445[12]; 15. 33R-Collin Rutledge, 00:14.830[14]; 16. 55X-Mike Lofgren, 00:14.858[8]; 17. 79W-Greg Wagner, 00:15.206[13]
DIRT CAR SUMMER NATIONALS OVERALL DRIVER STANDINGS
Points Updated: July 3, 2025
Pos # Driver Hometown Points Gap Wins Top 5 Top 10 Features
1 #25F Jason Feger Bloomington, IL 1135 -0 4 10 14 19 WEEK 1 CHAMP
2 #1 Tyler Erb New Waverly, TX 1073 -62 5 9 14 19
3 #75 Dillon McCowan Urbana, MO 896 -239 0 3 11 19
4 #5 Mark Whitener Middleburg, FL 842 -293 0 4 8 17
5 #31M Tyler Millwood Kingston, GA 798 -337 1 3 6 13
6 #14JR Trey Mills St. Augustine, FL 773 -362 1 1 5 15
7 #40B Kyle Bronson Brandon, FL 769 -366 0 2 8 17
8 #29 Christian Hanger Winchester, TN 732 -403 0 1 5 16
9 #15 Clay Stuckey Shreveport, LA 700 -435 0 1 1 16
10 #388 Jackson Hise Ocala, FL 651 -484 0 0 1 10
16 #B5 Brandon Sheppard New Berlin, IL 510 -625 1 6 7 7 WEEK 3 CHAMP
28 #19R Ryan Gustin Marshalltown, IA 339 -796 1 4 6 6 WEEK 2 CHAMP
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TYLER NICELY MUSCLES TOWARDS FOURTH SUMMIT MODIFIED NATIONALS TRIUMPH AT LASALLE, CLAIMS FOURTH IN ALL-TIME IN WINS
LA SALLE, Ill. -- Tyler Nicely is on a different level from his closest competition in the 2025 DIRTcar Summit Racing Equipment Modified Nationals tour.
Through the last five Features that the Owensboro, KY native has contended in, he has won the previous four as Nicely marches towards a second career title in the last three seasons.
Nicely rolled off from third place for the 25-lap Feature, following behind leader Cole Falloway and Ray Bollinger before getting by Bollinger’s No. 77 machine on the bottom line through Turns 3-4.
Nicely and Bollinger’s battle for second helped Falloway get to a 2.4-second lead until lap traffic helped Nicely get back into contention against the No. 66 UMP Modified.
Falloway left enough of a space in the bottom lane for Nicely to fill the gap and race side-by-side with his fellow hometown driver for the win.
Nicely’s pace on the bottom after getting by the traffic in front helped the No. 25 Elite Chassis secure the top spot on Lap 18.
While Falloway dropped out of the Feature with an issue on Lap 20, Nicely built a two-second advantage over Jeff Curl over the final five laps as he surpassed Bollinger for fourth on the all-time wins list of Summit Modified Nationals with No. 15 at LaSalle.
“It’s always fun,” Nicely said. “Cole’s a good, hard, clean racer, and I wasn’t gonna do anything there to roughen him up or try to take myself out of it. It feels pretty good to be back (in Victory Lane).”
Up Next: The DIRTcar Summer Nationals Late Models and DIRTcar Summit Racing Equipment Modified Nationals celebrate Independence Day in the 2025 Illinois finale at Red Hill Raceway on Friday night, July 4.
If you can’t make it to the track, you can watch all the action live on DIRTVision – either online or by downloading the DIRTVision App.
