BRISTOL, Tenn. – As Tristan McKee strapped into his No. 77 Freeway Chevrolet at Bristol Motor Speedway on Thursday, he was locked in on one key objective.
Stay ahead of Max Reaves, no matter what.
A single point was the cushion McKee held over Reaves following a competitive ARCA Menards Series East season that saw the two prospects win six of the seven events prior to Bristol. One mistake, or simply failing to keep pace with Reaves, was all it would take for McKee to see his championship hopes to evaporate.
Faced with high pressure, McKee kept the quiet composure that has become a part of his identity. McKee finished second in the Bush’s Best 200 while Reaves finished fourth, more than enough for McKee to earn his first East Series title at 16 years old.
“It feels good to close it out there,” McKee said. “It was a tight battle with [Reaves] there. We struggled throughout the beginning part of the race [and in] practice. The balance was off a little bit, and we struggled for a while. Toward the end on that last restart, I was able to capitalize on the outside and get to second.
“It was definitely a good year.”
Winning championships is not a new concept to McKee. Last year, McKee became the youngest driver to win a title on the Trans Am Series platform by claiming the TA2 Series championship.
The composure McKee displayed against many of the best road-course drivers in the United States was on full display when he made his ARCA Menards Series debut at Watkins Glen International last season. After Brent Crews suffered a late mechanical failure, McKee led the final three laps to bring home a checkered flag.
Among those impressed by McKee’s accomplishment was Pinnacle Racing Group general manager Shane Huffman, who helped field the No. 77 in collaboration with Spire Motorsports. If McKee could conquer a track as prestigious and challenging as Watkins Glen, Huffman knew the young prospect would excel on short tracks.
With McKee set to contest the entire East Series schedule with PRG for 2026, Huffman was eager to build upon the sturdy foundation.
“[Tristan] had great race craft coming in,” Huffman said. “[We needed] to clean some things up a little bit here and there, but he’s pretty on top of everything. We’ve have super good drivers come through our program, and we’ve been super fortunate on that side. It’s kind of spoiled us a little bit.”
In joining PRG, McKee followed in the footsteps of several other successful alums that built the team into a top-tier organization. That list includes Connor Zilisch, Carson Kvapil, Luke Fenhaus and Brenden Queen, the latest of whom delivered PRG the team’s first ARCA Menards Series championship in 2025.
After witnessing what Queen accomplished with PRG, McKee understood the expectations being placed upon him: Win races. With veteran crew chief Kevin Reed Jr. atop his pit box for 2026, McKee had every reason to believe he could be a frontrunner in every race he entered with PRG across the ARCA Menards Series platform.
Even if a championship did not happen, McKee wanted to make sure his time with PRG was crucial toward setting PRG up for future success.
“It’s been a good year with [PRG],” McKee said. “We’ve been getting better each and every week on the short tracks. [We’re] just trying to raise the program up and get better and better for the new and upcoming drivers.”
McKee more than met the moment with PRG. He won three of the first four East Series events, leading a combined 332 laps in the process. Everything appeared to be lining up perfectly for McKee to win the championship comfortably over Reaves.
Then Lucas Oil Indianapolis Raceway Park happened.
Early in the late July race, McKee attempted to split Reaves and the lapped car of Ivis Earley on the frontstretch. McKee ran out of room and collided with both, causing significant damage to his car that ultimately ended his day prematurely.
Reaves rebounded to finish ninth while McKee was relegated to 32nd. The comfortable advantage McKee and PRG worked tirelessly to build over Reaves was gone.
Having been in plenty of precarious championship situations as both a driver and crew chief, Huffman knew the setback at IRP was one they could overcome. Huffman needed McKee to stick with the strategy that had worked during the first half of 2026: Stay composed and win races.
“That was probably a full-circle moment for everybody,” Huffman said. “We had a pretty dominant lead up to that point, and we really just needed to ride the rest of the races out at that time. We had to buckle down and get serious. Luckily everybody did, Tristan included. The team did a good job rallying around him, keeping him pumped up.
“He’s young and resilient, so he didn’t stay down long, anyway.”
