Teen Tristan McKee Looks To Add to Last Weekend’s First Career TA2 Win; HendrickCars.com’s Corey Day Riding Momentum After First TA2 Pole; Barry Boes, Jared Odrick in a Battle Atop Pro-Am Challenge Standings; Mike Skeen’s M1 Racecars Entry To Include Special ‘Visit Palatka’ Salute
ST. AUGUSTINE, Fla. (June 26, 2025) – Just a matter of days removed from his much anticipated first career Cube 3 Architecture TA2 Series win, 14-year-old Tristan McKee and his fellow TeamSLR (Scott Lagasse Racing) drivers Barry Boes and Corey Day turn their attention to the iconic Road America circuit in Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin for Sunday’s renewal of the annual Road America SpeedTour.
Last Sunday at the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course in Lexington, McKee, the Chevrolet Motorsports development driver from Kannapolis, North Carolina, started second and led all 42 race laps in his No. 28 Spire/Gainbridge/SLR-M1 Racecars Chevrolet Camaro, crossing the finish line 2.088 seconds ahead of three-time series champion Rafa Matos. In just his eighth career TA2 outing, McKee became the second-youngest driver to win a Trans Am race at 14 years, 10 months and 19 days. Only Brent Crews, who won the June 2022 race at Road America at the age of 14 years, three months and four days, was younger.
The second half of the 12-event TA2 Series campaign begins with Sunday’s 25-lap, 75-minute race around the 4.048-mile, 14-turn Road America layout, and the latest driver standings show McKee leading all competitors, 24 points ahead of second-place Thomas Annunziata, after scoring his fourth consecutive podium finish with his Mid-Ohio win. His first career TA2 podium came in his fifth career start April 26 at Sonoma (Calif.) Raceway, followed by back-to-back third-place finishes May 3 at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca near Monterey, California, and May 24 at Lime Rock Park in Lakeville, Connecticut. He opened the season with a seventh-place finish Feb. 22 at Sebring (Fla.) International Raceway, followed by a fifth-place result March 23 at Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta.
Day returns to the No. 17 HendrickCars.com/SLR-M1 Racecars Chevrolet Camaro that he qualified on the pole last weekend at Mid-Ohio in just his third career TA2 Series outing. Despite never having seen the track before Friday’s opening test session, the 19-year-old from Clovis, California, laid down the fastest lap of the 24 entries for the race followed by McKee and Boes in the second and third positions. The trio kept up that torrid pace through the remaining on-track sessions and, in Saturday qualifying, Day led a TeamSLR sweep of the top three spots on the grid. Sunday was not as kind to Day, however, as a brief off-course excursion on the opening lap dropped him to 15th, from where he battled back into the top-10 in relatively short order, but then saw his bid come to an end with a suspension issue. This weekend marks the Hendrick Motorsports driver’s final tune-up before making his ARCA Menards Series and NASCAR Xfinity Series road-course debut two weekends hence at Sonoma (Calif.) Raceway. Day posted a solid qualifying effort of fourth in the rain-marred April 26 TA2 Series race at Sonoma.
Meanwhile Boes, the 54-year-old defending TA2 Pro-Am Challenge-class champion from Ooltewah, Tennessee, and driver of the No. 27 Accio Data/SLR-M1 Racecars Chevrolet Camaro, is coming off what he called the best race weekend of his career. His third-place qualifying effort was his best in seven seasons on the TA2 Series tour, eclipsing his sixth-place effort on the same Mid-Ohio circuit in June 2024. Boes ran second behind McKee for the first third of Sunday’s race before being overtaken by Matos on a restart, but he held his position in the top-three before an electrical issue late in the race sent him to pit lane. He resumed a lap down and finished 15th overall, seventh among the Pro-Am competitors.
Sunday’s Pro-Am winner was M1 Racecars driver Jared Odrick, the 37-year-old from Lancaster, Pennsylvania, who played seven seasons with the NFL’s Miami Dolphins and Jacksonville Jaguars from 2010 through 2016. His second class win in three events behind the wheel of the No. 00 Black Underwear/M1 Racecars Chevrolet Camaro for Troy Benner Autosport springboarded him to one point behind leader Boes atop the Pro-Am standings. Odrick drove to his first Pro-Am victory at Road America a year ago this weekend.
