Only a handful of birthday presents compared to riding the elevator up to North Wilkesboro Speedway’s victory lane.
Tristan McKee, who recently turned 14 years old, obtained that unique opportunity by opening the night with a CARS PLM Tour victory in The Reverend 100. He accomplished this by withstanding separate charges from PLM Tour points leader Spencer Davis and NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series competitor Corey Heim.
“I was super scared,” McKee said. “My car was getting pretty tight and I was struggling a little bit. I knew [Heim and Davis] were pretty good, but I wanted them to keep battling and battling and give me some space. They got close, but it was a good race overall.”
It took several laps for Heim to pick off Davis in the final laps and he had just one corner to make a move on McKee and couldn’t close out.
“I think we would have had a shot at it,” said Heim. “As the race went on, we were able to move the grooves around a bit. I was able to find a lot of speed out of two just by being high. It was really tough to pass.
“I can’t say enough about Wilson Motorsports. These guys thrashed on this thing all day. I feel like we were a 15th-place car all day and then all of a sudden, we made some changes and we were maybe the best car. The 6 was really good, but we had a shot at it, and that’s all I can ask for at the end of the day.”
Despite his young age, McKee has already made an indelible mark in the CARS Tour record books. He became the youngest winner in the history of the series during the 2023 season at Dillon Motor Speedway after passing Ashton Higgins with 17 laps remaining.
The 2024 season has seen McKee partner with Setzer Racing Development, which guided William Sawalich to six victories in nine PLM Tour starts during the 2022 season. McKee has begun to capture some of that magic in recent weeks, as he earned his first win with the team at Caraway Speedway in July, in which he led all but one lap.
McKee’s recent success has given him more confidence behind the wheel, which was imperative ahead of his CARS LMSC Tour debut the same night at North Wilkesboro. He qualified tenth and maintained solid track position for most of the evening before a mechanical failure ended McKee’s race 27 laps before the finish.
While the LMSC Tour feature did not go as planned, McKee still had plenty to cherish after joining an elite list of North Wilkesboro winners at just the age of 14. With only five PLM Tour events remaining, McKee hopes to finish out the year strong while gaining more on-track experience.
CARS Pro Late Model Reverend 100
North Wilkesboro Speedway
August 3 2024
- Tristan McKee
- Corey Heim
- Spencer Davis
- Dylan Fetcho
- Matt Craig
- Conner Jones
- Caden Kvapil
- Kaden Honeycutt
- Jake Bollman
- Jimmy Renfrew, Jr.
- George Phillips
- Hudson Bulger
- Seth Christensen
- Tyler Church
- Logan Jones
- Jonathan Shafer
- T.J. DeCaire
- Casey Roderick
- Brandon Lopez
- Justin Crider
- Dylan Garner
- Joshua Horniman
- Austin Jones
- Blaise Rutherford
- Nick Loden
- Luke Baldwin
- Ashton Higgins
