For the first time in a long time, Tyler Erb is approaching the end of a full-time national tour run in a positive frame of mind.
The New Waverly, TX native spent three years with the World of Outlaws Late Model Series presented by DIRTVision from 2016 through 2018, before shifting to the Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series from 2019 until 2023. Erb amassed 21 wins between them and a best points finish of fourth in 2019, but three years ago, he knew it was time for a change.
The next two seasons in 2024 and 2025 were what Erb affectionately called the “Fun Tour” – racing wherever he wanted, whenever he wanted. His travels produced 33 wins over two years, plus the 2024 DIRTcar Summer Nationals championship.
“Last time I ran a national tour, I was just mad at the world,” Erb said. “I had done it for, I don’t know, six, seven years actually. I was burned out because I didn’t feel like I got to go to some of the places I wanted to go. I didn’t get to race a whole year the way I thought I wanted to race, and that’s just do whatever I want to do, pick and choose. Not skip races, but just go to the ones that I feel like I had a really good chance to win. I got to do that for two years and was successful doing it.
“So, then I was like, ‘OK, I feel like I’ve done really good at picking and choosing and doing all that.’ So, I can check that off my list of stuff, self-goals that I have that no one cares about except me. And the next one I have would be to try to win an Outlaws championship. And in order to do that, you’ve got to do it and compete.”
That’s precisely what Erb and his Best Performance Motorsports team set out to do in their return to full-time World of Outlaws racing in 2026. Erb’s refreshed mindset and renewed sense of confidence has resulted in what could be described as the best year of his career. With five races remaining in the season, Erb sits in a career-high third in the championship standings, trailing only the two hottest Late Model drivers in America in Bobby Pierce and Nick Hoffman.
“I had kind of set my own goals, and being third in points is kind of within that range,” Erb said. “Winning four races is a little light on, you know, how many I was trying to win this year. But we still have five left or whatever, so there’s definitely a chance to make up for a lot of it. I would give it a B+, A-. Because Nick and Bobby are obviously really, really good. To be right there behind them and beat them on the nights we beat them, I feel like that’s good.”
Tyler Erb. Photo by Event Horizon Photography.
It’s often said that you’re only as good as the competition you race against, and Erb credits his own progression this year to battling the same elite cast of characters night after night. It has made his own spot in the pecking order plain to see, as well as the areas that need to improve to take the next step into championship contention next season.
“Like right now, Nick and Bobby are ranked first and second in the [DirtonDirt] poll,” Erb said. “If you beat them however many times, you’re like, ‘OK, well, I beat them last week, so I can beat them this week.’ Where if you come in and you don’t beat them, and then you watch for a month and they run second, second, second and you win, you’re like, ‘Oh, I’ll beat them guys no problem.’ When you race them every night, you kind of realize their strengths and weaknesses and get an idea of how to beat them. It’s been good. You race some of the best competition night in, night out, it just makes you better.
“Going racing at different places and the stuff I did before definitely helps too, because you just race at all sorts of different racetracks and series and rules, you have to be able to adapt quick. But doing what we’re doing now, I think in the long run, the growth I’ve had this year is probably exponential compared to what I did the two years before. But I needed the two years of racing the ‘Fun Tour’ per se to grow in that aspect.”
Erb has never been afraid of doing things his own way both on and off the track. His car choice is one example, as Erb is one of only two World of Outlaws full-timers flying the flag for Rocket Chassis. That has created a bond between Erb and 2022 World of Outlaws champion Dennis Erb Jr. that goes back several years, and being in the same pit area every night has only strengthened the relationship.
“Dennis is an older me,” Erb said. “He’s done it, he’s kind of hard-headed, kind of his own person and there’s nothing wrong with that. I mean, for both of our sakes, if we won every race and it was the Dennis and Tyler show, that would be cool. It’s good to have somebody that you can lean on at times, and I feel like I do that for Dennis and Dennis does that for me with anything. His approach to a race and my approach, everybody’s a little bit different in a sense, but it is nice that I’m not the only lone ranger out there.
“I have Dennis, and then when Mark [Richards] or Josh Rice or whoever shows up, we all want to do good. We’re outnumbered to an extent right now, but I don’t look at it that way; I could care less. I know what I’m comfortable in and what I drive, and I think everybody in a Rocket has that same mindset. We’ve been in them for so long, it’s just what we’re comfortable with. We can make it work because we win races; we’ve just got to do it on a more consistent level.”
As Erb prepares to close the book on 2026 and look ahead to next season, he’s doing so at a point in life many dream of. His race team is on the rise and running up front more than ever, and away from the track, he’s about to become a first-time father with fiancée Emma Hodge. But is the rambunctious, short-fused Erb of old finally growing up? He’s not so sure.
“Nobody grows up, that’s such bull[crap],” Erb said. “I just know what I want to do, I’m very focused on it and have figured out how to balance it a little bit. Obviously, I’m getting married, having a kid, so that’s super exciting. I didn’t have any of that three years ago. I didn’t even know if I wanted that; I didn’t have an idea about it. Now, I’m very sure of what I want to do and get done, so it’s just a different mindset. Time goes on and opens your eyes to a lot of things.”
Erb will wrap up his season with the World of Outlaws Late Model Series presented by DIRTVision in the Modoc 100 at Modoc Speedway (Friday-Saturday, Oct. 23-24), followed by the Dave Smith Motors World of Outlaws World Finals at The Dirt Track at Charlotte (Wednesday-Saturday, Nov. 4-7). Get tickets in advance for both events by clicking here.
Want to watch the World of Outlaws? Stream every race live on DIRTVision.
This article was republished with permission from the World of Outlaws Late Model Series. The original article can be found here: https://worldofoutlaws.com/latemodels/tyler-erb-reflects-on-exponential-growth-in-first-year-back-with-world-of-outlaws/
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