MOORESVILLE, N.C. — Spire Motorsports has signed pavement late-model standout Tristan McKee to a driver development agreement prior to this weekend’s Protect Your Melon Buckle Up Speedfest at Cordele (Ga.) Motor Speedway.
The 14-year-old will test his mettle against some of the country’s most skilled racers at the three-eighths mile south-central Georgia oval in the JEGS/CRA All-Star Pro Late Model tour season opener.
McKee began turning heads two seasons ago when, at just 12-years-old, he won a 100-lap CARS Pro Late Model feature race at Dillon (S.C.) Motor Speedway to become the youngest winner in CARS Tour history.
Since then, the Williamsburg, Va., native has gone on to collect CARS Tours wins at North Wilkesboro (N.C.) Speedway and Caraway (N.C.) Speedway. McKee has also been identified as a rising star by Chevrolet and is mentored by Josh Wise through his driver development program ‘Wise Optimization’.
“We are really excited to have Tristan on board with us at Spire,” said Spire Motorsports co-owner Jeff Dickerson. “We’ve taken a lot of pride through the years in identifying young talent and bringing them to NASCAR, however this wasn’t one of those cases. Josh Wise and Lorin Ranier from General Motors called and, based on my long history with both, it was one of those ‘if it’s good enough for them, it’s good enough for me’ kind of things. Frankly, everyone around Tristan has nothing but good things to say about his speed, work ethic and versatility. He obviously comes from a great family so we can’t take too much credit. Tristan will be making noise in this sport in the short and long term, so we’re excited to be on this journey with him.”
“I think it’s pretty cool, so I’m really grateful for the opportunity that Jeff Dickerson and everyone at Spire Motorsports has given me,” said McKee. “I think 2025 is going to be a really good year. We’re going to have plenty of races on the schedule, so I’m just looking forward to the opportunity and I can’t thank the people from Spire enough.”
McKee will compete across multiple different series and disciplines in 45-plus events in 2025, including the zMAX CARS Late Model Stock Car and Pro Late Model tours, ARCA Menards Series and the Trans-Am CUBE3 Architecture TA2 Series where he is expected to race for the series title. The upstart teenager will also see action at select NASCAR Weekly Racing Series events and holds high hopes for the coming season.
“I’m definitely looking forward to running the whole Trans-Am schedule,” said McKee. “I’ve never really raced road courses like that before, so I’m going to be learning every time I’m on the track. I’m working as hard as I can for all those races, you know, that’s a big deal. I’m really excited about a few of the CARS Tour races, especially (North) Wilkesboro. All those big late model stock races at the end of the year are important. They are pretty long races and you have to be really good at the end, so we’re going to focus our attention on those, as well. Martinsville at the end of the year is a big one.”
