RIDGEWAY, Va. — Wrecks were aplenty as always in the ValleyStar Credit Union 300 at Martinsville Speedway, but there was one incident in particular on Saturday night (Sept. 27) that stood out because of who was involved and how it went down.
On lap 101 of the 200-lap feature, Sam Yarbrough and Tristan McKee were racing side-by-side, with Yarbrough getting the advantage off of turn 4. But he wasn’t completely clear, and McKee came down the track and into the right rear of the No. 95. The contact sent Yarbrough spinning hard into the outside wall and out of the race.
“I never touched him,” Yarbrough told Frontstretch. “He doored me going down the straightaway, I guess to try and protect his position or something. We go off down into [turn] 3. He gave me a little room. I passed him clean, and I guess his dad said he misjudged it and right-rear quartered me.
“He misjudged it by about four feet. It wasn’t even close.”
As soon as Yarbrough climbed out of his destroyed racecar, he walked down the track and showed his displeasure toward McKee. He then went down to McKee’s pit box and confronted his team.
“How old is he?” Yarbrough said in a video captured by Short Track Scene. “I’ve got four more years.”
With McKee only 15 years of age, Yarbrough – age 41 – was seemingly referring to being able to fight the young talent once he turns 18.
McKee, who was penalized two laps for the incident, denied that the wreck was intentional and was apologetic afterward.
“Just huge apologies to the Sam [Yarbrough] and their whole crew,” McKee told Frontstretch. “I never had issues with them, for one, and I never want to have issues with anyone out here. I heard clear down, [but] obviously, no matter what the spotter says, it was my bad and I misjudged it, coming down.
“Everyone’s trying to get down when you’re stuck on the top here at Martinsville. It’s just huge to be on the bottom, and everyone’s trying to get clear and get behind someone. He had just passed me, and ultimately, I just got into his right rear. I mean there was nothing intentional at all. I didn’t mean to do it, and we still had just about half the race left and we had a really really fast car. So just a huge apology to them. It wasn’t intentional at all.”
McKee fell out of the race shortly after the incident when his motor blew. A long rain delay followed, and the Williamsburg, Va., native attempted to talk to Yarbrough about the wreck.
Yarbrough would have none of it. He initially declined an interview with Frontstretch and other outlets, noting that he was so mad and didn’t want to say something he shouldn’t. But during the first of two rain delays on the night, over an hour after he had crashed out, he agreed to talk.
“You got kids like that, and I think it probably starts with the parents,” Yarbrough said. “They don’t discipline the children. His dad probably should have pulled him out of the car and took his belt off and whipped his ass right there. It’s a problem in stock car racing at this level, and the [zMAX] CARS Tour. You got kids that just pay their way, and they don’t work on cars. They don’t give a shit about anything.
“He tried to come talk to me. I told him I wasn’t ready. Might not be ready for a while.”
In a vacuum or had McKee had the reputation of a clean driver, Yarbrough and others critical of McKee’s move would likely give him more grace and believe his side of the story. But there have been a handful of other questionable incidents from McKee in the past two years that unfortunately prevent him from getting the benefit of the doubt. One such instance was two weeks ago in the CARS race at South Boston Speedway, when McKee doored Mini Tyrrell so many times while battling for the lead that Tyrrell eventually wiped him out.
“I don’t really follow it,” Yarbrough said. “I’m not on social media. I don’t do any of that stuff, but I see it at the track all the time, so I’m not surprised. Just look at how he ran Mini [Tyrrell] two weeks ago at South Boston, dooring him, running him up the track, zero respect.
“I know it’s late in the race, but if you wanna earn respect and be looked at as a quality driver, you gotta just keep a level head and try to do smart things. And he doesn’t do anything smart. Maybe once he hits the fence a couple of hard times, he’ll start doing some smart things.”
McKee is aware of the reputation that’s he’s attaining. But the second-youngest ARCA Menards Series winner remained steadfast that each of the situations prior and on Saturday night were racing deals where he made mistakes, but nothing was intentional. Saying those words is one thing, but McKee looked on the verge of tears as he expressed his regret.
“Yeah, I mean the past two deals have been with Hickory [Motor Speedway] and SoBo [South Boston], and I feel like Hickory, there wasn’t anything I could have done differently there, and SoBo, there wasn’t much to be gained there,” McKee said. “I feel like Mini and I both could’ve done something better. It’s just kind of been racing deals, really. Between Hickory, the [No.] 17 jumped the start, and that never would have happened if that was called back. It was just racing. We were all racing for 50 grand with 10 laps to go or whatever it was.
“Same thing for SoBo. We’re racing for a CARS Tour win, and we’re just hard racing. I wasn’t mad at Mini. I don’t think he was too mad at me. We talked about it after, and and no hard feelings. We’re going to race each other hard from here on out in whatever race it’s gonna be.
“So I hope it’s the same way with them [Yarbrough’s team]. It wasn’t intentional, and I hope they realize that. I wasn’t just trying to hook him, so it definitely wasn’t intentional and just a racing deal and it was my fault.”
Whether McKee getting into Yarbrough was intentional or not, the only absolute is that two really fast racecars didn’t finish the race. Both drivers praised how fast their cars were, and at the least, both likely would’ve finished inside of the top 10, maybe better.
Instead, both left Martinsville wondering what could have been.
Michael Massie joined Frontstretch in 2017 and has served as the Content Director since 2020.
Massie, a Richmond, Va., native, has covered NASCAR, IndyCar, SRX and the CARS Tour. Outside of motorsports, the Virginia Tech grad and Green Bay Packers minority owner can be seen cheering on his beloved Hokies and Packers.