Tristan McKee wins his ARCA Menards Series Debut at Watkins Glen International on Friday night in the General Tire 100 at The Glen.

WATKINS GLEN, N.Y. – Last Sunday, Tristan McKee was a dozen laps away from a $50,000 payday at North Carolina’s Hickory Motor Speedway.

A Disappointing Loss at Hickory Motor Speedway

On his 15th birthday, McKee had dreams of a marquee Late Model Stock Car victory. But fate — specifically, a crash after a late restart — had different plans for the driver from Kannapolis, North Carolina.

“That was a tough one after leading 115 laps for $50,000 only to get into a wreck there at the end, but you’ve just got to put that past you and move on to what’s next,” McKee said. “I quickly moved on past that and got right back to the office.”

Fate, as it turned out, had something different in store for McKee just five days later.

Tristan McKee Wins Debut

McKee, driving the No. 77 Chevrolet for Spire Motorsports, capitalized on Brent Crews’ mechanical misfortune to win Friday’s General Tire 100 at the Glen in his ARCA Menards Series debut.

The victory, the first for the Spire Motorsports team in ARCA competition, made McKee the second youngest driver to win an ARCA Menards Series event at 15 years and five days old.

“We got a little lucky there obviously with Brent having issues,” McKee said. “I was prepared really well coming into this race with the sim stuff and pre-race from Josh Wise and Scott Speed. I got up to speed really quickly.

“To win in my debut is one thing, but to win in general is another. A lot of guys have never won in the ARCA series, and they’ve been doing it a long time. It just goes back to everyone who has helped me get here.”

The Road to Watkins Glen

The road to Friday has been long and extensive for McKee, who has been racing Late Models at tracks across the Southeast since 2022.

During that time, he accumulated wins at some of the region’s most recognizable and historic tracks, including North Wilkesboro Speedway, Hickory, Caraway Speedway, Orange County Speedway, Dillon Motor Speedway and Cordele Motor Speedway.

Only in the last year has McKee added road racing to his repertoire. He signed a developmental deal with Spire earlier this year, and within a few months, he scored his first Trans Am Series TA2 class victory at the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course, becoming the second youngest winner in Trans Am history (14 years, 10 months, 19 days).

He added a second Trans Am win last month at Watkins Glen, giving him valuable experience as he prepared to make his ARCA debut at the same track.

“I was pretty well prepared. We run a little bit different of a track, because (in Trans Am), we run the boot,” McKee said. “I knew where I was going when I got here. I just kind of knew the track a little bit, so that takes a little bit out of the learning part out of practice.”

Disappointment Awaits Brent Crews

Ironically, the record holder for youngest Trans Am winner is the aforementioned Crews, who appeared on his way to a comfortable victory during Friday at Watkins Glen before disaster struck.

Crews qualified on the General Tire Pole aboard the No. 18 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota, and he had the fastest car throughout Friday’s race. He held a comfortable lead when a caution with six laps left for a crash involving Jason Kitzmiller changed everything.

While circulating under caution, a voltage issue caused Crews’ car to suddenly crawl to a stop. That handed the lead to McKee, who had spent most of the race engaged in a battle with Tyler Reif over the runner-up position.

“I got around Tyler there near the end of the first stage, and I was running second when we came to the break,” McKee said. “I didn’t get a great restart during the second stage there, and Tyler got back by me. I had to work on him for a couple laps, and I ended up getting back by him again.

“My car was a little free, so I was just trying to maintain in case we had a caution at the end like we did. I think we would have been just fine even if we had to start next to Brent, because I was just maintaining my pace and saving my tires a little bit for the end.”

Almost a Repeat for McKee

With a one-lap clash to the checkered flag on offer, things nearly went wrong again for McKee. Coming out of the 13th turn, down the frontstretch during the restart, McKee and Reif both made contact with the outside wall.

The contact damaged the left side of McKee’s car, and smoke quickly billowed from his left-rear tire. But he kept his foot in the gas and stayed in front of Kris Wright, who had moved past Reif to take second shortly after the restart.

“I was just trying to be as aggressive as I possibly could,” McKee said. “Restarts are super, super important. I had gotten clear of (Reif), and I got a little loose and got into the wall. I definitely had some tire smoke going down into turn one and up the esses.”

The General Tire 100 at The Glen Results

Despite the damage, McKee maintained his pace and crossed the finish line 1.127 seconds ahead of Reif, who narrowly slipped past Wright at the line to finish second. Glen Reen scored a career-best fourth-place finish ahead of Dale Quarterley in fifth.

With a win in ARCA competition now in the bank, McKee’s focus shifts back to his busy schedule of Late Model and Trans Am racing that will keep him busy for the rest of the season.

He’ll be back in ARCA competition when the West Series field wraps up the 2025 season at Phoenix Raceway on Nov. 1. If things go according to plan, he’ll be a threat to win that race, too.

“I’ve already started to do some of my sim work (for Phoenix),” McKee said. “Phoenix is a really fun track as far as the sim stuff goes. I’ve never driven it in real life, obviously, but I’m looking forward to that. There are multiple different grooves. There is definitely a lot of dirty air and stuff like that with the ARCA cars there.

“I feel like I’ll be really well prepared coming into that race.”

The ARCA Menards Series Point Standings

Although Brenden Queen finished 21st and 19 laps down, he maintains his points lead over Lawless Alan by 24 points. Lavar Scott, Jason Kitzmiller, and Isabella Robutsto complete the top five.

Next Up

The ARCA Menards is back in action Sunday, Aug. 17 with the running of Springfield ARCA 100 at the Illinois State Fairgrounds in Springfield, Illinois. FS1 will provide live coverage at 1 p.m. CT / 2 p.m. ET.