McKee, 16, Becomes Youngest Truck Series Polesitter Ever

Tristan McKee with the Kennametal Pole Award at Martinsville Speedway. (Christian Wilson/SWN photo)

By Jacob Seelman, SWN News Editor

MARTINSVILLE, Va. (Oct. 30, 2026) – With the same kind of quiet authority that has characterized his rapid rise through the stock car ranks, Tristan McKee wrote his name into the NASCAR history books Friday afternoon.

McKee, at the age of 16 years, two months, and 27 days old, earned his first Kennametal Pole Award in just his fifth career NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series appearance after a stellar lap around the .526-mile Martinsville Speedway oval.

The teenager’s time of 19.549 seconds (96.864 mph) in the No. 77 Zeigler Auto Group Chevrolet Silverado RST not only made him the youngest pole winner in Truck Series history Friday, but the youngest polesitter in any of NASCAR’s three national touring series overall.

McKee will lead the field to green ahead of all the rest, looking to steal a win from the Truck Series Chase contenders, as well as avenge his defeat from Martinsville’s late model stock car crown jewel one month ago.

In that race, McKee also started from pole position, but was unable to convert it into a trophy. This time, he hopes to rectify that miss on an even grander racing stage.

“It was a really good lap,” McKee said afterward. “Unfortunately, the second lap I thought was going to be even better, and I kind of messed up [turns] three and four, but the truck is really, really fast, so thanks to all the [No.] 77 group, and everyone at Ziegler for being part of this. Chad [Walter, crew chief] and all the guys brought a really fast truck, so we just got to go execute here later on pit road and on the racetrack, but I'm really looking forward to it.

“Martinsville is one of my favorite tracks, so it's really cool to win the pole here. I won the pole here in the late model race here the other [week], so hopefully we can get the win here later. … The way the track [will change] throughout the night and how it’s rubbering up will be a challenge, and then there’s obviously a lot of really good trucks right behind me – the 34 [Layne Riggs], the 11 [Kaden Honeycutt], the 88 [Ty Majeski] – so all those guys are going to be tough, but I think we've got a really good truck.”

Joining McKee on the front row for Friday evening’s Black’s Tire 200 is championship contender Layne Riggs, whose lap of 19.567 seconds (96.775 mph) in the No. 34 Bare Knuckle Boxing Ford F-150 was best among the 10 Chase contenders and places him ahead of series point leader and title rival Kaden Honeycutt.

Chandler Smith and Ben Rhodes share the second row of the starting grid, with Honeycutt rolling off fifth (19.639/96.420) in the No. 11 Safelite Toyota Tundra TRD Pro.

Honeycutt was nine hundredths of a second off the pole time set by McKee in qualifying.

Ty Majeski, Christian Eckes, recent Talladega winner Sammy Smith, Tyler Ankrum, and Tanner Gray filled out the top 10 starters after two-lap qualifications.

Gio Ruggiero (11th), Daniel Hemric (15th), and Grant Enfinger (19th) are the Chase drivers starting below the first five rows, however all three have been mathematically eliminated from title contention.

Two drivers – Gavan Boschele and Jake Garcia – were unable to take qualifying laps, with Garcia’s DNS coming after a hard crash in practice that damaged the rear of his No. 98. They will start 35th and 36th, respectively.

With 36 trucks in attendance for 36 starting spots, no drivers failed to qualify for the penultimate race of the Truck Series season.

Broadcast coverage of the Black’s Tire 200 from Martinsville is slated for 6 p.m. ET, live on FS1, the NASCAR Racing Network, and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio, channel 90.