Consistency Puts Tristan McKee Atop Trans Am’s CUBE 3 Architecture TA2 Standings with Four Races Remaining
August 21, 2025
Recently Turned 15-Year-Old Rookie TeamSLR Driver Shows Work Ethic, Discipline That Belies His Youth
At 15 years of age, Tristan McKee is the youngest driver in the Trans Am Series presented by Pirelli’s CUBE 3 Architecture TA2 Series. But with just four races remaining in his official rookie season competing in “America’s Road Racing Series,” and with just 10 points-paying TA2 events in all on his resume dating back to last fall, the driver of the No. 28 Spire/Gainbridge/SLR-M1 Racecars Chevrolet Camaro for TeamSLR heads to round nine of 2025 at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park with an 82-point lead atop the championship standings.
That’s not just the Rookie of the Year standings, not just the Young Guns standings for drivers under 25, but the overall National Championship points race, which includes a handful of other teen prodigies, past series champions, and seasoned veterans still competing all the way up into their 50s, 60s and beyond.
He arrives in Canada having won two of the last three events – June 22 at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course in Lexington, and July 12 at Watkins Glen (N.Y.) International. The victories sandwich a runner-up finish June 29 at Road America in Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin, that was part of a 1-2-3 finish by TeamSLR M1 Racecars drivers, led by veteran Mike Skeen’s victory and teammate Corey Day’s third-place finish. McKee is riding a six-race podium streak after finishes of seventh and fifth, respectively, in the season’s opening two events at Sebring (Fla.) International Raceway and Road Atlanta.
Most recently, just five days after his 15th birthday Aug. 3, McKee returned to Watkins Glen to make his ARCA Menards Series debut and passed his first test in NASCAR’s steppingstone series by emerging with the victory.
The father-son TeamSLR ownership duo of Scott Lagasse Sr., and Scott Lagasse Jr., are not the least bit surprised at the performance and consistency McKee has shown in the relatively short time since he was the latest young talent sent their way by Chevrolet Motorsports driver development mentors Josh Wise, Scott Speed and Lorin Ranier to learn the finer points of road racing. Six months before McKee’s 14th birthday in August 2024, and eight months before his official TA2 Series debut in October at VIRginia International Raceway in Alton, the Lagasses began a rigorous testing schedule with McKee at the iconic road courses that make up the series schedule.
“What we noticed about Tristan was he really listens well – he’s like a sponge,” said the elder Lagasse, who with his son and their M1 Racecars stable of equipment has helped a growing number of young drivers springboard into the NASCAR ranks, including current Xfinity Series regulars Sam Mayer, Carson Kvapil, William Sawalich and Sammy Smith, and Truck Series regulars Connor Mosack and Jack Wood. “Tristan doesn’t talk a lot, but he executes extremely well and he shows up ready. He does the work on the simulator, and he studies the video and the data when he’s out of the car. He’s as good or better at analyzing data and video than I am, and I’ve been doing it way longer (laughs).”
“He’s one of those generational talents,” adds Lagasse Jr. “You’ll never forget about Jeff Gordon, Jimmie Johnson, those drivers who really changed the game, right? So, when it comes to Tristan, I feel like, why not be that guy?”
Even before he began working with TeamSLR early last year, McKee’s talent, discipline and tremendous work ethic were apparent in his rise through primarily oval-track racing in go-karts, Bandoleros, Legend cars and Late Models. He became the CARS Tour’s youngest winner in the Pro Late Model division as a 12-year-old in 2023. His TA2 debut at VIR last fall was a head-turner as he qualified sixth and held position among the leaders en route to a fourth-place finish, just 0.7 of a second behind the final spot on the podium. Then, at the season-ending race at Circuit of the Americas (COTA) in Austin, Texas, McKee was racing for another top-five finish when a cut tire dropped him to the back of the field. He rallied from 37th to finish 15th over the closing laps.
Committed to run for this year’s TA2 championship, the Kannapolis, North Carolina, driver, who in January signed a multi-year development agreement with Spire Motorsports, has shown consistency at the front of the field through this season’s first eight events. His finishes at Sebring and Road Atlanta were followed by breakthrough runs of second at Sonoma (Calif.) Raceway, third at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca near Monterey, California, and third at Lime Rock Park in Lakeville, Connecticut, in leadup to his maiden victory at Mid-Ohio.
“Everything I’m doing right now is part of the learning experience – this was a totally different discipline for me,” McKee said. “I’m used to oval racing on dirt and on the asphalt. I’d never really done the road-course stuff, but I feel like it’s going to prepare me for anything I’m going to do in the future. I’ve learned a ton and a lot of that has translated to the oval stuff and making me better in that, as well. The Lagasses have done an amazing job helping me learn and teaching me things that are really useful here and in other places, as well.”
Chevrolet’s Ranier, who has built a legacy of discovering names like Jimmie Johnson, Matt Kenseth, Tony Stewart and Kyle Larson, began taking notice of McKee’s ability almost five years ago. He acknowledged being among those to deem the young driver a generational talent, a feeling spurred not only by witnessing McKee’s moments of brilliance on the racetrack, but about his consistency, communication, and ability to handle adversity.
“We signed him when he was 12 or 13,” Ranier said. “What magnified it was just the fact that he could handle a full-size racecar at 10 or 11 years old. We saw his initial speed, he has that. His ability to communicate with his team has gone really well. It’s about putting the whole race together and coming home with a solid finish. That’s a successful day. Trans Am has a great formula. The shifting and the braking are things you learn there that will carry you all the way up through NASCAR. So, what drivers like Tristan learn is not just to become a better road racer, they become a better racecar driver, and that's why we like Trans Am so much.”
TeamSLR has worked in close partnership with Chevrolet and its driver development program under Wise Optimization in particular over the years, and the multiple entities have developed a solid chemistry that continues to generate positive results, as evidenced by the performance of McKee and other young drivers.
“It’s an honor to be able to work with this caliber of individuals, and more importantly, that they trust us with their up-and-coming drivers,” said Lagasse Jr. “It’s nice to have Josh Wise and Scott Speed and Lorin Ranier to lean on. Not only do they find the best talent, but they provide the best resources to help continue to move the needle in the right direction.”
In addition to McKee’s full-season effort, another pair of promising young driver talents are running a part-time schedule with TeamSLR this season – 19-year-old Hendrick Motorsports driver Corey Day, and 16-year-old short-track specialist Carson Brown. The season concludes Nov. 2 at COTA.