Completing the M1 Racecars contingent is Mike Skeen, the 38-year-old from Durham, North Carolina, and driver of the No. 2 Franklin Road Apparel/Cube 3/Guthrie’s Garage/SLR-M1 Racecars entry that this weekend will pay a special tribute to the city of Palatka, Florida, which happens to be the hometown of TeamSLR co-owner Scott Lagasse Sr., situated some 30 miles south and west of the team’s headquarters in St. Augustine. “Visit Palatka” will appear on the rear quarter panels and rear end of Skeen’s car, celebrating the historic city, established in 1821, that is nicknamed the Gem of the St. Johns River and is known for its Old Florida charm and vast waterways.
“It’s certainly something special to see my hometown represented on the racetrack,” said Lagasse, who lives just across the St. Johns River from Palatka in Federal Point. “We just want to recognize all the family, friends and supporters who have helped shape my driving career and that of my son (Scott Lagasse Jr.), as well as our current efforts as a race team and chassis manufacturer. It would be incredible to see that car, with the “Visit Palatka” paint scheme, carry Mike Skeen to the top step of the podium on Sunday.”
Skeen qualified on the front row at his most recent outing Memorial Day weekend at Lime Rock. Best of his five outings this season was his first, when he qualified TeamSLR’s No. 48 Cube 3 Architecture/Guthrie’s Garage/Franklin Road Apparel/SLR-M1 Racecars Chevrolet Camaro on the pole in track-record time and drove it to a runner-up finish.
The TA2 Series portion of the weekend kicks off Friday with a pair of TA2 test sessions at 11:30 a.m. and 3:05 p.m. CDT. Official TA2 practice is set for 10:25 a.m. Saturday, followed by qualifying at 3:30 p.m. Sunday’s 25-lap, 75-minute race starts at 1:05 p.m. with live coverage provided by series broadcast partner Speed Sport 1, augmented by a live stream on the Trans Am channel on YouTube.
Riding along with TeamSLR drivers and their M1 Racecars once again this season is Nashville, Tennessee-based Franklin Road Apparel Company, which has been a longtime team supporter and serves as associate partner on all TeamSLR entries. Also continuing its support of the overall TeamSLR effort is Cube 3 Architecture, as well as Kallberg Racing, and Guthrie’s Garage.
You’ve had several days to digest the goings on at Mid-Ohio last weekend in getting your first TA2 win. What are your takeaways from all you and the team were able to accomplish there?
“I haven’t thought any differently about it than I would any other race weekend. It was obviously really cool and I’m glad to have finally been able to win after we’ve been running up front for most of the races, so it feels good to get that over with. Hopefully, we can go for more for the rest of the season. We just have to keep having consistent finishes like we’ve been doing and we’ll be fine when it comes down to the end of the year for the championship battle.”
What are the key ingredients that came together to enable you to get that win last weekend?
“Well, to begin with, Scott (Lagasse) and Scotty (Scott Lagasse Jr.) have figured something out about Mid-Ohio with these M1 Racecars, so we definitely were really good there. It’s definitely been our best track so far, maybe hard to beat that at another track. We obviously want to do that, but it’s going to be hard to do. All three of our cars were good there – Barry, Corey, and I, we were all really fast. It also comes back to Scott Speed and Josh Wise at the Chevy Tech Center with Corey and I, all the preparation we did with Scott in the office as far as pre-race stuff and working with the sims. That definitely helps a lot. We unloaded and we were really fast immediately. We were fastest from the first practice all through the weekend.”
Now you turn your attention to Road America, which is a drastically different track in a lot of ways than Mid-Ohio. What are your and the team’s expectations this weekend?
