Sunoco to Sponsor Young Gun Award It was just announced that Sunoco Race Fuels, the Official Racing Fuel Sponsor of SpeedTour, will sponsor the 2025 Young Gun Award. The Sunoco Race Fuels Young Gun Award will reward the season’s top points earner under the age of 25 in the CUBE 3 Architecture TA2 Series with a $20,000 cash prize at Trans Am’s year-end awards gala. The Young Gun Award was introduced in 2022 as a way to foster competition between the series’ young, up-and-coming drivers, and it has since become one of the most highly-contested titles in the series, as the CUBE 3 Architecture TA2 Series is a proving ground for young talent. TeamSLR’s Win Streak Continues TeamSLR enters this weekend’s race at Barber on a five-race win streak, with the team standing atop the podium at every CUBE 3 Architecture TA2 Series race since Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course in June. Championship points leader Tristan McKee (No. 28 Spire/Gainbridge/SLR-M1 Chevrolet Camaro) started the winning spree at Mid-Ohio, while also taking the checkered flag at Watkins Glen International and Canadian Tire Motorsport Park. Mike Skeen drove to victory at Road America in a podium sweep for the team, while 17-year-old Carson Brown earned his first-career win in the series’ last outing at VIR. This weekend’s race will see the return of 19-year-old Corey Day to the TeamSLR stable, as he gets back behind the wheel of the No. 17 HendrickCars.com/SLR-M1Racecars Chevrolet Camaro for the fifth time this season. Day would like nothing more than to be the fourth different driver to visit Victory Lane and extend the team’s winning streak this weekend. Day is coming off of back-to-back NASCAR Xfinity Series races at the Charlotte Motor Speedway ROVAL and Las Vegas Motor Speedway, finishing a career-best fourth at the latter track. McKee’s Chance to Clinch and Make History With a 152-point advantage coming into this weekend’s event, CUBE 3 Architecture TA2 Series points leader Tristan McKee (No. 28 Spire/Gainbridge/SLR-M1 Chevrolet Camaro) has the opportunity to clinch the title at Barber. With an eighth-place finish or better, McKee can claim the championship regardless of where title rival Sam Corry (No. 70 Nitro Motorsports Toyota Camry) finishes in Sunday’s event. Earning additional points for qualifying or leading laps offers McKee even more flexibility with his result. Should McKee claim the title, he would become the youngest champion in the history of the Trans Am Series at 15 years, two months and 16 days old, besting current record holder Brent Crews by more than four months. He would also become the first driver to capture the championship, Sunoco Race Fuels Young Gun Award and Rookie of the Year honors in the same season. In addition to preparing for this weekend’s event at Barber, McKee has stayed busy since the checkered flag waved at VIR. The Chevrolet Motorsports development driver, who is under contract with NASCAR’s Spire Motorsports, won a Late Model Stock heat race during the NASCAR Regional Series event on September 28 at Martinsville Speedway, and finished third in the ARCA Menards Series season finale at Toledo Speedway on October 4. Corry Comes with Barber Experience At a track where the Trans Am Series has never raced before, Sam Corry (No. 70 Nitro Motorsports Toyota Camry) heads into Barber Motorsports Park with something most drivers don’t have: experience. The 17 year old raced at the track in USF Juniors in 2022, earning a second-place finish in Race 1. Corry is the only driver in Sunday’s field who can come between Tristan McKee and the 2025 championship. Sitting 152 points behind McKee, Corry, who scored one race win this season at Lime Rock Park, will have to gain the maximum points available and hope that the bad luck McKee experienced at VIRginia International Raceway carries through to Barber. Matt Griffin a Winner Another driver with experience on his side this weekend is CUBE 3 Architecture TA2 Series Pro/Am Challenge contender Matt Griffin. The driver of the No. 67 Griffin Concrete Construction Chevrolet Camaro has a past victory at the track in SCCA. Jake Bollman Joins Silver Hare Silver Hare Racing is adding 18-year-old Jake Bollman to their roster for this weekend’s inaugural event at Barber Motorsports Park. Bollman will pilot the No. 75 Guy M. Turner/Waukegan Farms Chevrolet Camaro after recently testing with the team at VIRginia International Raceway. Bollman competes in the ARCA Menards Series West with Bill McAnally Racing, and also races in the CARS Tour. He recently made history as the first Armenian-American stock car racer to win a NASCAR-sanctioned event, capturing his first-career ARCA victory earlier this season at Colorado National Speedway. Silver Hare Racing recently tested at Barber with Noah Harmon (No. 7 Streetside Classics/Flanagan’s Chevrolet Camaro) to prepare for this weekend’s event. Harmon scored his first-career podium finish in Trans Am’s last outing at VIR, an especially emotional moment for the team after the loss of hauler driver Mark “Rocket” Metcalfe, who passed away prior to the race. Tyler Kicera in Champion’s Seat Tyler Kicera returns to the driver’s seat this weekend at Barber, but he won’t be in the Nitro Motorsports ride he drove for two starts this season, including a runner-up finish at Watkins Glen. Kicera will be driving the No. 26 HP Tuners/Franklin Road/Cope Chevrolet Camaro for Mike Cope Racing, getting behind the wheel of the car that has primarily been driven by 2022 champion Thomas Merrill this season. When he isn’t driving, Kicera serves as a driver coach at Nitro Motorsports, which utilizes Mike Cope chassis, making him a perfect fit for the ride. Annunziata Returns When he started off the season with back-to-back victories, Thomas Annunziata immediately became the favorite for the 2025 title. But while sitting second in the standings, Annunziata took a two-race hiatus to focus on his NASCAR and ARCA efforts. Annunziata returns to Trans Am this weekend to race with Nitro Motorsports, but he’ll have a new number, getting behind the wheel of the No. 10 Nitro Motorsports Toyota Camry instead of his familiar No. 90. Pro/Am Challenge Title Hunt Tightens Jared Odrick (No. 00 Black Underwear/CoolBoxx Chevrolet Camaro) continues to lead the CUBE 3 Architecture TA2 Series Pro/Am Challenge standings, but his advantage over Keith Prociuk (No. 9 HP Tuners/Cope Race Cars Ford Mustang) has tightened to just six points now that one of his starts has been eliminated from his points total. Only a driver’s top-nine finishes contribute to the title, and now that Odrick has completed 10 events, his 11th-place finish at Watkins Glen has been eliminated. This puts him on even ground with Prociuk, who missed the race at Laguna Seca earlier this season and has only made nine starts. Now that both competitors, who each have three victories this season, are narrowed to nine races, the closeness of the race is evident and every point counts in the final two events. | 
Barber SpeedTour
