Tristan McKee takes back ARCA East point lead with win at Iowa
Tristan McKee “Rides the ‘Dente” to another victory in the ARCA Menards Series at Iowa Speedway.
McKee, who just turned 16 earlier this week, dominated the race and won his second main division race and fourth in the ARCA Menards Series East with it being a combination race.
He also led 125 out of 150 laps on the night. His teammate Carson Brown led the other 25. Pinnacle Racing Group also scores another 1-2 finish with Brown finishing second.
McKee additionally won the race from the pole with Brown in second too. 33 cars started the 150 lap race, the most for ARCA at Iowa since 2012.
Race Summary
On the start, McKee took off like a rocket while Brown fell back a few spots. Thomas Annunziata moved into second while Isaac Kitzmiller took third. Kitzmiller took second right before the first caution of the race came out on lap three.
The caution was for a single car spin from the No. 7 of Kadence Davenport. Davenport unfortunately would end up out of the race due to mechanical issues.
On the restart, Annunziata would fall out of the top five while Kitzmiller received a pass-through penalty for a restart violation. Kitzmiller beat McKee to the restart line.
Max Reaves qualified in sixth, but started in the rear due to unapproved adjustments. By lap 13, he made it up to the top 10. The second caution occurred on lap 15 when Ben Peterson in the No. 06 spun in turns three and four. He made contact with the inside safer barrier but was able to continue.
After the restart, Reaves continue to climb getting as high as third. On lap 32, Brown took the lead from McKee after he got stuck behind two lapped cars in turn four. Brown kept the lead until the first race break caution which occurred on lap 50.
The race restarted on lap 58 and Reaves got very loose in turns one and two. He almost took Brown with him. Andy Jankowiak fell out of the top five as he had to slow down to avoid contact with Reaves. Annunziata moved into third, and Jake Bollman took fourth. Reaves took back fourth shortly after.
The fourth caution flew on lap 62 after Brad Smith spun off of turn two. He was able to keep going afterwards.
Chaos then ensued on the lap 68 restart as Annunziata got into the back of Brown getting him loose into Reaves. Bollman then nearly made it four wide coming back onto the frontstretch.
On lap 71, the caution came out again for Smith who lost it in turns one and two and made contact with Annunziata and collected two of his Nitro Motorsports teammates, Isabella Robusto and Jade Avedisian. All except Smith were able to return after repairs, but Robusto and Avedisian ended up lapped behind the leader.
McKee continued to hold the lead until the second race break caution on lap 100. In the run to the finish, McKee pulled far ahead of the field, but Brown closed in on the long run. The last caution came with 16 laps to go for Jason Kitzmiller crashing hard after backing it into the wall. He was running tenth at the time.
After their earlier struggles, Annunziata and Isaac Kitzmiller were able to rebound back towards the front by the final restart. The two Pinnacle cars pulled away from the field as McKee took the checkered flag.
McKee took the ARCA East points lead back from Reaves following the race. He leads by only two points with one race to go at Bristol.
Post Race Interviews
In his frontstretch post race interview with Fox Sports One, McKee said, “that was a fun race, all the lapped cars it was really tough getting around them running the top, and just maneuvering that. I lost the lead earlier to the 28 because of that and I had some good restarts a lot.”
McKee then thanked Pinnacle, Spire Motorsports and primary sponsor Chili’s afterwards.
Results
- 77 Tristan McKee
- 28 Carson Brown
- 20 Jake Bollman
- 18 Max Reaves
- 79 Isaac Kitzmiller
- 25 Gavan Boschele
- 70 Thomas Annunziata
- 71 Andy Jankowiak
- 91 Ryan Vargas
- 15 Jade Avedisian -2 Laps
- 55 Isabella Robusto -2 Laps
- 90 Ty Frederickson -2 Laps
- 38 Esteban Rodriguez -3 Laps
- 10 Craig Pellegrini Jr -4 Laps
- 85 Quinn Davis -4 Laps
- 89 Bobby Earnhardt -5 Laps
- 13 Brian Weber -6 Laps
- 01 Tony Musolino -8 Laps
- 19 Austin Vaughn -9 Laps
- 99 Michael Maples -9 Laps
- 34 Brian Barbarow -10 Laps
- 03 Alex Clubb -11 Laps
- 11 Chase Buscaglia -12 Laps
- 86 Jeff Maconi -12 Laps
- 97 Jason Kitzmiller OUT
- 06 Ben Peterson -17 Laps
- 12 Takuma Koga -19 Laps
- 95 Jackson McLerran OUT
- 48 Brad Smith OUT
- 0 Nate Moeller OUT
- 83 Brayton Laster OUT
- 81 Kevin Campbell OUT
- 7 Kadence Davenport OUT
The ARCA Menards Series will return on Sunday, Aug. 23 for the Calypso 100 at the Illinois State Fairgrounds. It will be the first of two dirt races on the schedule.
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