“We’ve done a lot of work in the sim and the things we did to get ready for Mid-Ohio, so we’re going to Road America with the same kind of plan. Hopefully, we can unload just as fast as we did at Mid-Ohio and be comfortable right away. It’s obviously a different track and a really long track, just everything about it is completely different, but I think we’ve prepared well. I think once we unload, we’ll be fine. We’ve just got to play it out and see how it goes when we get there. The key will be getting the most out of the car and keep an eye on the big picture. If we’re a third-place car, we’ve got to finish third and not fifth. We have to manage what we can do and run our own race, stay out of trouble and get all the points we can.”
You’re coming from a race weekend at Mid-Ohio that you called the best of your career to Road America, a completely different style of track. How are you approaching this weekend?
“You know, I’ve done well at Road America but I have not done fantastic at Road America. Where a track like Mid-Ohio caters to all of my strengths as a driver, Road America exposes my weaknesses. It requires a completely different driving style than Mid-Ohio does. It’s got some very high-speed corners that have always been a challenge for me, so when I look at a track that is really challenging for me, Road America is going to be at the top of the list for a tough track for me to get around fast. I’ve got to completely change how I drive and completely change what I ask out of the car. And I’ve got to do it in just a few days after being at the track that is perfectly suited to my driving style. So that’s what I’ve been working on this week – I’ve been getting on the simulator, and I’ve been rooting out all of the habits that work well at a track like Mid-Ohio and working on those habits that work well at a track like Road America.”
As you’ve continued to master that track over the years, do you find yourself wiping the slate clean and building the racecar driver you feel you have to be there from scratch?
“Yes. I’ve got to drive Road America differently from any other track that we drive. So I’ve got to reprogram myself, and that’s what I’ve been working on ever since I left Mid-Ohio – as I was flying back from Mid-Ohio, as I was driving back, I was mentally thinking about the new way that I need to drive for Road America. As soon as I got home, I got on the sim and I started working on driving the way that I need to drive for Road America.”
Do you study other drivers, especially in this case other drivers who tend to do well at Road America?
“Absolutely. It’s a really big, critical thing for me to do. I’ve had the good fortune to be coached by some good drivers and get to learn the different driving styles that are required at the different tracks, so I fall back on that learning. And any video that I can get my hands on of a fast driver, I’m going to be watching it and reviewing it and then trying to incorporate that into my practice.”
You’re back in the HendrickCars.com Camaro at Road America after your first TA2 Series pole-winning effort at Mid-Ohio last weekend. What’s your outlook for this weekend?
“I’m excited to race on back-to-back weekends, for sure. I’m hoping it’ll be beneficial. We were good last weekend with that style of track, and this is a different one, so we’ll have to see how it goes. But I’m excited to get to Road America. It looks really cool and definitely seems challenging. It was super cool to have got the pole at Mid-Ohio. I always thought I would win a race before I got a pole because I’m not usually a one-lap guy, I’m better when it comes to racing. It just shows how good these M1 Racecars are and how good of a job the team does that I could show up and lay down a pole lap. It was unfortunate the way the race went down, to be honest, but I made mistakes that I 100-percent learned from and, if I get that opportunity to start on pole again, I won’t make that mistake because now I have the situational awareness to know what to do and what not to do.”
What stands out to you about the Road America layout?
“It’s definitely way different than Mid-Ohio, and not in a bad way. I think it’s pretty cool. It’s got more elevation change, it’s got some long straightaways, just a lot more different characteristics than Mid-Ohio, so I’m excited. Like I said, it’s definitely going to be challenging with a lot of variety on that track with high-speed corners, also some really tight, slow stuff that’s technical. The whole point of me racing here is to learn and get the reps, so definitely what I’ll go and do this weekend.”
You’re making your stock car road-course debut in both the ARCA and NASCAR Xfinity Series races July 11 and 12, respectively, at Sonoma. Are you treating this weekend as a final tune-up for those races?
“Definitely, just the chance to continue getting reps is super important. I’m really glad I was able to get laps at Sonoma during Trans Am weekend (in April), and really glad I’m getting to do all this road racing, in general. Before this season, it was just a really foreign and unorthodox thing for me. So the reps that I’ve been able to get at it before going to the NASCAR stage has been nice. I’m curious how different those cars will be line-wise, and what other differences there will be. We’ll find out soon enough.”
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