Cacá Bueno Qualifies Sixth at Curvelo After Close Oval-Track Qualifying

September 19, 2026

One of the fastest drivers on the Curvelo oval last season, Cacá Bueno faced significant challenges in Saturday’s qualifying (the 19th) at Circuito dos Cristais for NASCAR Brasil. The Team RC driver will start sixth on Sunday, after being among the quickest on Friday.

“I was looking at the telemetry just now and seeing the difference to my teammates who qualified better, and the gap is basically only on the straight. The car came out very nose-heavy in qualifying and the engine hasn’t been helping much in the latest rounds. It isn’t as bad as Londrina, but it remains tricky. On a track that only has two corners, the straightaway matters a lot. So I gained a tenth on one straight, a little less on the other, and with a tenth and a half we would be third,” explains Cacá, who is sponsored by Betnacional, Capital Concreto, PicPay, ACDelco, SpeedMax Pneus, Pneu Store, Milwaukee, Turbi, and Chevrolet.

Make RallyBuzz your preferred source for Formula 1 news on Google and also on Google Discover.

Follow on Google

“Without the tow, the car behaves well, but we also have to see why, because even with the lack of straight-line speed, we were fourth yesterday in Practice 1, seventh this morning, so the car was behaving better. In qualifying it was a bit cooler and the car ended up nose-first. So, combined with this small engine deficit and the car being very nose-heavy, that ended up punishing us. The gaps are tight, but I’ll start in the middle of the pack, so at least two fun races are ahead,” completes Cacá.

The Race 1 will take place at 9:00 a.m. this Sunday and Race 2 is scheduled for 2:10 p.m. The event will be broadcast on SBT, ESPN, Disney+ and YouTube.

Jake Thompson

I'm Jake Thompson, a motorsport journalist born and raised in North Carolina, where NASCAR weekends were basically family holidays. I’ve been covering everything from Formula 1 to rally raids for over a decade, blending sharp analysis with a fan’s heart. For me, writing about racing isn’t just a job — it’s the best seat in the house.