For two-thirds of the Capital 200 on Tuesday night, Tristan McKee had his way with the ASA STARS National Tour field at Madison International Speedway.
But as strong as he and Richie Wauters’ car were to that point, Kyle Steckly and Donnie Wilson’s No. 22 were all that and more when it mattered most. As McKee’s car sputtered and faded, Steckly passed Ty Majeski for the lead with 62 laps to go and pulled away for a victory of seven seconds over Carson Brown.
“All thanks to my Wilson Motorsports guys. They got me all tuned up,” said Steckly, who struggled in practice and qualifying. “The first stage we were too loose and they tightened me up there and it came on strong. That was so much fun passing those cars in the second stage there and getting to the front.”
After starting 13th, the 21-year-old Canadian sat fourth when the green flag flew for the final 64-lap run on the rough, high-banked half-mile. Ahead of him were the rookie McKee, Majeski, who won the inaugural STARS championship in 2024, and Brown, the points leader through five races.
When McKee’s car stumbled, Majeski moved into the lead but quickly had a mirror full of Steckly.
“I knew it was going to be tough, and we were able to work by them one at a time and get by the 91 (Majeski) there and take the lead and then I could just set the pace.”
Steckly’s only fear was a late caution, but the yellow didn’t fly all night for any reason but the two stage breaks that allowed controlled pit stops.
“The 22 just gained a stupid amount of grip and just took off,”said Brown, who scored his first ASA victory a year ago at Madison.
“Me and Ty were kind of stuck, petered out, racing each other really, really hard and we were moving around, top, bottom, everywhere we could, and we just couldn’t make up any ground on the 22.”
Brown needed a handful of laps to wrestle second from Majeski and was able to leave the two-race Wisconsin swing with a win at Slinger Speedway two nights earlier and a runner-up at Madison.
Majeski, a home-state favorite at two tracks where he has won routinely, settled for a third after falling short against Brown at Slinger.
“If my brakes would have held on, I probably could have held off the 81,” Majeski said. “We just tried to maintain there.
“We were just off all day, honestly. We weren’t good in practice. My experience kind of got me a decent qualifying run (third), just knowing how to go around here and adapt throughout a qualifying run, and some track position. That ended up being really important tonight.”
McKee, who had taken the lead from pole-sitter Luke Fenhaus on the start, finished sixth. The team hadn’t diagnosed the problem immediately after the race, but it seemed to be electrical.
“As soon as we went green there for the last stage it as just cutting off and putting and just couldn’t do anything,” McKee said.
“It was jumbling almost, trying to get to the gas. So it was super tough to navigate that, and unfortunately I think that’s what lost us the race.”
He could take some satisfaction, though, that he was in position to win for the first time in the series.
“We get some confidence going to the next race,” McKee said. “The car was so good. It was just really fast…. I’ll keep learning.”
Steckly has plenty of confidence too after the second-biggest victory of his career after the 2024 Redbud 400.
“Today was a grind,” he said. “We just kept on working and kept on working and got it good.
“I think this is going to lead into a lot more good runs and hopefully a lot more victories with the Wilson group.”
ASA Capital 200
Madison International Speedway
June 23 2026
- Kyle Steckly
- Carson Brown
- Ty Majeski
- Ty Fredrickson
- Derek Thorn
- Tristan McKee
- Penn Sauter
- Levon Van Der Geest
- Isaac Kitzmiller
- Austin Nason
- Casey Roderick
- Gabe Sommers
- Derek Kraus
- Max Reaves
- Luke Fenhaus
- Jade Avedisian
- Chase Pinsonneault
- Stephen Nasse
- Justin Mondeik
- Paul Shafer
- Kasey Kleyn
Time of Race: 01:15:35; Lead Changes: 3; Lap Leaders: 1-22 T. McKee, 123-127 J. Majeski, 139-200 T. Majeski, 139-200 K. Steckly; Margin of Victory: 15.536; Cautions: 2; Reds: 0; Entries: 21
