Texas native and Mazda scholarship winner- who finished third in the 2024 PT Autosport Aspiring Driver Shootout – is set to start the Whelen Mazda MX-5 Cup Presented by Michelin season
MILLVILLE, NJ (January 19, 2026) – After turning heads in a dominant performance that saw him capture the 2025 Mazda MX-5 Cup Shootout’s top prize last November, Max Stallone is set for his Whelen Mazda MX-5 Cup Presented by Michelin debut at the legendary Daytona International Speedway – the doubleheader staged as part of the 64th Rolex 24 at Daytona weekend.
Stallone, 19, will take the wheel of the No. 3 Wheels America Racing/PT Autosport Mazda MX-5, with support from PT Autosport and Mazda Motorsports (in the form of the $150,000 prize for winning the Shootout). The car sports the familiar stylized snarling tiger/angry panda livery that has come to symbolize PT Autosport.
Based at New Jersey Motorsports Park in Millville, NJ, PT Autosport is dedicated to providing motorsports opportunities for young drivers who would not otherwise have the means or the opportunity. The Aspiring Driver Shootout, held every November, is open to drivers aged 18 to 23, regardless of racing experience.
The Austin, Texas native had begun racing Spec Miatas when he was named as a finalist in the 2024 PT Autosport Aspiring Driver Shootout. Finishing third, Stallone’s impressive performance earned him six races in the GR Cup series, which significantly ramped up his learning curve. Utilizing that experience, and his background in Spec Miata, Stallone captured the Mazda MX-5 Cup Shootout victory.
Having run in Spec Miata with Dallas-based Wheels America Racing for several years, Stallone chose to remain with the team as they moved up to the main series. The team is owned by Bob Stretch, longtime Spec Miata racer and former Trans-Am TA2 champion.
“When I was looking to get started in racing several years ago, I had no idea where to start,” said Stallone. “I was looking up teams with openings on Facebook, found Wheels America, and did a Champ Car endurance race with them. I just loved the team, we all really clicked, so when it was time to move up, I bought a Spec Miata from them and kept racing. We’ve won a lot of Spec Miata races together, so when I won the Shootout, it made sense for us all to move up together. Bob’s son Logan will be my teammate – we raced together in Spec Miata and work well together.”
Stallone appreciates that his entire team will stay together in 2026, both Wheels America Racing and PT Autosport. After finishing third in the 2024 PT Autosport Aspiring Driver Shootout, Stallone tested with the team and competed in six GR Cup races, establishing a reputation for powering his way through traffic – a talent that will come in handy in the 43-car MX-5 field, the largest MX-5 Cup field in history.
“PT Autosport has been super, super supportive through all of this,” said Stallone. “They’ve helped me connect the dots in many ways, and they’ve been quite instrumental in my ability to do this, I’m very happy to have the panda and the tiger back on my car!”
This weekend will be Stallone’s first experience on the fast and tricky 3.56-mile road course that incorporates a significant portion of the super speedway oval. But Stallone feels prepared based on sim time in the MX-5 and a successful weekend on the Homestead-Miami Speedway’s similar – though much smaller – road course oval.
“I finished second at Homestead in the Spec Miata just a couple of weekends ago,” said Stallone. “I don’t know how the draft will manifest itself at Daytona in the MX-5 Cup car, but I know we’ll be ready. I think this car suits me really well. For me, the driving style is similar to all the other Mazda stuff I’ve done. And I’ve clicked with this car a lot better than just about any other car I’ve driven.”
Put PT Autosport team principal Jason Myers at the top of the list of supporters looking forward to Stallone’s series debut.
“We are all really looking forward to the 2026 season,” said Myers “Max has impressed us so much in the short time we’ve known him, and he obviously impressed everyone at Mazda to win the MX-5 Cup Shootout on his first attempt! Running with the same team that has helped him every step of the way in his racing career so far will help the transition, I’m sure. Wheels America is a great operation and we’re looking forward to seeing how the season unfolds.”
One of the most popular junior development series in the country, the Whelen Mazda MX-5 Cup has Mazda’s grassroots racing at its very core (in fact, management asserts that more Mazdas are raced on any given weekend than any other manufacturer). The cars are built in Hiroshima, Japan then shipped to Flis Performance in Daytona Beach, Fla. where they are completely disassembled and reassembled with a roll cage, racing interior, and more than 250 racing parts.
The Whelen Mazda MX-5 Cup Presented by Michelin series will contest two 45-minute races on the Rolex 24 at Daytona weekend. Race one will be a twilight race, taking the green flag at 5:15 p.m. ET Thursday, with race two Friday at 10:00 a.m. ET. Both races will be streamed live on the IMSA and Racer magazine YouTube channels.
PT Autosport and Max Stallone would like to thank our Partners for their continued support:
Mazda Motorsports has been winning races around the world for 50 years. From Le Mans, France to Daytona International Speedway in Florida, Mazdas have been a constant presence at racetracks around the globe, garnering wins and championships in races too numerous to list – and the list keeps growing.
Mazda Motorsports is responsible for all auto racing initiatives within the North American market, from promoting and servicing grassroots racers to developing sports car professionals of the future.
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Stallone supports Hope Farm, founded in the Dallas/Fort Worth area in 1997 as a long-term leadership development program that guides at-risk boys, without the benefit of a positive male role model in their homes, from the time they are 5-7 years old until high school graduation and beyond. Staff and volunteers are dedicated to meeting the spiritual, nutritional, academic, emotional, and recreational needs of each young man to break the cycle of fatherlessness.
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About PT Autosport — Discover Unique Talent. Develop Champions.
PT Autosport provides merit-based motorsport industry opportunities for diverse individuals with high integrity, grit, and coach-ability, achieved through a development program for young aspiring drivers, engineers, mechanics, and other professionals. The first step of this process is applying for the annual Aspiring Driver Shootout, in which aspiring drivers aged 18-23 can compete for a team racing partnership with the team.
A rigorous evaluation process of applicants determines the final competitors for the driver shootout. The winner earns financial support of up to $250,000 ($50,000 guaranteed) to pursue their racing career. The review process also provides the team the chance to identify unique talent for other roles in motorsport, including race engineers, mechanics, and professionals.
PT Autosport is building a community that fosters the development of young talent to find a place where they can make an impact in the motorsport community as a career.
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