Meza Stays Perfect With Third Straight CUBE 3 Architecture TA2 Series Win

Helio Meza continued his dominant performance in the CUBE 3 Architecture TA2 Series on Saturday at Road Atlanta as he took the checkered flag for his third straight win to begin his career in the series. With the win, the driver of the No. 28 Alessandros Racing Team SLR Chevrolet Camaro became the first driver since Rafa Matos in 2022 to win three consecutive TA2 Series races.

It was a perfect race weekend for Meza, who earned the track record in Friday's qualifying session to take the pole position for the event, and on Saturday, he led the race wire-to-wire and was unflappable through a series of late-race cautions on his path to victory, as he held off NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series competitor, Andres Perez de Lara, for the win.

"Oh man, that felt really good, obviously, leading the whole race, and just kind of really taking control," Meza said. "And man, this car is a rocket ship. I can't thank [Team] SLR enough for working so hard. We struggled a little bit throughout the practice with a few handling issues."

After his Team SLR group made some tweaks following the open test sessions earlier in the weekend, Meza was impressed with the performance of his car in Friday's practice and qualifying sessions.

The performance bled into Saturday's race, where Meza took advantage and kept his record in the TA2 Series perfect.

"Just led it lap-to-lap, so really unbelievable. This is one of my first ever times that I've been a part of a team like this that works really hard and wants nothing but the best for me. Just super grateful for everyone in my corner."

Meza will now head to Mexico, where he will compete in the season-opening event for the NASCAR Mexico Series at San Luis Potosi on Sunday, March 15.

Behind Perez de Lara was Alon Day, who helped secure a full sweep of the podium for Team SLR, a team that saw its winning streak in the TA2 Series stretch to nine races on Saturday.

For Day, the march to a podium finish was an incredible thing to watch as he had to claw from a last-place starting spot after he was unable to turn a lap in Friday's qualifying session due to a crash late in practice. The driver of the No. 17 JSSI Chevrolet Camaro kept his head down and methodically worked his way to the front all race long.

"I'm speechless. Yeah, I came from the back. There are a couple of people I really need to thank them. First of all is JSSI for giving me the opportunity to be here. Without them, I wouldn't be here. Team SLR, they worked really hard yesterday. We had a bad crash in practice, that's why I couldn't qualify and so that's the reason I had to start in the back. Those guys, each of them, they did a hell of a job giving me a fighter jet. That's what I felt."

Day, who lives in Israel, also thanked the United States and Israeli militaries for their efforts in Iran, and said he can't wait to get back home, where he has a three-month-old baby waiting for him.

Noah Harmon had a late-race climb through the leaderboard to score a fourth-place run, as he came across the finish line right behind Day, and 15-year-old Ethan Tovo ended the afternoon with a fifth-place finish.

Rafa Matos, Eric Cayton, Jace Denmark, Keith Prociuk, and Cale Phillips rounded out the top-10 finishers overall in Saturday's race.

The race would finish under caution after a confluence of events that brought out the caution for the final time with three laps to go. First, Lanie Buice got a bit overzealous in a battle with Thomas Merrill in Turn 10. Buice would make contact, which spun Merrill, and Jackson Tovo, who had nowhere to go, got into the back of Buice's car.

As that was happening, Tanner Reif came to a stop off course, which ultimately caused the yellow flag to come out.

For Prociuk, coming out on top of Phillips secured him the TA2 Pro/Am class win on a day where misfortune continually struck the leader of the class. Prociuk was proud to come out on top of what he considered a mentally draining day.

"It was one of the tougher races I've had this year. It was very mentally challenging," Prociuk said. "Thanks Travis and the entire Cope crew for turning the car around from Sebring. Started off a little bit slower than we'd like to the last race, but to come out on top is really great. Fantastic race, and yeah, looking forward to the next one."

Doug Winston joined Prociuk and Phillips on the podium for the TA2 Pro/Am class in Saturday's race at Road Atlanta.

Jared Odrick, the defending Pro/Am champion, suffered from overheating issues mid-race and was forced to pit road. Odrick would battle back to finish 15th overall.

After Odrick found trouble, Roberto Sabato had issues of his own while leading the Pro/Am class. With 11 laps to go, Sabato skidded across the track and collected fellow Pro/Am competitor Patrick Paul in the crash.

Paul would go on to finish 25th overall, and Sabato would bring his No. 61 6th Gear Racing Ford Mustang to a 27th-place finish.

CUBE 3 Architecture TA2 Series Results - Road Atlanta

-Photo Credit: Sarah Glasco | Racing America