- Spire Motorsports will field an ARCA Menards Series entry at Watkins Glen (N.Y.) International for Tristan McKee, who will make his series debut in the No. 77 Gainbridge Chevrolet SS. The race will mark the team’s fourth start in an Automobile Racing Club of America sanctioned event.
- The General Tire 100 at The Glen will be televised live on FS2 Friday, Aug. 8 beginning at 2 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time (EDT). The 13th of 20 events on the 2025 ARCA Menards Series calendar will broadcast live on the Motor Racing Network and ARCARacing.com.
Tristan McKee – Driver, No. 7 Spire Motorsports Chevrolet SS
- Tristan McKee will make his ARCA Menards Series debut at the controls of Spire Motorsports’ No. 77 Gainbridge Chevrolet SS in Friday’s General Tire 100 at The Glen.
- McKee makes his series debut just five days after his 15th birthday, fulfilling ARCA’s minimum age requirement to compete. While Cup Series driver Todd Gilliland owns the record for the youngest ARCA winner at 15-years and two-days-old, McKee can become the youngest pole winner in series history, an honor held by Kelvin Benjamin at 15-years, nine-months and 22-days-old.
- The Kannapolis, N.C., resident looks to become the 38th driver to win their ARCA Menards Series national tour debut, and first since Luke Fenhaus at Iowa Speedway in July 2023. A trip to Victory Lane would also make him the 367th unique winner in the 73-year history of the Automobile Racing Club of America and seventh first-time winner in 2025.
- The talented teenager has refined his road-course racing skills as a full-time competitor in the Trans Am Series presented by Pirelli CUBE 3 Architecture TA2 Series. Through eight-of-12 events, McKee leads the series’ championship point standings by a handsome 82 markers on the strength of one pole position, two wins and six-consecutive podium finishes. He earned his first TA2 Series victory in June at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course.
- McKee made his first and only start at Watkins Glen in the CUBE 3 Architecture TA2 Series’ June stop at “The Glen.” He tallied a perfect weekend, clocking the fastest lap in practice, setting a track record en route to his first-career pole position and leading the field from flag to flag to secure his second-career win.
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- Last month, the versatile, young talent raced a pavement Super Late Model for the first time during the Summer Showdown 200 at Evergreen Speedway in Monroe, Wash. He battled the best of the Northwest Super Late Model Series to earn a runner-up finish at “The Superspeedway of the West.”
- McKee began turning heads in 2023 when at just 12-years-old, he won a 100-lap CARS Pro Late Model Tour feature event at Dillon (S.C.) Motor Speedway to become the youngest winner in CARS Tour history. The upstart teenager has gone on to collect series wins at North Wilkesboro (N.C.) Speedway and Caraway (N.C.) Speedway. Most recently, McKee was the victor of the tour’s inaugural appearance at Cordele (Ga.) Motor Speedway in April.
- In 2022, McKee claimed Orange County (N.C.) Speedway Limited Late Model Rookie of the Year and track championship honors at 11-years-old. Later that season, he captured the checkered flag during November’s Fall Brawl weekend at Hickory (N.C.) Motor Speedway.
- The inaugural signee to Spire Motorsports’ driver development program will return to the No. 77 Chevrolet in November for the ARCA Menards Series West season finale during NASCAR Championship Weekend at Phoenix Raceway.
Tristan McKee Quotes
Talk about making your debut and what it means to get the opportunity.
“I’m super excited for my debut to be on a road course. I’ve been doing a lot of road course stuff through the Trans Am Series. We were just at Watkins Glen a couple weeks ago with the series and got the win, so I feel comfortable with the track. I had the opportunity to do some testing in the ARCA car, so it helped get me up to speed with the car, but I still have a lot of preparation to do in the next week or two in the simulator and my pre-race routine. I’m super thankful to Spire Motorsports and Gainbridge for making this happen, and I’m really excited to get on track.”
Last time you were at Watkins Glen in the Trans Am car, you quite literally recorded a perfect weekend. How will that experience help you ease into your ARCA debut, given the differences between the two types of cars?
“It has definitely helped a lot. Every road course you spend a session or two learning your visuals, finding your shift and braking points, and seeing where you’re at. When we get there, I will be ready to rip as soon as we unload. In the higher ranks, you don’t have a lot of practice, whereas in Trans Am we have three to four testing and practice sessions across two days. While we aren’t running the configuration that utilizes ‘The Boot’ like in Trans Am, a majority of the course is the same. I’ll be able to use some different tricks I learned in the Trans Am car and apply it to the ARCA car.”
About Spire Motorsports …
Spire Motorsports earned its inaugural NASCAR Cup Series victory in its first full season of competition when Justin Haley took the checkered flag in the Coke Zero Sugar 400 at Daytona (Fla.) International Speedway on July 7, 2019. Less than three years later, William Byron drove Spire Motorsports’ No. 7 Chevrolet Silverado to its inaugural NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series win on April 7, 2022, at Martinsville (Va.) Speedway. The team’s most recent win came on May 30, 2025, when Rajah Caruth took the checkered flag in the Rackley Roofing 200 at Nashville (Tenn.) Superspeedway.
In 2025, Spire Motorsports campaigns the Nos. 7, 71 and 77 Chevrolets in the NASCAR Cup Series. The team also fields the Nos. 07, 7, 71 and 77 Chevrolet Silverados in the NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series and an ARCA Menards Series Chevrolet in select events.
