Crowning Another TeamSLR Champion at COTA

ST. AUGUSTINE, Fla. (Nov. 4, 2026) – Five points. That’s all that separates Alon Day and Helio Meza heading into Sunday’s 12th and final race of the 2026 CUBE 3 Architecture TA2 Series season at the Circuit of the Americas (COTA) in Austin, Texas, setting the stage for a championship showdown where one driver will emerge with TeamSLR’s second consecutive driver title.

They’ll be joined by fellow full-season teammate Lanie Buice, who’s been on a roll of late with four top-five finishes in the last five races, and Graham Jacobson, who looks to clinch the TA2 Series Western Championship title in Sunday’s race-within-a-race in his M1 Racecars entry fielded by NOMOTORSPORTS.

The veteran Day will take to the COTA layout for the first time this weekend. But the driver of the No. 17 JSSI/SLR-M1 Racecars Chevrolet Camaro from Ashdod, Israel, who turned 35 Wednesday, has been no stranger to championship battles in his career. He’s a four-time NASCAR Euro Series champion, earning titles in 2017, 2018, 2020 and 2022. He led the standings entering the final race weekend during three of those championship campaigns, but his 2018 title required a dramatic, come-from-behind rally on the final day of the season. He’ll essentially need to qualify in the top-five and finish at least two positions ahead of Meza to emerge with this year’s TA2 Series championship in first season on the tour. Day has been a model of consistency this season, scoring nine consecutive podium finishes from the second through 10^th rounds. Two of Day’s podium finishes were victories – May 23 at Lime Rock Park in Lakeville, Connecticut, and June 28 at Road America in Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin – and six were runner-up finishes, five of those to Meza and the other to 2025 TA2 champion Tristan McKee of TeamSLR in the second race of a weekend doubleheader at Watkins Glen (N.Y.) International on July 19.

For Meza, the 18-year-old from just down the road in Houston, the battle comes full circle at COTA, where he launched his TA2 career at this race a year ago. He won his series debut after starting from the pole and leading every lap. Now, with eight victories to his credit this season – seven from the pole and the other from the outside-front-row starting spot – he’s looking to put the ultimate exclamation point on the 2026 campaign behind the wheel of the No. 28 Alessandros Racing/Chevrolet/SLR-M1 Racecars Camaro. The Chevrolet development driver simply needs to qualify in the top-five and finish no worse than one position behind Day to clinch the championship. He’s riding the momentum of back-to-back victories from the pole Sept. 5 at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park (CTMP) in Bowmanville, Ontario, and Sept. 20 at Virginia International Raceway (VIR) in Alton.Buice, the driver of the No. 28 Guthrie’s Garage/Sunoco/SLR-M1 Racecars Chevrolet Camaro from Jackson, Georgia, who turned 20 on Tuesday, arrives at COTA having quietly put together one of the stronger closing stretches in the TA2 field, scoring four top-four finishes in her last five starts, including her first TA2 national-series podium at CTMP. She also made history earlier in the season as the first female driver to win a Western Championship race April 25 at Sonoma (Calif.) Raceway.

Returning to the M1 Racecars camp in his NOMOTORSPORTS entry for his third race weekend is Jacobson, the 19-year-old from Marietta, Georgia, who’ll be behind the wheel of the No. 48 Skilled-Nation.org / NOMOTORSPORTS Chevrolet Camaro. Jacobson is entered in both the TA2 national series and Western Championship fields, which will race concurrently. He joined the M1 Racecars NOMOTORSPORTS lineup at VIR, then took part in rounds three and four of this year’s five-race Western Championship season Oct. 3-4 at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca near Monterey, California. Having finished fourth and first in the opening two rounds at Sonoma, Jacobson left Laguna Seca with a 34-point lead atop the Western Championship standings after posting finishes of first and fourth. He can clinch the series-within-a-series title by taking the green flag to start Sunday’s race at COTA.

“Graham is a very welcome addition to our group and has shown he can get the job done,” said NOMOTORSPORTS team owner Naz Olkhovskyi. “It’s been a proven partnership with M1 Racecars support to allow Graham to be at his best each weekend he’s with us.”