DIRTCAR UMP MODIFIED RESULTS
Feature (25 Laps): 1. 25-Tyler Nicely[3]; 2. 12-Jeff Curl[6]; 3. 77-Ray Bollinger[1]; 4. 777-Trevor Neville[5]; 5. 0-Travis Kohler[8]; 6. 09-Michael Ledford[18]; 7. 1-Nash Hilmes[4]; 8. 45H-Chase Holland[11]; 9. 5-Steven Brooks[10]; 10. 96M-Mike McKinney[21]; 11. 110-Landen Miller[12]; 12. 23B-Ethan Boomsma[16]; 13. 99-Hunt Gossum[15]; 14. 75-Daniel Adam[9]; 15. 0F-Matt Fabrizius[13]; 16. 1W-Bob Pohlman[25]; 17. 73-Mark Rhoades[7]; 18. (DNF) 66-Cole Falloway[2]; 19. (DNF) 75M-Shane Mecum[22]; 20. (DNF) 27G-Jason Garver[19]; 21. (DNF) 68W-Damion Wilmoth[17]; 22. (DNF) 10M-Chris Morefield[14]; 23. (DNF) 2M-Scott McDonald[24]; 24. (DNF) 44T-Wyatt Thompson[20]; 25. (DNS) 74-Donnie Boyer
Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 25-Tyler Nicely[1]; 2. 1-Nash Hilmes[4]; 3. 73-Mark Rhoades[2]; 4. 5-Steven Brooks[3]; 5. 0F-Matt Fabrizius[8]; 6. 23B-Ethan Boomsma[7]; 7. 27G-Jason Garver[5]; 8. 75M-Shane Mecum[9]; 9. 1W-Bob Pohlman[6]
Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 66-Cole Falloway[1]; 2. 777-Trevor Neville[2]; 3. 0-Travis Kohler[4]; 4. 45H-Chase Holland[3]; 5. 10M-Chris Morefield[5]; 6. 68W-Damion Wilmoth[6]; 7. 44T-Wyatt Thompson[7]; 8. (DNS) 74-Donnie Boyer
Heat 3 (8 Laps): 1. 77-Ray Bollinger[1]; 2. 12-Jeff Curl[3]; 3. 75-Daniel Adam[4]; 4. 110-Landen Miller[7]; 5. 99-Hunt Gossum[6]; 6. (DNF) 09-Michael Ledford[2]; 7. (DNF) 96M-Mike McKinney[5]; 8. (DNS) 2M-Scott McDonald
Qualifying 1 (3 Laps): 1. 25-Tyler Nicely, 00:14.627[5]; 2. 73-Mark Rhoades, 00:14.785[1]; 3. 5-Steven Brooks, 00:14.799[6]; 4. 1-Nash Hilmes, 00:14.992[2]; 5. 27G-Jason Garver, 00:15.045[3]; 6. 1W-Bob Pohlman, 00:15.097[4]; 7. 23B-Ethan Boomsma, 00:15.174[8]; 8. 0F-Matt Fabrizius, 00:15.215[9]; 9. 75M-Shane Mecum, 00:15.669[7]
Qualifying 2 (3 Laps): 1. 66-Cole Falloway, 00:14.459[7]; 2. 777-Trevor Neville, 00:14.504[3]; 3. 45H-Chase Holland, 00:14.836[1]; 4. 0-Travis Kohler, 00:14.916[2]; 5. 10M-Chris Morefield, 00:15.037[6]; 6. 68W-Damion Wilmoth, 00:15.985[8]; 7. 44T-Wyatt Thompson, 00:16.347[5]; 8. (DNF) 74-Donnie Boyer[4]
Qualifying 3 (3 Laps): 1. 77-Ray Bollinger, 00:14.507[5]; 2. 09-Michael Ledford, 00:14.537[8]; 3. 12-Jeff Curl, 00:14.604[3]; 4. 75-Daniel Adam, 00:14.641[4]; 5. 96M-Mike McKinney, 00:14.704[1]; 6. 99-Hunt Gossum, 00:14.748[7]; 7. 110-Landen Miller, 00:14.901[2]; 8. 2M-Scott McDonald, 00:15.950[6]
DIRTCAR SUMMIT NATIONALS DRIVER STANDINGS
Points Updated: July 3, 2025
Pos # Driver Hometown Points Gap Wins Top 5 Top 10 Features
1 #777 Trevor Neville Mackinaw, IL 714 -0 1 8 9 13
2 #45H Chase Holland Success, MS 648 -66 1 5 10 15
3 #75 Daniel Adam Peru, IL 483 -231 0 1 5 11
4 #66 Cole Falloway Owensboro, KY 467 -247 0 4 8 9
5 #37 Michael Ledford Pontiac, IL 431 -283 2 4 6 7
6 #1A Steve Meyer Caseyville, IL 395 -319 0 1 4 10
7 #77 Ray Bollinger Kewanee, IL 369 -345 0 4 6 6
8 #25 Tyler Nicely Owensboro, KY 367 -347 4 4 4 5
9 #23B Ethan Boomsma Wheatfield, IN 366 -348 0 0 1 8
10 #96M Mike McKinney Plainfield, IL 269 -445 0 3 5 5
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