Gonzalez Hopes To Parlay TA2 Experience Into Successful O'Reilly Debut

Tyler Gonzalez, a 21-year-old road racing ace, is set to make his NASCAR O'Reilly Auto Parts Series debut this weekend at Circuit of the Americas, driving the No. 5 Ford Mustang for Hettinger Racing.

The young racer is hopeful for his debut as he has competed in seven CUBE 3 Architecture TA2 Series events over the last two seasons. The Trans Am TA2 car is widely regarded as a very comparable vehicle to the NASCAR stock car that Gonzalez will be competing in this weekend.

“TA2 cars are probably the closest thing to a stock car, so the time I spent there is going to be really helpful,” Gonzalez said. “The series had big fields, and the cars are pretty evenly matched, so it forced you to refine your racecraft in terms of knowing when to be aggressive, when to be patient, and how to position yourself in traffic. All of that will come into play this weekend at COTA.”

Additionally, Gonzalez has confidence in his familiarity with the Circuit of the Americas race course, as he has competed at the facility in several racing series, including the Mazda MX-5 Cup, and Toyota GR Cup, and he won a GT4 America event at COTA last April.

“I’ve had the chance to race at COTA in a few different series, and winning there in GT4 last year was a big moment for me. But this is a different challenge,” Gonzalez said. “The O’Reilly Series demands a lot. It’s filled with really good drivers on really good teams. There’s a lot of depth. My goal is to learn and execute in practice and in qualifying, and all the way through the race. I’m grateful to Chris and everyone at Hettinger Racing and Ford for this opportunity.”

The Hettinger Racing team, which has experienced a rough start to the 2026 campaign through the two superspeedway events to open the season, is hopeful that Gonzalez can help the team earn a much-needed good result this weekend.

“Tyler brings a lot of road-racing experience to our team. He’s won championships, he’s won at COTA, and he’s shown that he can handle cars similar to what he’ll be racing this weekend,” said team owner Chris Hettinger. “Our job is to give him a strong No. 5 Victory Custom Trailers Ford Mustang so he can showcase his talent here in the O’Reilly Series.”

The NASCAR O'Reilly Auto Parts Series Focused Health 250 at Circuit of the Americas is scheduled for Saturday, February 28, and will be televised on The CW with television coverage set to begin at 3:00 PM ET.