Consistency Puts Tristan McKee Atop Trans Am TA2 Standings After First Five Races

 14-Year-Old Rookie TeamSLR Driver Shows Work Ethic, Discipline That Belies His Youth

That’s not just the rookie standings, not just the Young Guns standings for drivers under 25, but the overall national series 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.

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 14^th birthday last August, and eight months before his official TA2 Series debut in October at Virginia International Raceway (VIR) 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 .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 37^th to finish 15^th 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 at each of the first five events. He opened with a seventh-place finish at Sebring (Fla.) International Raceway, fifth place at Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta, second at Sonoma (Calif.) Raceway, third at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca near Monterey, California, and third at Lime Rock Park in Lakeville, Connecticut.

“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’s 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. Seven races remain in this year’s Cube 3 Architecture TA2 Series schedule, beginning June 22 at the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course in Lexington. The season concludes Nov. 2 at COTA.

-TeamSLR-