Alon Day Benefits From Meza’s Last-Lap Issue to Claim Second Win of 2026

In motorsports, it’s never quite over until the checkered flag drops.

Helio Meza, the 18-year-old phenom for Team SLR, looked well on his way to collect yet another victory in the CUBE 3 Architecture TA2 Series at Road America on Sunday, when all of the sudden, coming to the white flag, his No. 28 Alessandro’s Racing Chevrolet Camaro dramatically slowed exiting Turn 14.

After pulling off an incredible outside move around polesitter Matthew Brabham to snatch the lead away in the opening corner of the 25-lap event, Meza, a six-time winner in the CUBE 3 TA2 Series through seven starts, had a stranglehold on the field behind him, managing a gap anywhere between one and two seconds and keeping some strong drivers at bay behind him.

Meza had paced the field for the opening 23 laps of the event, until the 18-year-old’s dreams of a seventh CUBE 3 Architecture TA2 Series victory shattered coming to the white flag, and his Team SLR teammates Alon Day and Matthew Brabham were there to pick up the pieces.

Day, Meza’s teammate and main rival in the championship fight, went on to win the race, and as it turned out, a move around the No. 48 Team SLR Chevrolet Camaro of Matthew Brabham on a restart with five laps remaining was the key move that got the No. 17 JSSI Chevrolet Camaro into Victory Lane.

“This is not exactly the victory I want to have, especially when it’s my teammate,” Day said in Victory Lane. “I will take that, sometimes you need some luck, and I’m just happy and grateful on our side, it’s always nice to have the JSSI car in Victory Lane. I hope it will bring us some good points in the championship, and we can fight and take it to Watkins Glen and fight hard there.”

Matthew Brabham, who after winning the Trans Am Series by Pirelli event at Road America earlier in the afternoon, looked to make history as the second driver to ever win both the Trans Am Series by Pirelli and CUBE 3 Architecture TA2 Series events in the same day, joining Connor Zilisch. However, the driver making his TA2 debut had to settle for second place.

For the second consecutive race, Noah Harmon made an incredible drive to put his No. 7 Silver Hare Racing Chevrolet Camaro on the podium, finishing in third place. Lanie Buice and Tanner Reif finished fourth and fifth, both collecting career bests in the CUBE 3 Architecture TA2 Series.

Tyler Kicera finished sixth, with Adrian Wlostowski, Eric Cayton, Jace Denmark, and Stanton Barrett rounding out the top-10. Helio Meza, after having to coast around the 4.048-mile Road America racetrack, finished a disappointing 18th overall (and 11th in class).

CUBE 3 Architecture TA2 Series Race Results:

1. 1. #17 Alon Day
2. 2. #48 Matthew Brabham
3. 3. #7 Noah Harmon
4. 4. #27 Lanie Buice
5. 5. #75 Tanner Reif
6. 6. #90 Tyler Kicera
7. 7. #3 Adrian Wlostowski
8. 8. #71 Eric Cayton
9. 9. #68 Jace Denmark
10. 10. #88 Stanton Barrett

Jared Odrick (No. 00 Black Underwear / Helium Mobile Chevrolet Camaro) faced quite a bit of adversity this weekend at Road America, but, like he has all season, the former NFL defensive end rebounded to win in the PRO/AM Division of the CUBE 3 Architecture TA2 Series.

“We had a good weekend in The Kink, so we were faster than a lot of cars in front of us. The rear-end broke in qualifying, and so that put us further back in the field than what our pure pace was with our car and team,” Odrick said. “Jared Settelmeyer [crew chief] got us back in the game by replacing our rear-end, and the stupid thing was I made a move at The Kink because we were faster than a lot of people all weekend, so I charged into Canada Corner and I passed Seamus [McKendree] and then he created a gap behind me, and then he placed his rights in the dirt and spun.”

Odrick was leading the PRO/AM Class early in the going on Sunday, and got involved in an incident when Seamus McKendree spun around and tagged the No. 00. That kicked the Jupiter, Florida-native back outside the top-five in his class, and required the multi-time winner this year in the Class to rally through the pack, battling Cale Phillips and then Michael LaPaglia for the win (who later had a mechanical issue and fell out of the race).

Cale Phillips, the main championship contender to Odrick, finished in the runner-up position, 0.229 seconds behind the No. 00. Tim Carroll was third, with Keith Prociuk, and J.C. Meynet rounding out the top-five.

CUBE 3 Architecture TA2 Series PRO/AM Class Race Results:

1. 1. #00 Jared Odrick
2. 2. #99 Cale Phillips
3. 3. #46 Tim Carroll
4. 4. #9 Keith Prociuk
5. 5. #8 J.C. Meynet
6. 6. #61 Roberto Sabato
7. 7. #98 Doug Winston
8. 8. #66 Christina Lam
9. 9. #64 Matt Gray
10. 10. #16 Jim Gallaugher