The 13th race of the 2026 ARCA Menards Series season took place Friday night at Iowa Speedway. It was also another combination race for the ARCA East Series as well. In doing so, the race paid points to both series. Last time out two weeks ago, when the series visited Indianapolis Raceway Park, NASCAR Truck Series regular Kaden Honeycutt took home the victory.
Honeycutt did not partake in this event last year; neither did the 2025 winner, and another Truck Series regular, Brenden Queen, did not participate either, which left the door open for a new winner.
Indeed there was a new, but this time, it was Tristan McKee taking home the checkered flag this time around by leading a dominant 125 laps after starting on the pole position. It was a sweet victory for McKee, as he had turned 16-years-old this past Monday. The young rookie had to deal with multiple cautions and fend off Carson Brown late in the going to secure the win.
“I’m a little out of breath out here, it’s hot out here too,” McKee said to Fox Sports 1 in his victory lane interview. “That was a fun race. All the lap cars was really tough getting around them and running the top, maneuvering all of that. I lost the lead earlier to the 28 (Carson Brown) because of that (lap cars). I had some good restarts, which helped me a lot. Thanks to all the PRG guys, everyone at Spire (Motorsports) for all they do. This car was a rocket, for sure.
“Almost fastest in practice, P1 in qualifying, led most of the race. Definitely a great day. Thanks to Chili’s for coming onboard, the car looks great.”
Practice and qualifying commenced earlier in the afternoon to set the field. RCR Racing developmental driver Brown was the quickest in the lone practice session with a time of 23.507 at 134.003 mph, but ultimately, it was Pinnacle Racing Group/Spire Motorsports driver McKee who had the fastest time once qualifying was concluded.
McKee paced the session in his Chili’s Chevrolet with a time of 23.383 seconds at 134.713 mph. It was his first career ARCA Menards National Series pole in just his 10th start and his second career ARCA East pole since Rockingham earlier this year.
Furthermore, current ARCA Menards East Series points leader Max Reaves qualified in the sixth position.
There were two stage breaks, which occurred at or around Lap 50 and Lap 100 in the 150-lap event.
McKee led the opening lap after Brown got wide into Turn 1 and fell to fourth. A caution came out at Lap 2 for the No. 7 of Kadence Davenport who was stopped on the bottom lane in Turns 1 and 2. Davenport spun on her own to bring out the first yellow. She had no damage to her machine.
After a few laps of cleanup, the race resumed on Lap 8 with McKee and Isaac Kitzmiller on the front row. Unfortunately, on Lap 11, Kitzmiller was penalized for a restart violation by beating McKee to the line. The second yellow flew at Lap 13 for the No. 06 of Ben Peterson. Like Davenport, Peterson was stopped on the bottom lane off Turn 4.
The race went back green at Lap 20 with McKee and Brown on the front row. 30 laps into the 150-lap race, McKee held a gap of 0.335 seconds over Brown. Brown eventually took the lead at Lap 32 at the start/finish line after McKee got slowed up in trying to pass lap traffic.
There would be no more yellows until the first race break at Lap 50. Brown would be the leader at the time of caution with McKee, Reaves, Andy Jankowiak, Thomas Annunziata, Jake Bollman, Jade Avedisian, Gavan Boschele, Jason Kitzmiller, and Isabella Robusto the Top 10.
Prior to the race going back green, Avedisian was penalized for being late to roll with the field and was sent to the back of the line. The race resumed at Lap 57 with Brown and McKee on the front row. However, it didn’t take long for a caution to fly once more at Lap 61 for the No. 48 of Brad Smith, who spun off Turn 2. Fortunately for Isaac Kitzmiller, he received the free pass to get back on the lead lap.
The next restart of the race came at Lap 67 with McKee as the leader over Brown. Another caution flew at Lap 71 for Smith, who got bobbled up off Turn 2 and took Robusto and Avedisian with him. Robusto tried to avoid Smith, but got hit from behind by Avedisian. During the caution period, Annunziata brought his car on pit road to fix the right-rear damage, as he also had a piece of contact from Smith.
The race went back to green-flag conditions at Lap 78 with McKee as the leader. There would be a 23-lap run to the final race break at Lap 101 (49 laps to go). The Top 10 was McKee, Brown, Reaves, Bollman, Isaac Kitzmiller, Jankowiak, Boschele, Annunziata, Jason Kitzmiller, and Ty Fredrickson.
As the final race break concluded, the race resumed with 44 laps to go, with McKee and Brown as the front row starters. With 25 laps to go, McKee had the lead advantage over Brown by 0.780 seconds. A caution was seen with 16 laps to go for Jason Kitzmiller. Jason had major rear-end damage to the No. 97 car as he spun off Turn 2.
The final restart of the race came with eight laps to go, with McKee, Brown, Bollman, Reaves, and Isaac Kitzmiller the top five. McKee was unchallenged with the lead for the remainder of the race and went on to take the checkered flag over Brown by 0.950 seconds.
“It’s all about the restarts and getting good launches, and getting down the first few laps and clean air,” McKee added. “When I lost the lead to the 28, my car was driving pretty good, but I was stuck back there. It’s really important to have clean air and good restarts because of that.”
There were two lead changes among two different leaders with McKee leading twice for 125 laps. There were seven cautions for 46 laps. This was McKee’s second career ARCA Menards Series National victory since Toledo and his fourth East Series win of the season since Toledo as well.
Bollman continues to lead the ARCA Menards Series National standings by seven points over Annunziata. Additionally, McKee takes over the East Series standings over Reaves by two points.
Official Race Results Following The JR & CO 150 at Iowa Speedway
- Tristan McKee, led 125 laps
- Carson Brown, led 25 laps
- Jake Bollman
- Max Reaves
- Isaac Kitzmiller
- Gavan Boschele
- Thomas Annunziata
- Andy Jankowiak
- Ryan Vargas
- Jade Avedisian, 2 laps down
- Isabella Robusto, 2 laps down
- Ty Fredrickson, 2 laps down
- Esteban Rodriguez, 3 laps down
- Craig Pellegrini Jr, 4 laps down
- Quinn Davis, 4 laps down
- Bobby Earnhardt, 5 laps down
- Brian Weber, 6 laps down
- Tony Musolino, 8 laps down
- Austin Vaughn, 9 laps down
- Michael Maples, 9 laps down
- Brian Barbarow, 10 laps down
- Alex Clubb, 11 laps down
- Chase Buscaglia, 12 laps down
- Jeff Maconi, 12 laps down
- Jason Kitzmiller, OUT, Accident
- Ben Peterson, 17 laps down
- Takuma Koga, 19 laps down
- Jackson McLerran, OUT, Mechanical
- Brad Moeller, OUT, Accident
- Nate Moeller, OUT, Mechanical
- Brayton Laster, OUT, Mechanical
- Kevin Campbell, OUT, Mechanical
- Kadence Davenport, OUT, Mechanical
Up Next – The next ARCA Menards Series National race is scheduled for Sunday, August 23 at the Illinois State Fairgrounds. The next ARCA Menards West Series race is set for Saturday night, August 8 at Portland International Raceway, live on Flo Racing. Finally, the next ARCA Menards East Series will be with the ARCA National Tour at Bristol Motor Speedway on Thursday night, September 17. That’ll be the final event for the East Series side of the 2026 season.
