HICKORY, N.C. — Tristan McKee has not been on the ARCA Menards Series platform for long, but he’s already made a strong impression.
After taking home the checkered flag in his national series debut at Watkins Glen International last August, McKee found his way to victory lane on Saturday in his second ARCA Menards Series East appearance.
Late contact between Max Reaves and Landon S. Huffman enabled McKee to prevail in the inaugural East Series race at Hickory Motor Speedway.
Winning the Cook Out 200 did not come easy for McKee, who trailed Reaves for most of the evening while battling an ill-handling No. 77 Tibbetts Lumber Company Chevrolet. Once he found his cadence, all McKee needed was the right opportunity to find his way around Reaves and add another accomplishment to his growing resume.
“After the past day and a half here, we were struggling with the car quite a bit,” McKee said. “All the guys made a really good adjustment at the halfway break. The car came alive after that stop and I passed up to second. [Reaves and Huffman] got into it there and I knew it was my shot. I ran my best four laps at the end there and came away with the win.”
McKee’s victory continued an impressive streak to start his time in the ARCA Menards Series. Through seven combined starts he has made on the platform, McKee’s only finish outside the top five came at Madison International Speedway, where he finished 11th.
The Watkins Glen triumph last year was a chance for McKee to show off his road course expertise. Plenty of starts in the Trans Am Championship’s TA2 class gave McKee the familiarity he needed to seamlessly transition into ARCA Menards Series competition at Watkins Glen, which saw McKee take the win after Brent Crews suffered a late mechanical failure.
Hickory’s abrasive surface proved to be a challenging test for McKee in his first time around the track in an ARCA Menards Series car. Just like at Watkins Glen, the No. 18 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota was standing in the way of a victory, this time piloted by Reaves.
Seeking to upstage Reaves at Hickory, McKee had to bide his time while Reaves enjoyed a relatively quiet evening pacing the field. Several late cautions slowed the pace, allowing drivers like McKee and Huffman a shot at usurping Reaves for the lead.
On a restart with 15 laps remaining, a bump from Huffman moved Reaves out of the groove and into McKee. The three drivers exchanged blows with one another throughout the next two laps, but McKee gained the upper hand while Reaves settled into second and Huffman was knocked to the rear of the lead lap following a spin.
Reaves could not mount another charge on McKee and watched his perfect record in the East Series come to an end at three victories.
Defending East Series champion Isaac Kitzmiller kickstarted his title defense with a solid third-place showing at Hickory. He was followed by Derek Kneeland and Nick Tucker to round out the top five.
The finish:
Tristan McKee, Max Reaves, Isaac Kitzmiller, Derek Kneeland, Nick Tucker, Landon S. Huffman, Dystany Spurlock, Jackson McLerrain, Craig Pellegrini Jr., Austin Vaughn, Esteban Rodriguez, Hunter Deshautelle, George Siciliano, Nate Moeller, Connor Hall, Quinn Davis, Michael Maples, Brian Barbarow, Toby Blanton, Brian Weber, Matt Kemp, Dustin Hillenburg, Tim Monroe.
