Tristan McKee joins JR Motorsports, headed to O’Reilly Series in 2027
NXTbets Pro | Published On: October 16, 2026
McKee joins
McKee has joined JR Motorsports on a multi-year deal, a move that puts the 16-year-old developmental driver from Kannapolis, North Carolina, on a path to the NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series. The agreement gives McKee a clear progression inside one of stock car racing’s most established development pipelines and adds another young driver to JR Motorsports’ roster. McKee will make his first JR Motorsports start in the No. 9 Chevrolet at Bristol Motor Speedway, then race part time later in the deal before moving into a full-time ride further down the road. JR Motorsports also said the arrangement keeps McKee tied to the organization for the next stages of his climb, with each step designed to move him closer to NASCAR’s national series level. For McKee, the deal marks a major shift from prospect to long-term project. For JR Motorsports, it brings in a driver with a title already on his resume and more than one kind of racing experience behind him. The move gives the team another young name to develop while giving McKee a direct route into the series where his stock car career is set to keep advancing.
McKee’s racing résumé
McKee arrives with a resume that already reaches across several levels of stock car racing. He won the ARCA Menards Series East championship with four victories and has made three NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series starts. Those Truck Series runs produced finishes of eighth at Richmond, sixth at New Hampshire and fifth at Bristol, a stretch that shows he has already handled different tracks and different race-day demands. McKee also won the Trans Am Series TA2 championship, adding another title from a separate discipline to his record. That mix matters because it shows a driver who has not been limited to one lane of development. He has race results in ARCA, Truck and Trans Am competition, and each step has given him a different test. McKee’s Truck starts came with strong finishes, and his championship results show he has already found ways to win over a season, not just in one race. The combination gives JR Motorsports a young driver with both speed and range, one who has built momentum through multiple forms of racing before reaching this new deal.
JR Motorsports plan
JR Motorsports is not bringing McKee in as a one-race addition. The plan stretches across multiple seasons and gives him time to grow inside the organization. He will run part time for JR Motorsports later in the agreement and then move into a full-time seat after that. That kind of path puts structure around his next step and gives the team a chance to build around him over time. It also keeps his development active in other equipment, since McKee will continue part time in Spire Motorsports’ No. 7 Truck Series entry and share the Chevrolet with Carson Hocevar. That connection matters because it keeps him in the Truck Series while he prepares for the move up the ladder. JR Motorsports said McKee has already become the youngest driver to earn a top-five finish in NASCAR’s top three national series, a marker that fits the rest of his record and helps explain why the team made the deal. Between the ARCA title, the Truck Series results, the Trans Am championship and the coming move to JR Motorsports, McKee now has a defined route forward. The team gets a young driver with proven results, and McKee gets a long runway to keep building his career.
