ALTON, Va. — In just his fourth start in the Trans Am Series presented by Pirelli’s CUBE 3 Architecture TA2 Series, Carson Brown drove his No. 2 PayCafe/Ebb Logistics/SLR-M1 Toyota Camry to his first victory at Virginia International Raceway.
The 17-year-old qualified second and remained in the top three throughout the 31-lap race, taking over the lead with just six laps remaining after a hard-fought battle with Ben Maier (No. 10 Nitro Motorsports Toyota Camry).
Points leader Tristan McKee suffered a transmission issue mid-race, relegating him to a 21st-place finish overall, tightening the championship points battle between he and Sam Corry.
McKee led the field to green in his No. 28 Spire/Gainbridge/SLR-M1 Chevrolet Camaro after claiming the pole in yesterday’s qualifying session, but in the first turn of the race, third-place starter Maier came from the second row to pass McKee on the inside, emerging with the lead.
Second-place starter Brown took the opportunity to make his way past McKee on his outside to maintain the second position. McKee took back second place on lap two and held it until lap 14, when both Brown and fourth-place starter Noah Harmon (No. 7 Streetside Classics/Flanagan’s Chevrolet Camaro) navigated around McKee once again for second and third, respectively.
Unfortunately, it was then that McKee slowed on the racing surface and was forced to visit the paddock due to a transmission issue.
From there, the battle was between Maier and Brown. On lap 24, Brown made his way around Maier, taking the lead for the first time in his Trans Am career. Maier remained close, and on lap 27, Maier was looking to reclaim the lead, and the two drag raced side by side through multiple turns.
Unfortunately, the pair ran out of real estate and made contact, with Maier going off the racing surface and dropping back to sixth place. Brown held onto the point position for the final four laps, crossing the finish line to claim his first-career victory.
Noah Harmon finished second to earn his first-career podium, and Julian DaCosta (No. 30 Nitro Motorsports Toyota Camry) finished an impressive third after starting 24th overall and racing through the field. Corry finished fourth in his No. 70 Nitro Motorsports Toyota Camry, while Gian Buffomante (No. 95 Nitro Motorsports Toyota Camry) finished fifth.
“Just a big thank you to everyone who came out, all the fans that are supporting me, and TeamSLR for bringing me a really good race car,” said Brown from the podium. “We fired off really good, but struggled a little bit as the race went on. I got some grass in the grille after we went off there in Turn 4. We just ran a pretty good race. I got by the No. 10 car, the No. 10 car kind of got back by us, and we ended up getting together there, which was very unfortunate. I just want to give a big thank you to all the guys for all the hard work, to Chevy, Ebb Logistics, PayCafe, and M1 Racecars that make all this happen.”
In the Pro/Am Challenge, Jared Odrick was the class of the field. Odrick came into the weekend as the points leader, and was the top-qualifying car in his class.
He kept his No. 00 Black Underwear/CoolBoxx Chevrolet Camaro out front for the entire day, claiming his third win of the season with a fifth-place finish overall. Cale Phillips (No. 99 Mincey’s Graphics/SNP Inc. Ford Mustang) from nearby Durham, N.C. finished second, and Keith Prociuk (No. 9 HP Tuners/Cope Race Cars Ford Mustang) overcame early damage to finish third.
“It was great to be able to start that far up, it was the best we qualified,” said Odrick. “We had really good days of testing. Just a testament to TRB and Troy [Benner] and the crew just really committing themselves to this season, really going above and beyond and coming all the way from the Midwest and getting some test time. Thank you to my family that’s here, and my fiancée, now my wife, Crystal, now that we’ve gone down to the courthouse and did the thing, I’m super appreciative. I think we all got closer as a paddock this weekend, commemorating Barry [Boes] and just knowing that we are without a really great competitor. And I also know Silver Hare lost somebody this weekend, and we’re all getting closer. And I just hope that the fans and everybody tuning in can really appreciate that, because it’s really becoming a family, as well as just a really good racing community. I hope we can step it up for you continually the rest of the year and next year.”
