INDIANAPOLIS — Helio Meza, the 18-year-old phenom out of the Team SLR stable, is back on top, winning Sunday’s CUBE 3 Architecture TA2 Series event at Indianapolis Motor Speedway’s Road Course from the pole.
It was his fifth victory of 2026 and the sixth of his CUBE 3 TA2 Series career.
The Spring, Texas-native could not even be challenged on Sunday, starting from the pole position, leading every single lap, and winning the race over his teammate Alon Day, who when the checkered flag was displayed sat 2.7 seconds behind his younger teammate.
“Alon [Day] has been getting closer, he’s been working hard and he got me at Lime Rock and defeated my streak there,” Meza said post-race. “But, coming to Indianapolis, I was determined, I was motivated and like you said, in practice, he was right there, we were 1-2, in the test sessions and qualifying were super tight, I knew in the race he was going to be the guy to beat and like I said in the pre-race, I think tire management was the name of the game and I think that showed up at the end.”
“I couldn’t do it without my amazing team, they worked their butts off, I cannot explain enough, we are always the first ones to the racetrack and the last ones to leave, and that’s my type of team.”
With Meza’s triumph in Sunday’s event at the iconic 2.439-mile infield road course at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, Team SLR extends its impressive win streak in the CUBE 3 Architecture TA2 Series to 13 races, dating back to last Memorial Day Weekend. Meza, driving the No. 28 Alessandros Racing Chevrolet, accounts for six of those 13 wins.
This win coming at the iconic Indianapolis Motor Speedway, just makes things even more special, especially considering Meza’s backstory – being named after four-time Indianapolis 500 winner Helio Castroneves, and looking up to the long-time INDYCAR driver in his formative years.
“It means a lot,” Meza said about winning at Indianapolis. “I think it had a little bit of luck to do with it this weekend, but I was joking around with my guys that if we won were going to climb the fence, so I don’t know if that’s going to happen, but shoutout to [Helio] Castroneves, he’s been a hero of mine and obviously with all of his talent here, at the Hall of Fame, just super excited to be here and in Victory Lane at IMS.”
For the third time in six races this year, Alon Day had to settle for a runner-up finish to Team SLR teammate Helio Meza. While Day now has a firm grasp on second-place in series point standings, he’ll now have an even larger margin to make up on the No. 28 as the series heads to Road America next weekend.
After starting Sunday’s 42-lap contest from outside the top 10, Noah Harmon was able to drive his No. 7 High Point Rockers / CUBE 3 Chevrolet Camaro to a podium position for Silver Hare Racing, his third podium finish of the season – matching third-place results at Sebring and Sonoma.
Ethan Tovo (No. 10 Dick’s Sporting Goods Toyota Camry XSE) captured a career-best result of fourth at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, improving his best finish of fifth from Sebring and Road Atlanta by one position. Jace Denmark rounded out the top-five, his first of such finish in the CUBE 3 Architecture TA2 Series.
Nitro Motorsports driver coach Tyler Kicera finished sixth in a sporadic appearance in the CUBE 3 TA2 Series, while his teammates Gian Buffomante and Seamus McKendree finished in seventh and eight-place, both earning season-high results for their teams.
Eric Cayton finished in the ninth position, while Team SLR driver Lanie Buice managed to recover to finish inside the top-10, after an off-track excursion that happened on a restart when Gavin Gleitsman got turned around heading to Turn 1.
Jackson Tovo and Tanner Reif, both full timers in the CUBE 3 Architecture TA2 Series, found some issues mid-race at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, getting caught up in accidents that prematurely ended their days. For Tovo, there was a stack up heading to the backstretch chicane on Lap 1, tipping the No. 30 Pilot Travel Centers Toyota into the tire barriers with Adrian Wlostowski (who rebounded to finish 11th).
Reif had a problem about midway through the event, when a left-rear tire blew on the No. 75 Silver Hare Racing Chevrolet during the transition onto the oval, causing the Las Vegas-native to smack the wall with the left-front and left-rear. That incident brought out a full-course yellow, and ended the day for Reif, who finished 29th overall.
