Tristan McKee bolsters his East Series championship hopes with a dominant victory at Iowa Speedway

www.arcaracing.com August 7, 2026

NEWTON, Iowa – The victory Tristan McKee scored in Friday’s JR&CO 150 at Iowa Speedway was crucial for multiple reasons.

Not only was the win his third in the national ARCA Menards Series, but it also allowed him to erase his deficit to Max Reaves in the ARCA Menards Series East standings. Unofficially, McKee holds a two-point advantage over Reaves with one race remaining.

RELATED: Complete results from the JR&CO 150

Given that he turned 16 on Monday, McKee viewed his triumph as a satisfying, belated birthday celebration. For as dominant as he was, McKee felt he was always on offense and defense while trying to hold the lead over his teammate Carson Brown.

“That was a fun race,” McKee said. “With all the lapped cars, it’s really tough getting around them, running the top and just maneuvering all that. I lost the lead earlier to [Brown] obviously because of that, but we had some good restarts, which helped a lot.”

The JR&CO 150 served as McKee’s first ARCA Menards Series checkered flag of any kind since Toledo Speedway in May, when he led 194 of 200 laps from the outside pole.

Toledo capped a stellar opening half of the 2026 East Series campaign for McKee that saw him prevail in three of the first four events. Although he held the points lead, a similarly consistent start from Reaves meant McKee could not afford to have a bad race if he wanted to stay in control.

Lucas Oil Indianapolis Raceway Park in July was McKee’s first misstep in his quest for an East Series championship. While trying to navigate through slower traffic, McKee and Reaves ended up tangling on the frontstretch. Reaves escaped with minimal damage, while McKee finished the evening behind the wall in 32nd.

Reaves winning the following East Series event at Flat Rock Speedway gave him a seven-point lead over McKee heading into Iowa. McKee had never turned a competitive lap at Iowa prior to Friday, but he felt confident crew chief Kevin Reed Jr. and everyone at Pinnacle Racing Group would give him a race-winning car.

Aside from briefly losing the top spot to Brown while negotiating lapped traffic, McKee enjoyed a perfect evening in his No. 77 Chili’s Chevrolet. He set the fastest time at 23.38 seconds in qualifying and executed each restart flawlessly, which gave him pivotal cushions over Brown.

Finishing runner-up to his PRG teammate in McKee was a frustrating-but-solid start to a busy weekend for Brown that will see him make his NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series debut on Saturday with Jordan Anderson Racing. The restarts offered Brown’s best chances at McKee, but he could never get the launches he wanted.

“Obviously, I wish I was better on the restarts,” Brown said. “I felt like that was our lingering issue the whole time. I felt like I couldn’t make anything happen. We were either bogging or just lighting the tires up. I just couldn’t go anywhere. Hopefully we can be a little faster tomorrow.”

Tristan McKee
Tristan McKee’s fourth ARCA Menards Series East victory of 2026 will give him a much-needed jolt as he prepares to settle the title with Max Reaves. (Photo: Bryon Houlgrave/ARCA Racing)

With how tight the East Series championship battle is between him and Reaves, McKee knew he could not make a mistake on any restart, especially with how equally fast Brown was.

McKee’s efficiency on restarts now has him practically dead even with Reaves ahead of their final East Series bout. The season-ending venue of Bristol Motor Speedway is much different compared to Iowa, but McKee plans to be perfect on restarts there as he looks to join Brenden Queen as an ARCA Menards Series platform driver’s champion for PRG.

“It’s all restarts,” McKee said. “It’s all getting the launches, getting done with the first few laps and getting clean air. When I lost the lead to [Brown], my car was driving pretty good, but I was stuck back there. It was important to have clean air and to have good restarts.”

Jake Bollman, the points leader in the national ARCA Menards Series, bolstered his advantage with a third-place run in the JR&CO 150. Reaves followed Bollman home in fourth, all while Isaac Kitzmiller kept his slim East Series title hopes alive with a top five.

The rest of the top-10 finishers consisted of Gavan Boschele, Thomas Annunziata, Andy Jankowiak, Ryan Vargas and Jade Avedisian.

ARCA Menards Series East competitors get a month to regroup before tackling their season finale at Bristol on Sept. 17. The national ARCA Menards Series will be back in action Aug. 23 for the first of two dirt tracks on the 2026 schedule in the Illinois State Fairgrounds, which will broadcast at 1 p.m. CT/2 p.m. ET on FS1.