Cleetus McFarland made his first Super Late Model start in the Tekton 250 Battle at Berlin, a $40,000-to-win race at Marne, Michigan's Berlin Raceway on Wednesday night. It was a long-awaited start for McFarland, but it didn't go as well as he may have hoped.

McFarland finished 19th with heavy damage after a late crash. McFarland got loose in turn three as the leader, Evan Shotko, was closing in to lap him. McFarland spun down the race track and collected another car, tearing apart his nose and the right side of Keith Herp's No. 18 car. 

Shotko, who won this race a few years ago, led much of the night until problems arose with just under 15 laps remaining. Shotko gave up the lead to Bubba Pollard and second-place to Tristan McKee before something appeared to break on the right-front of Shotko's No. 22 machine. He went hard into the turn three wall, ending his night just shy of the checkered flag. Shotko finished 16th.

That set up a late-race battle for the win between Bubba Pollard, one of the all-time greats of Super Late Model racing, and Tristan McKee, one of the rising young stars in pavement racing at the moment. McKee and Pollard were battling door-to-door for the win with just a handful of laps remaining when Pollard appeared to bottom out entering turn three. That sealed the deal for McKee, who went on to take his first victory in the Tekton 250 Battle at Berlin.

Pollard was forced to settle for second with NASCAR Cup Series driver Carson Hocevar in third, NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series champion Ty Majeski in fourth, and Boris Jurkovic in fifth.

2026 Tekton 250 Battle at Berlin Unofficial Results