Fellow M1 Racecars competitor Tim Carroll of Costa Mesa, California, is the second-place driver in the Western Championship standings, sitting four points ahead of third-place Mike LaPaglia. Carroll, driver of the No. 46 CRDMFG/M1 Racecars Chevrolet Camaro, scored the Western Championship victory in the second race of the Laguna Seca doubleheader. Carroll ventured into TA2 Pro-Am Challenge Series competition this season on two occasions, earning a second-place finish from the class pole June 21 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, and a third-place finish the following weekend from the fifth starting position at Road America.

Second in the season-long Pro-Am Challenge standings heading to COTA is M1 Racecars driver and defending class champion Jared Odrick, driver of the No. 00 Pop Art Snacks/Black Underwear Chevrolet Camaro for Troy Benner Autosport. The former NFL defensive lineman enters the weekend 19 points behind leader Cale Phillips in the Pro-Am standings despite collecting six class victories, including the most recent round at VIR. Odrick’s teammate Jace Denmark, returns to the M1 Racecars camp in his TA2 national series No. 68 TRB entry.

Also competing for the fourth time this season is the newly created TA2 Sprint Championship, which will take to the track for a 15-lap, 35-minute race Sunday morning. Included in the field is Naz Olkhovskyi, driver of the No. 18 Fisherman Co./NOMOTORSPORTS/M1 Racecars Chevrolet Camaro. The Ukraine native drove to finishes of fourth and sixth at the previous two TA2 Sprint rounds June 27-28 at Road America.

Riding along with TeamSLR drivers and their M1 Racecars this weekend are season-long partners Guthrie’s Garage, CUBE 3 Architecture and longtime supporters Franklin Road Apparel Company and Kallberg Racing.

TeamSLR also welcomed new partner Focal One® for the first time in the June race at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Focal One® is the leading robotic focal therapy platform in prostate cancer, leveraging advanced imaging, intelligent treatment planning, robotic precision, and high-intensity focused ultrasound (HIFU) to deliver personalized, minimally invasive therapy. By enabling precise tissue targeting while helping preserve quality of life, Focal One is redefining the standard of care in focal therapy in prostate cancer. Focal One is developed and commercialized by FocalTherics, a medical technology company focused on expanding access to focused ultrasound-based robotic therapies worldwide through continuous innovation, clinical research, physician education, and strategic market development. For more information, visit FocalOne.com.

The weekend kicks off Friday with a pair of TA2 test sessions at 10:30 a.m. and 4:05 p.m. CST. Saturday opens with official TA2 practice at 8:20 a.m., and wraps up with TA2 qualifying at 1:10 p.m. Sunday’s 30-lap, 75-minute race around the 3.4-mile, 20-turn COTA layout is set for 10:40 a.m. with live television coverage available at no charge at RacingAmerica.TV, as well as the official Trans Am Series presented by Pirelli YouTube channel (@gotransam).

Alon Day, Driver, No. 17 JSSI/SLR-M1 Racecars Chevrolet Camaro:

You head to COTA with the championship at stake for you and your teammate Helio Meza, who leads you by five points. What are your overall thoughts as you think your strategy through the weekend?

“As I’ve done all season, I’ll try not to think about it too much and just focus on the race itself, trying to perform as well as I can.”

Your own championship lead was erased at VIR due to a penalty on a restart. Has that weighed on your mind in the six-week break in the schedule since?

“I can’t go back in time, and I can’t change the past. I’ve learned from it and moved forward, trying to focus on the situation right now to give JSSI and TeamSLR the best possible results." 

This will be your first time seeing and driving the COTA circuit while Helio won this race from the pole last year in what was his very first-ever TA2 race? How do you counter that?

“I hadn’t driven at most of the tracks before this season, yet I’ve performed well and fought for the win at almost every one. I’m looking forward to racing at COTA for the first time. I’m sure it’s going to be a fun track. I’ve been doing a lot of sim prep as always. I did a bit of driving in a Euro NASCAR car in Belgium as part of my job as a driver coach, but most of my preparation has been on the simulator. The track looks fun. I’m not a big fan of tracks with huge asphalt runoff areas, where track limits are a big part of the game, but it looks like a fun and fast track to drive. I would say it’s comparable to Paul Ricard Circuit in France. It has a similar design, with many asphalt runoff areas and fast corners.”

Do you take delight in the fact that your “rookie” TA2 Series season has come down to a championship battle between you and a teammate? What are your thoughts about your first season in the series and working with TeamSLR?

