In what turned out to be a duel between two of the hottest up-and-coming talents in the world of stock car racing, it was Tristan McKee, a Spire Motorsports development driver, who came out on top over Carson Brown, a Richard Childress Racing development driver, on Saturday in the ARCA Menards Series event at Rockingham Speedway.
The 15-year-old McKee, who dominated the event from the pole position, found himself on the ropes as the final laps began to wind down, as it appeared Brown had the faster car as they navigated through lapped traffic. However, McKee was able to hold serve and even avoided a bit of disaster when Brown got loose in an attempt to take the lead away at one point to score an impressive win.
While it was a dominant performance, McKee, driving the No. 77 Pinnacle Racing Group Chevrolet, admits it was anything but easy to win the race.
“Yeah, it got sketchy there a few times with the lapped cars. Some of those guys are kind of all over the place. And the closing rates are really fast, so it was definitely tough to keep my mental state,” McKee stated in his post-race interview, “and just kind of fight through it all and get through all of the lapped cars. It was definitely a lot of fun. This track is awesome. My first time here, totally a lot of fun.”
This win is the second consecutive victory for McKee in ARCA Menards Series East competition this season, as he also picked up the victory at Hickory Motor Speedway a week ago.
Brown, who won the ARCA Menards Series event at Phoenix Raceway earlier this year, was displeased with his No. 28 Pinnacle Racing Group Chevrolet in the opening laps of the race. And after a few close calls throughout the race, he was simply happy to walk out of Rockingham Speedway with a runner-up finish.
“Yeah, I’m not quite sure. I’m just happy to be standing here, honestly,” Brown answered when questioned what more he needed to get past McKee for the win. “It was a very fun race, just unfortunate we showed there at first. We had something — just wrecking free at the start. Fired off really bad, and just kind of struggled to get going there. Felt like it was coming to us a little bit, and then I almost wrecked both of us at one point, me and Tristan, but just tried to hang on there.”
Isaac Kitzmiller, the defending ARCA East champion, came home with a third-place finish, his second-straight third-place finish to kick off his eight-race title defense. But the story of the day was YouTube personality Cleetus McFarland, who crossed the finish line directly behind Kitzmiller.
McFarland, whose legal name is Garrett Mitchell, competed in four ARCA Menards Series events a season ago and had a best finish of ninth, which he achieved at Charlotte Motor Speedway. The decent performances in ARCA in 2025 led to McFarland making his NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series debut at Daytona International Speedway earlier this year.
That debut didn’t go well, as McFarland lost control of his Niece Motorsports truck on Lap 6, and crashed out of the event. McFarland will contest his first-career NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series event for Richard Childress Racing this weekend, a debut that has been heavily scrutinized.
However, McFarland looked the part of a professional race car driver in Saturday’s ARCA East race, and he exited his No. 30 Rette-Jones Racing Ford elated.
“Honestly, I just went out there and turned left for Greg Biffle. Okay, that’s what I was doing. I had more confidence today than I’ve ever had in a stock car,” McFarland explained. “Even though I have the world against me, I have all of these people here rooting for me.”
McFarland continued, “I had the leaders in my sight the whole time. I was a little off pace, but like, top-four, I can’t believe it. I’m fired up, and feeling good.”
While many have weighed in on whether YouTube personalities should have the right to be fast-tracked to NASCAR National Series competition, McFarland has had some top-level tutors along the way, including Greg Biffle, and the personnel at Richard Childress Racing, who have prepared him for this weekend’s race at Rockingham.
All of those lessons led to a successful day in the ARCA East event, and McFarland hopes he can have success in the O’Reilly race as well.
“I think he’d be happy that I didn’t do anything stupid. And Biff didn’t teach me dumb stuff, so I didn’t do any dumb stuff today. I tried to use everything he’s ever taught me, and I’ve learned a lot from Richard Childress Racing, already,” McFarland said. “And Mark [Rette], you know, he’s doing a great job. The car ran good, but like, honestly, the few weeks I’ve been with Richard Childress Racing, I’ve learned so much more than I ever could without them. So, that applied today, and I’m so fired up today.”
Wesley Slimp finished the event in the fifth position, which was an incredible result considering he had the roof hatch fly out of his No. 70 machine at one point in the race. After getting the hatch re-installed, he was able to soldier on for a top-five run.
