The CUBE 3 Structure TA2 Sequence has turn out to be a breeding floor for expertise in motorsports. Each present Trans Am drivers dipping their toes into different collection and former drivers who’ve moved up the motorsports ladder are discovering success in different types of racing, some on the high ranges of inventory automotive and sports activities automotive racing.
In-depth driver-development applications and expertise in heavy, high-horsepower, full-body inventory automobiles with no driver aids make TA2 an optimum proving floor that enables drivers to hone their race craft and prepares them for the subsequent step of their careers.
Seventeen-year-old Connor Zilisch kicked off the 2024 TA2 season with a victory at Sebring Worldwide Raceway, following up a 2023 season the place he drove to Victory Lane six occasions. Exterior of the Trans Am paddock, he has been forging a reputation for himself in all types of motorsports. He began the yr with an LMP2 win within the 24 Hours of Daytona and adopted that up with a victory in the identical class within the 12 Hours of Sebring. He has earned three ARCA Menards Sequence wins (Dover Motor Speedway, Iowa Speedway, Lucas Oil Indianapolis Raceway Park), and one ARCA East win (Flat Rock Speedway), and earned a pole and top-five end in his NASCAR Truck Sequence debut at Circuit of The Americas. He additionally tallied a victory within the CARS Late Mannequin Inventory Tour at Hickory Motor Speedway. He has a multi-year improvement contract with Trackhouse Racing and Chevrolet, and is scheduled to make his NASCAR Xfinity Sequence debut with JR Motorsports at Watkins Glen Worldwide later this yr.
2023 TA2 champion Brent Crews has earned one-career ARCA win and has scored a top-five end in nearly each begin he’s made within the collection, most just lately with a second-place end at Mid-Ohio Sports activities Automobile Course only a few weeks in the past. Crews has additionally earned two CARS Late Mannequin Inventory Tour victories this season, with the latest approaching the Fourth of July at Caraway Speedway. Though solely working part-time with Trans Am in 2024, Crews has already received two races this yr: Mid-Ohio in TA2 with Nitro Motorsports and Street America with Weaver Racing Ideas in his first-career TA-class begin. Crews already has a improvement cope with Toyota Racing Growth and is managed (and typically fielded) by NASCAR Cup Sequence champion Kevin Harvick’s KHI Administration and Kevin Harvick Inc.
Two-time Trans Am winner Connor Mosack continues to run full-time within the CUBE 3 Structure TA2 Sequence for Silver Hare Racing in 2024, however he’s additionally making waves past Trans Am. The 25-year-old has scored two-career ARCA victories, with the latest coming at Kansas Speedway earlier this yr. Mosack has additionally made plenty of begins within the NASCAR Xfinity Sequence and NASCAR Truck Sequence this season, most just lately qualifying third and ending sixth within the star-studded Xfinity race on Chicago’s Avenue Course in a discipline filled with Cup Sequence regulars.
Along with Zilisch, Crews and Mosack, different Trans Am alumni have been discovering success in ARCA Racing Sequence. William Sawalich, who started racing in Trans Am in 2022, has tallied 4 victories in ARCA this season (Phoenix Raceway, Mid-Ohio, Berlin Raceway, Salem Speedway) in addition to an ARCA West win at Portland Worldwide Raceway. 2024 ARCA winner at Talladega Superspeedway Jake Finch additionally has expertise within the Trans Am Sequence. In reality, 9 out of 11 ARCA Menards Sequence races this yr have been received by present or former Trans Am opponents. Gio Ruggiero has an ARCA East Sequence victory to his title at 5 Flags Speedway, in addition to a pole within the flagship collection, Sam Mayer has earned an ARCA West Sequence win at Sonoma Raceway and 2023 TA2 driver Sean Hingorani has back-to-back ARCA West wins at Irwindale Speedway.
The Xfinity Sequence is one other place the place many Trans Am alumni are shining. Austin Inexperienced, who raced full-time in 2023 and is at present racing part-time in TA2 has made a splash within the NASCAR Xfinity Sequence driving for Trans Am crew Peterson Racing, which is owned by two-time TA champion Doug Peterson. Inexperienced has scored three high 10s and one top-five end in Xfinity, together with a fourth-place end at Sonoma Raceway. Inexperienced is the son of 1994 NASCAR Xfinity Sequence champion David Inexperienced.
At Iowa Speedway a number of weeks in the past, your complete high 5 within the Xfinity Sequence race was composed of drivers who’ve expertise in TA2. Winner Sam Mayer, Riley Herbst, Corey Heim, Sammy Smith and Sheldon Creed have all made begins in Trans Am. At New Hampshire Motor Speedway, winner Christopher Bell, Creed and Carson Kvapil have been top-five finishers and Trans Am alums.
On the NASCAR Cup Sequence stage, among the most profitable opponents resembling Bell, Tyler Reddick, Chase Briscoe, Ty Gibbs have additionally dabbled in Trans Am’s CUBE 3 Structure TA2 Sequence.
For some, the CUBE 3 Structure TA2 Sequence is a vacation spot with essentially the most aggressive and cost-contained street course racing on the planet. However for individuals who have goals of constructing it to the subsequent stage, it’s one in every of greatest improvement collection for purpose-built, high-horsepower inventory automobiles.
