Dyson Wins Trans Am Season Finale; Brabham's Podium Clinches Championship

POUGHKEEPSIE, NY (November 9, 2026) – The right call on the weather brought Chris Dyson victory in the 2026 Trans Am by Pirelli season finale at Texas’s Circuit of the Americas, while his CD Racing teammate Matthew Brabham clinched the season championship with a podium finish.

It was the three-time series champion’s 30th Trans Am victory and lifts Dyson out of a second-place tie with Mark Donohue on the all-time Trans Am winners' list, just one behind Paul Gentilozzi.

“It's just such an honor to be competing in this series and carrying on my family's legacy, it hasn't quite set in,” Dyson said after climbing from his car in the winners circle. “You just look at the names who are at the top of the tree of the Trans Am winners list; those guys were my heroes. They're guys I idolized when I was younger and to think that I'm in their company, it's deeply humbling.”

Completing an unprecedented season-long qualifying sweep, Brabham started Sunday’s 100-mile sprint from the pole in CD Racing’s #16 GYM Soda Ford Mustang, on a wet but drying track and in fewer than 10 laps stretched out a commanding half-minute lead over the rest of the field. Meanwhile Dyson, who had qualified third in #20 GYM SODA/RACER Ford Mustang got knocked back to eighth after being balked during a second-lap incident.

Dyson had worked his way back up to third as the race passed the two-thirds mark when a full-course caution bunched up the field – and with racing surface continuing to dry, but weather radar showing more showers on the way opened the option for drivers to gamble on a change to dry tires. When the second-place driver pitted for dry tires, Brabham decided to do the same. Dyson made the opposite decision, inheriting the lead, but on wet-weather tires that might not make it to the finish if the track dried completely.

“I was hoping if anything it was going to rain again,” Dyson said later. “The track was drying, but I just thought, we have to hedge the bets, because Matt was coming in for slicks. The guys (in the pits) kept saying it would rain in six minutes. I was hoping that rain might come.”

The rain did not materialize but the track was not ready yet for slicks. And so from the restart on, Dyson’s #20 was the fastest car on the track, finishing the race unchallenged, with a nearly 17-second margin.

Sunday’s Texas triumph also marked CD Racing’s fifth Trans Am triumph in six years at COTA, three by Dyson and two by Brabham.

With increased business commitments on his plate, Dyson turned over the team’s lead-driver position and its most advanced chassis to Brabham for the season. Dyson now competes in selected events in the team’s 2018 car as his schedule permits. His COTA-winning #20 GYM SODA/RACER Ford Mustang has now completed its ninth racing season.

“I knew after we wrapped up 2025 that the (#16) car was going to be phenomenal this year,” Dyson said, “and I also knew that I wasn’t going be able to make all the races. So we made the decision to put Matt in full time, and he delivered week in, week out. I mean, he swept every qualifying session and won the championship against pretty stiff opposition. It was a season for the ages and I'm proud of him and the whole team."

Brabham, now the Trans Am series champion and winner of nine of the season’s dozen races, reflected on 2026.

“The championship years are the best years of your career,” he said. “I just can't thank my team enough. Chris Dyson, he doesn't get enough credit for the development work he's done on this car himself. He's made this car better and better for every race. Thank you so much, everyone on my team; everyone who looks after this car – the engineers and the mechanics. It wasn’t an easy season, but they just made the car so fast and so enjoyable.” 


Click here for more on Chris Dyson Racing.