ROCKINGHAM, N.C. — Tristan McKee is two-for-two In ARCA Menards Sequence East competitors this season.
McKee’s triumph Saturday at Rockingham Speedway was a lot completely different than his maiden East Sequence win final weekend at Hickory Motor Speedway. McKee led wire-to-wire from the pole all whereas protecting his Pinnacle Racing Group teammate Carson Brown behind him.
The one impediment McKee confronted all day got here all the way down to sustaining his lead whereas navigating via lapped site visitors. McKee credited the velocity of his No. 77 Campers Inn Chevrolet for protecting him out entrance it doesn’t matter what problem he confronted.
“The PRG guys gave me a very quick automobile,” McKee stated. “Lots of it was simply the clear air. [Brown] would get shut a few instances with the lapped automobiles. They have been everywhere. A few of them have been actually good, others have been laborious to move. He obtained shut a few instances, however he couldn’t get round me.”
Since coming into the ARCA Menards Sequence platform halfway via 2025, McKee has constantly based success.
McKee took house the checkered flag in his first nationwide ARCA Menards Sequence look at Watkins Glen Worldwide final August. Since then, McKee has amassed two extra victories and 5 prime fives throughout his following six begins. The one race McKee didn’t earn a prime 5 in got here at Madison Worldwide Speedway, the place brake points relegated him to eleventh.
Of all of the tracks McKee has visited in an ARCA Menards Sequence automobile, none have in comparison with Rockingham’s distinctive structure. As soon as he tackled Rockingham’s quick, steep corners for the primary time, McKee needed to modify his strategy to the 125-lap characteristic.
“I raced Bristol, so I used to be anticipating [Rockingham] to have some similarities [but] there actually wasn’t any,” McKee stated. “It was quite a bit completely different really. Nothing was the identical, it was a lot sooner. [The banking was steep] like at Bristol, nevertheless it was nothing just like the speeds like this.
“With a few of these [tracks], it takes me some time to get used to it, however ultimately, I get it in observe.”
Between the 5 occasions throughout the ARCA Menards Sequence platform in 2026, PRG has now gained three between McKee and Brown. When he joined PRG final yr, McKee understood the usual this system had established in a brief period of time and was decided to go away his personal mark.
An ideal outing at Rockingham on Saturday continued that stellar begin for McKee at PRG.
“Coming right into a crew like PRG, the automobiles are actually good,” McKee stated. “They’ve had a whole lot of good drivers up to now, in order that form of makes my job somewhat bit simpler. More often than not, I’m hopping into a very good automobile and I don’t have a lot to realize so far as observe goes. We’ve been tremendous constant, so all props to [PRG] for bringing actually good automobiles.”
Reigning East Sequence champion Isaac Kitzmiller continued a robust begin by ending in third.
Cleetus McFarland (Garrett Mitchell) earned a career-best fourth place exhibiting in entrance of an exuberant Rockingham crowd, with Wesley Slimp rounding out the highest 5.
The end:
Tristan McKee, Carson Brown, Isaac Kitzmiller, Garrett Mitchell, Wesley Slimp, Jackson McLerran, Cory Roper, Max Reaves, George Siciliano, Craig Pellegrini Jr., Brian Weber, Dystany Spurlock, T.J. Harris, Austin Vaugh, Dustin Hillenberg, Nate Moeller, Connor Corridor, Toby Blanton, Michael Maples, Gavan Boschele, Quinn Davis, Mike Basham.