By the time Bristol came around, McKee had made up most of the ground lost from IRP by finishing second at Flat Rock Speedway and winning at Iowa Speedway. Although McKee had re-taken control of the standings, the one-point margin meant he would have to be perfect at Bristol to fend off McKee.
Huffman had plenty of confidence in McKee’s ability to get the job done; he had finished second in his first Bristol start of any kind the year before. Yet amidst the optimism Huffman possessed was a disconcerting thought. How was the championship going to unravel this year?
The outcome to the 2024 East Series championship remained fresh in Huffman’s mind. PRG entered the finale at Bristol carrying a sizable point advantage with Zilisch; all they needed was to avoid trouble to earn their first championship as a program.
Trouble ended up finding PRG that day. Zilisch was unable to dodge the wrecked car of Logan Misuraca and destroyed the right side of his car, handing the East Series driver’s title to William Sawalich and Joe Gibbs Racing.
Fittingly, PRG’s next shot at an East Series driver’s title again involved a season-long battle with a JGR car, this time piloted by Reaves. Both Huffman and McKee knew the odds were not exactly in their favor, as the No. 18 Toyota had won the last five ARCA Menards Series events at Bristol.
On three of those occasions, JGR wrapped up the East Series driver’s title, as well.
With Carson Brown in a second PRG car effectively locking down the lead all evening, McKee could focus on his championship battle with Reaves. McKee maintained a slight advantage over Reaves through the opening 150 laps, but the onslaught of lapped traffic made it difficult for either driver to build momentum and gain track position.
The final restart of the evening with 53 laps remaining saw McKee lined up directly behind his teammate Brown on the outside of the third row with Reaves in fifth. A bad jump by Issac Kitzmiller on the inside of the front row enabled McKee to clear Kitzmiller for second, all while Reaves got bogged down in traffic.
“I knew neither one of us had bonus points,” McKee said. “I wasn’t really too worried about it. I had the top lane, which was an advantage as well for me throughout the race. I had to keep doing my deal and see how it played out.”
McKee did not exactly breathe easy with Kaden Honeycutt chasing him down for second, but he was no longer stressing about the big picture. With no cautions in the final laps, reality began to set in. The East Series championship was his.
Huffman took plenty of pride in seeing one of his drivers defeat a JGR Toyota for the East Series driver’s championship at Bristol. No matter where they race, Huffman always expects JGR to be the gold standard with the number of resources and experience at their disposal, which makes nights like Thursday even more special.
PRG has only existed since 2023, so to even be on the same caliber as a program like JGR is something Huffman believes stems from the commitment shared by owners Mark and Jerri Webb, along with the whole team. A key cornerstone of that success stems from the Webbs’ emphasizing the importance of hiring the right people.
The last two years have convinced Huffman that PRG is functioning the way it’s supposed to from its crew to the drivers in the cars.
Huffman would love to have McKee in a PRG car for a while longer, but he needs to iron out some details with Spire Motorsports before progressing further. Regardless if McKee returns or not, Huffman will always be thankful for the hard work he put in to deliver PRG another title on the ARCA Menards Series platform.
“It’s been rewarding for everybody involved,” Huffman said. “We did the job Spire [Motorsports] wanted done with [McKee]. We helped him and helped us. That’s what it’s all about.”
If McKee felt any trepidation throughout the East Series finale at Bristol, it was not apparent through his demeanor.
The methodical, quiet approach that defines McKee has been prevalent since the day he started competing in Bandoleros during the late 2010s. While he is not afraid to be aggressive on track, McKee never gives away too much with his emotions, choosing instead to focus on what is essential for him to win.
Nothing about McKee’s 2026 was easy, especially during the second half of the East Series season. Yet his determination yielded him another significant career milestone, one he intends to cherish and reflect on as he gets older.
“This is pretty high up,” McKee said. “I won the Trans Am championship last year and now the ARCA championship, [which is] at the beginning levels of NASCAR. It’s definitely cool to keep moving up and up and try to win championships in the next series I’m moving up to.”
The 2026 East Series title is an opening chapter to what is expected to be a long career for McKee in NASCAR. There will be plenty of scenarios in which McKee will be asked to face a similar amount of or even more pressure than a one-point lead in an ARCA title fight.
If the first few years of McKee’s career are any indication, he will continue to rise to the occasion.
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