McKee dominates TA2's Barber debut and clinches 2025 championship early

It was the perfect weekend for Tristan McKee, who topped every practice session, qualifying and the race at the Trans Am Series presented by Pirelli’s inaugural event at Barber Motorsports Park. McKee led every lap of the caution-free CUBE 3 Architecture TA2 Series race, scoring his fourth win of the season and clinching the championship, becoming the Trans Am Series’ youngest title winner in history.

When the green flag waved, McKee immediately pulled ahead of the pack in his No. 28 Spire/Gainbridge/SLR-M1 Chevrolet Camaro, which was fortunate, as he avoided the first-lap melee that took a handful of frontrunners, such as Thomas Annunziata (No. 10 Nitro Motorsports Toyota Camry), Julian DaCosta (No. 30 Nitro Motorsports Toyota Camry) and Gian Buffomante (No. 95 Nitro Motorsports Toyota Camry), out of contention. Despite the off-track excursions, the race remained green through the opening laps. By lap 15, McKee had opened up a nearly 12-second lead over second-place Noah Harmon (No. 7 Streetside Classics/Flanagan’s Chevrolet Camaro), who had advanced from his fifth-place starting position.

Through the second half of the race, Harmon attempted to close that gap several times, but McKee just had too much speed to challenge. When the checkered flag waved, McKee took the victory and his titles. Harmon finished second, and Sam Corry, who moved up from a ninth-place starting spot, closed out the podium in his No. 70 Nitro Motorsports Toyota Camry. Adrian Wlostowski (No. 3 CMI/Spot-On Services/AMT Motorsports Ford Mustang) finished fourth just hours after winning the GT class race. Tyler Kicera (No. 26 HP Tuners/Franklin Road/Cope Chevrolet Camaro) finished fifth, recovering from a 14th-place starting spot due to a four-tire change before the race.

“I feel good,” said McKee. “It obviously feels good to end it with a race still left in the season, and to dominate the last half of the year. It's been a really good year. I’ve got to thank all the TeamSLR boys that brought me really fast cars each and every race. I've been learning a lot each and every time. Thanks to all the guys back at Chevy. Josh Wise, Scott Speed and Lorin Ranier have been teaching me so much. And I've really been polishing my road course skills, so it's been really good doing all this. I think it's helped a lot on the oval side as well. Thank you to Spire, Gainbridge, HendrickCars.com, Jeff Dickerson, Bill Anthony, and everyone at Chevy for all that they do. It's been a great year, and we'll end it off at COTA.”

The Pro/Am Challenge had a wild start to the race, with the top-four starters, including championship contenders Jared Odrick (No. 00 Black Underwear/CoolBoxx Chevrolet Camaro) and Keith Prociuk (No. 9 HP Tuners/Cope Race Cars Ford Mustang), as well as Cale Phillips (No. 99 Mincey’s Graphics/SNP Inc. Ford Mustang) and Tom Sheehan (No. 97 Vixen Cycle Co./LTK/Cope Ford Mustang), having off-track excursions on lap one. Jim Gallaugher (No. 6 Regulator by Waypointe/Cope Race Cars Ford Mustang) took over the lead, with Sheehan moving into second and Odrick and Prociuk dropping to the rear of the class. On lap eight, Sheehan took over the point position, while Prociuk and Odrick began to work their way back to the front. When the checkered flag waved, Sheehan took the victory, while Odrick and Prociuk recovered to finish second and third, respectively.

“Well, it was pretty wild on the start,” said Sheehan. “I think we moved up a couple spots from qualifying. Guys had trouble and moved to the rear, and we just were in a good spot when that wildness happened. We just kind of drove through it. A little melee down at five, and then we just put our head down and stayed consistent and drove up to the front. The car was great. Thanks to Mike Cope, the whole team, Jamie, Matt, my girlfriend Laura, and the sponsors: Vixen Motorsports, LTK Insulation Technologies, Mike Cope Racing. Thank you guys. It's been a bit of a drought, and it feels good to be back up on the top step.”

An encore presentation of Sunday's race will air Sunday nightMcKee on SPEED SPORT 1 at 8:30 p.m. ET in a block which will also include the TA/GT race.

The CUBE 3 Architecture TA2 Series next heads to Circuit of The Americas for the 2025 season finale at the Mission Foods COTA SpeedTour, October 30-November 2. Tickets can be purchased here. 

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