ALTON, Va. — Helio Meza has made history in the CUBE 3 Architecture TA2 Series.
With yet another triumph in Sunday’s event at Virginia International Raceway, Meza (No. 28 Alessandro’s Racing Chevrolet Camaro) secured his eighth victory of the campaign, matching a single season win record in the CUBE 3 TA2 Series, set by Cameron Lawrence in 2013.
After starting the penultimate event of the 12-race campaign from the pole position, Meza managed to lead the race wire-to-wire, despite a couple of valiant challenges from his teammate and TA Class championship leader Matthew Brabham.
“When I heard Matthew [Brabham] was going to be running with [Team SLR} again, I was excited,” Meza said post-race. “He ran with us at Road America, and I knew he didn’t have the seat time to run with us there, but he kept me on my toes at the beginning of the race. I just kind of managed it the best I could. I knew he was trying to push to get around me and two great restarts – the last one I was able to skirt away and do my own race.”
Alon Day, who held the points lead in the CUBE 3 Architecture TA2 Series entering Sunday’s event at VIR, finished in the 10th position in the No. 17 JSSI Chevrolet Camaro after having to recover from a restart violation, which was incurred on the second restart of the race, when he pulled out of line before the start-finish line, trying to make a move on Noah Harmon. Day, in the final 20 laps of Sunday’s event, drove from 27th to 10th.
“I think I heard Alon kind of finished back there, which plays into the favor of my championship, which I’m super happy about,” Meza said. “I’m more happy about the points gain than the race, I mean, I’m happy with both, but the team executed when it mattered the most.”
Matthew Brabham finished in the runner-up position in the Pintaric & Associates-sponsored No. 48 Chevrolet Camaro for Team SLR with Noah Harmon, out of the Silver Hare Racing stable, completing the podium. Lanie Buice put together another solid run, finishing fourth, while Adrian Wlostowski rounded out the top-five.
Tyler Kicera, Gian Buffomante, Gavin Gleitsman, Ethan Tovo, and Alon Day completed the top-10.
Keelan Harvick, making his CUBE 3 Architecture TA2 Series debut this weekend at VIR for Kevin Harvick, Inc. finished 27th overall after a late-race issue forced the No. 62 Toyota Camry XSE to pull into the pits. Harvick spent most of the race running inside the top-15, progressing as high as 11th overall.
