When the Solid Rock Carriers CARS Tour was established in 2015, Tristan McKee was only four years old.
McKee ended up making CARS Tour history over eight years later in Saturday night’s CARS Tour 100 Pro Late Model feature at Dillon Motor Speedway. By passing Ashton Higgins with 17 laps remaining, McKee became the CARS Tour’s youngest winner at just the age of 12.
The triumph made McKee the fifth winner in six PLM Tour races this year, joining a talented group of drivers that include Mike Hopkins, Connor Zilisch, Augie Grill and defending CARS LMSC Tour champion Carson Kvapil.
Tristan McKee showcases maturity in historic CARS Tour win
When Tristan McKee climbed out of his No. 7 Ford in Dillon’s victory lane, the significance of his history-making moment had not quite sunk in.
Despite this, the young prospect displayed confidence and composure behind the wheel at Dillon Motor Speedway. Both qualities proving to be instrumental towards him finding a way around Ashton Higgins in the closing laps, who was also searching for his first PLM Tour victory.
“This means everything,” McKee said. “I thought we had a pretty good car coming into this [race], and we weren’t coming [to Dillon] to run second. Based on practice times, I thought we were going to be pretty good, but I didn’t expect [to win] at the beginning of the race.”
With the series electing to lower age requirements for the PLM Tour this season, McKee elected to fully commit to the series after previously competing in a handful of Limited Late Model events in 2022.
McKee struggled to find consistency in his first three races with only a best finish of 10th at Hickory Motor Speedway. North Wilkesboro Speedway proved to be a turning point of McKee, as he registered a fourth place run in a 40-car field before backing that performance up with a seventh at Tri-County Motor Speedway.
For Saturday’s race at Dillon, McKee initially dropped from his third place starting position to conserve his equipment for the end of the race. He gradually climbed back towards the front of the field before ultimately making the race-winning pass on Higgins and solidifying his place in the CARS Tour record books.
“I knew we had a better car than [Higgins],” McKee said. “He was really loose off the corner, so I just had to get better drive off than him.”
Katie Hettinger strengthens points lead after runner-up finish
A stellar debut season for Katie Hettinger in the CARS PLM Tour continued Saturday evening at Dillon Motor Speedway.
Despite coming up short of a win, the series points leader successfully kept her car out of trouble and recorded a season-best finish of second, further bolstering her advantage over a young but talented field of competitors.
The influence of Anthony Campi Racing on Hettinger has been apparent since she joined the operation. After scoring a victory with Campi in the World Series of Asphalt at New Smyrna Speedway, she has remained efficient in the PLM Tour with her worst finish being a sixth at Hickory Motor Speedway.
Hettinger’s ability to keep her car up front and out of harm’s way enabled her to build a three-point advantage over Caden Kvapil through the first five races. Dillon proved to be more of the same for Hettinger, who nearly came close to finally breaking through for her first PLM Tour win.
With Kvapil coming off a bad evening from Dillon, Hettinger controls her own destiny in the PLM Tour as the series heads to a diverse group of tracks over the summer that include Caraway Speedway, Wake County Speedway and another trip to Hickory.
T.J. DeCaire continues to make strong impression in PLM Tour
Saturday’s 100-lap feature at Dillon was only T.J. DeCaire’s third CARS PLM Tour appearance.
Yet the Land O’ Lakes, Florida resident has caught the attention of many during that timeframe. Aside from a bad race at North Wilkesboro Speedway, DeCaire has two Top 5 finishes in three starts, which now includes a career-best of third from Dillon.
DeCaire brought some experience to the PLM Tour before making his series debut at Ace Speedway back on May 5. He won at Hickory Motor Speedway in a Pro Late Model last year before earning another trophy in the discipline at Dillon two months before Saturday’s CARS Tour 100.
The group of drivers that DeCaire faced that evening included many familiar names like Saturday’s winner in Tristan McKee and George Phillips, who won the pole for Saturday’s feature. Although he could not find his way back to Dillon’s victory lane, DeCaire still managed to lead a handful of laps before settling for third.
DeCaire’s growing comfort level with the diverse schedule and talent level of the PLM Tour will only move him closer to becoming another winner on what has already been a competitive year for the division.
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The CARS PLM Tour will get just over a week off before heading to Caraway Speedway for a mid-week event on June 28. They’ll share that event with the CARS LMSC Tour, which returns to action next Saturday evening at Dominion Raceway, which will be streamed on FloRacing.
For more information on the CARS Late Model Stock Tour and the CARS Pro Late Model Tour, visit www.carsracingtour.com. Be sure to stay active and social with the tour by liking “CARS Tour” on Facebook, following @CARSTour on Twitter and scrolling through photos on Instagram cars_tour.
Additional series information can be obtained by calling the CARS Tour series office, located in
Mooresville, NC, at 704.662.9212.
PLM Results:
- 7 Tristan McKee
- 81 Katie Hettinger
- 88 T.J. DeCaire
- 28 Gio Ruggiero
- 9 Ashton Higgins
- 13 Austin MacDonald
- 03 Kyle Campbell
- 6 George Phillips
- 77 Logan Jones
- 07 Clint King
- 43H Joshua Horniman
- 96 Caden Kvapil -4
- 15 Brett Suggs -8
- 8 Rusty Skewes – DNS