?”I think this shows how well TeamSLR works, with all the credit going to Scott (Lagasse Jr.) and the entire team for working so hard to give us the best possible cars. ?I’ve had such a great time racing with TeamSLR. It’s been a crazy year for me, and I’m glad I’ve spent it with this team.”

Helio Meza, Driver, No. 28 Alessandros Racing/Chevrolet/SLR-M1 Racecars Camaro:

You’re returning to COTA, where your TA2 career began with a victory from the pole in your series debut at this race last year. You have a five-point lead in the championship over your teammate Alon Day with this year’s title on the line. Does your approach change at all, considering what’s at stake?

“Honestly, it’s going to be exactly the same. That’s one thing I’m really big on. If you’re having success getting to a certain point, why would you change your approach? What I’ve been doing all year has gotten me to where I am, so there’s no reason to do anything differently now. I’ve prepared just as hard for all 11 races this year, and that’s not going to change for this one. Obviously, I’m going to be racing Alon just like I do every other weekend, but I’m not going to go out of my way to prevent him from doing anything. I’m just going to go out there, execute the best I can and see what happens. Looking back on the year, I’m really happy with everything we’ve accomplished. After Canada, I had pretty much written off the championship because of the points lead Alon left with. But this year has still been incredible for me, not just in Trans Am, but with some of the other opportunities I’ve had, including my ARCA Menards Series debut in Las Vegas and getting more experience in Late Models. It’s been a year of a lot of firsts, and there’s not much for me to complain about. I’m excited, I’m pumped and I’m ready to finish the season where it all started for me.” 

Having already raced and won at COTA last year, you obviously have experience at a track Alon hasn’t raced before. Does that give you any kind of advantage heading into the championship finale?

“It always helps when you’ve been to a track that your competitors haven’t. You start from a higher baseline because you already know the place. While Alon might spend that first session learning the track, I can already start developing the car and giving feedback. The tricky part is that we’re on the same team. If I make a change and it’s better, he gets that same change, too. We share data and look at each other’s information, so it doesn’t necessarily give me a huge advantage. At this point, we’re not going to separate and operate like two different teams within one organization. We’re going to keep working together just like we have all year. I think that’s a big part of why TeamSLR has been so successful. We share information and work together rather than going in completely different directions with each car. As much as you might not always want to share everything as a driver, it makes the team stronger overall. Instead of each of us fighting the rest of the field separately, we’re both up front, and then it’s just Alon and me battling it out. I’m feeling confident and ready for the weekend.”

TeamSLR has already secured its second consecutive TA2 championship, and now the only question is which of you two will take home the driver title. What does that say about the organization?

“I think it’s incredible. If you want to look at it in Formula One terms, the team has essentially already clinched the constructors’ championship. Everyone in the paddock knows TeamSLR is the champion, and that’s got to be a great feeling for all the guys who have worked so hard to get us here. I don’t see any cockiness or big egos from the mechanics or crew members. Everyone is still focused on doing the best they can for the good of the team, and that’s something I really appreciate. Even when we’re competing against each other for the championship, the crews help one another. It’s not like everyone is exclusively working on one car and that’s it. I think that’s a really cool part of this organization. We all want to win, obviously, but we understand that we’re working toward something bigger as a team. Now, it’s almost fun for everybody to watch Alon and me go out there and battle for the driver championship. They’ve already accomplished what they’ve been working toward all year, and now they get to enjoy the fruits of their labor.”

There’s a lot of significance to this weekend beyond the championship. COTA is where you first saw a TA2 race in person, where you made your series debut and earned that memorable first victory, and it’s your home track. Now you get to return there with a championship within reach and family coming out to support you. What does that mean to you?

“It’s really special. Any time you get to race at a big track where NASCAR or Formula One competes, it’s an incredible feeling. You’ve watched those races on TV, and then suddenly you’re rolling off pit road and getting to race on that same track. But COTA has even more significance for me. It was actually the first place I ever watched a TA2 race in person. That was two or three years ago, when I was invited my dad and I to watch Connor Zilisch race. That’s when I really fell in love with the series. I’d watched it on TV before, but that was the first time I thought, ‘Man, this would be really cool to race in one day.’ Fast-forward a couple of years, and I’m making my debut there, hoping to finish in the top-10 or maybe even the top five, and somehow I end up winning the race. It was one of those moments that didn’t even feel real at the time. It took a day or two for everything to sink in. I don’t think I truly understood what had happened right away. Now, to come back and potentially finish th