Back to Story List

Talented Crop of Youngsters Chasing 2026 Sunoco Young Gun Driver's Championship

April 9, 2026

The Trans Am Series by Pirelli CUBE 3 Architecture TA2 Series campaign is well underway with trips to Sebring and Road Atlanta in the books, and as the series prepares to travel to Sonoma Raceway for its first of two doubleheader weekends this season, the fight for supremacy in the championship continues to take shape.

It’s not just the overall championship fight on people’s minds, either, as the Sunoco Race Fuels Young Gun Award enters its fifth season and involved in the fight is an immensely talented pool of drivers competing for the $20,000 prize awarded to the season’s top points scorer under the age of 25.

The list of former winners is extremely strong, with Nitro Motorsports drivers Brent Crews (2022 and 2023) and Thomas Annunziata (2024) claiming the award in each of its first three seasons. Last season, driving for Team SLR, Tristan McKee took home both the Young Gun Driver’s Championship and the CUBE 3 TA2 Architecture Series title.

Now, all three drivers are well on their way to competing in NASCAR’s National Series, with Annunziata and McKee competing in the ARCA Menards Series and Brent Crews signing a deal with Joe Gibbs Racing to run 29 NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series events.

With two of the 12 CUBE 3 Architecture TA2 Series events done and dusted, there are 13 drivers under the age of 25 who have made a start this season, and 12 drivers who have been present for both race weekends.

Helio Meza (No. 28 Alessandros Racing / SLR-M1 Chevrolet Camaro) has been the talk of the town when it comes to the CUBE 3 Architecture TA2 Series in 2026. It’s been a perfect start to the year for Meza, who has started first and finished first in both events, while putting on a dominant performance in both.

There is absolutely zero question, whatsoever, considering Meza has won each of his first three events in the CUBE 3 TA2 Series (one at the end of 2025, and two to start 2026) that the Spring, Texas-native is going to be the driver to beat for this award… and the championship.

However, Ethan Tovo (No. 10 Dick’s Sporting Goods Toyota Camry) will undoubtedly be in the picture should Meza slip from peak form at any point during the season. Aside from Meza, Tovo, sneakily, is the only other driver to finish top five in the first two events of the year – with a fourth at Sebring and fifth at Road Atlanta.

Ethan, like his twin brother Jackson, compete for Nitro Motorsports – a championship-winning organization in its own right – which has brought these highly regarded brothers into the Trans Am CUBE 3 Architecture TA2 Series to compete for a championship.

Although Ethan has proven to be the stronger of the two brothers to begin the campaign, Jackson Tovo (No. 30 Pilot Travel Centers Toyota Camry) hasn’t been far behind, collecting a pair of 10th-place results to begin the season – leaving him sitting a solid fifth place in Sunoco Race Fuels Young Gun Driver’s Championship standings.

Between them, in third, is Silver Hare Racing’s protégé, Noah Harmon, who has shown some incredible pace to begin the 2026 Trans Am CUBE 3 Architecture TA2 Series campaign, with a second place start at Sebring and a fourth-place finish at Road Atlanta. For Harmon, an 18th-place result in the season-opener at Sebring is a story of what could have been, when the young driver was handed a 37-second penalty for Avoidable Contact tossing him off the podium and back outside the top-15.

Drivers from the Nitro Motorsports stables make up three of the top-five in the Sunoco Race Fuels Young Gun Driver’s Championship, with Sam Corry (No. 70 Nitro Motorsports Toyota Camry) sitting fourth in standings. The driver of the No. 70 has been relatively quiet throughout the start of the year but has found a way to run in and around the top-five in both of the series first events, finishing fifth at Sebring and 11th at Road Atlanta – after starting sixth.

It’s still early days for the Sunoco Race Fuels Young Gun Driver’s Championship, which means that any of its eligible drivers could go on a mid-season run and find them in the middle of a battle for the $20,000 end-of-season prize, courtesy of series partner Sunoco.

Tanner Reif (No. 75 Power Gen Components Chevrolet Camaro) is in the early days of his Trans Am CUBE 3 TA2 Series career, driving for Silver Hare Racing, and has managed to hold sixth in the Young Gun Driver’s Championship. Reif was featured on the RAM: Race For The Seat competition in the off-season, competing for a ride in the NASCAR Truck Series.

Jace Denmark (No. 25 Cope Race Cars Chevrolet Camaro) sits seventh in the standings, with Gian Buffamonte (No. 95 Nitro Motorsports Toyota Camry) eighth, Gavin Gleitsman (No. 51 Exron Capital / Image FX Chevrolet Camaro) ninth, and Team SLR driver Lanie Buice (No. 27 Sunoco / Guthrie’s Garage / SLR-M1 / Chevrolet Camaro) rounding out the top-10.

Sunoco Race Fuels Young Gun Driver’s Championship Standings:

1. #28 Helio Meza (211pts)
2. #10 Ethan Tovo (-39pts)
3. #7 Noah Harmon (-64pts)
4. #70 Sam Corry (-67pts)
5. #30 Jackson Tovo (-83pts)
6. #75 Tanner Reif (-88pts)
7. #25 Jace Denmark (-91pts)
8. #95 Gian Buffamonte (-104pts)
9. #51 Gavin Gleitsman (-109pts)
10. #27 Lanie Buice (-112pts)
11. #90 Vinnie Meskelis (-113pts)
12. #20 Seamus McKendree (-118pts)
13. #19 Graham Jacobson (-175pts)