Bryce Mersberger Claims 2026 GRIDLIFE RUSH Series National Championship
Twenty-year-old Bryce Mersberger won the 2026 GRIDLIFE RUSH Series National Championship in dominant fashion, mirroring Ryan Leach’s performance in 2025. Mersberger battled Late Entry Motorsports’ Blair Hosie and James French all season long, but ultimately pulled clear of his rivals at Lime Rock Park. By the end of the final round at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca, Mersberger had amassed 456 points, with 342 after drops, more than 60 ahead of his closest competitor.
Dramatic Battle Kicks Off Title Fight
The season opened at Carolina Motorsports Park in April at GRIDLIFE South Carolina. Mersberger’s #114 RUSH SR qualified third, behind reigning champion and teammate Ryan Leach and Blair Hosie. After a tightly contested Race 1, Mersberger battled the #8 RUSH SR into the final corner. Behind the pair, Leach looked for a way through, making contact with the back of the Diversion Motorsport #114 and pushing Mersberger into Hosie. Leach stole the lead, but was ultimately penalized for the contact, handing the win to Mersberger and second place to Jaylan Battely, who slipped through amid the drama. Mersberger went on to win twice more at South Carolina before the field packed up and headed south to Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta.
At GRIDLIFE Special Stage, the paddock was packed with RUSH SRs, with 46 cars qualifying for the four races in Georgia. Mersberger’s RUSH now carried red number boards, a tradition borrowed from motocross competition, where championship leaders don red-backed number plates. Mersberger missed the front two rows in qualifying and started fifth. His finishes at historic Road Atlanta were fourth, second, second, and first, with the final race decided by just 0.187 seconds over Hosie. His Race 3 finish was even closer: Mersberger finished second by just 0.037 seconds. Regardless, he won the weekend over Ryan Leach and James French with 83 points, cementing his championship lead after two of six rounds.
Next, the RUSH Series took on GRIDLIFE Midwest Festival, the biggest stage in grassroots racing, with another packed grid of nearly 50 cars. Mersberger qualified third, just behind Hosie and French, before finishing sixth in Race 1. Class newcomer Justin Kelly and young Aryton Grim slipped ahead during the race, knocking Mersberger outside the top five for just the second time in 2026. A podium in Race 2 and a fourth-place finish in Race 3 set him up well for the final race of the weekend, which he managed to win. However, Hosie’s two victories and French’s consistency meant they scored more points over the weekend. Mersberger still held onto the championship lead as the season reached its halfway point at the conclusion of Round 3 of 6.
Caution-Filled Races Cement Mersberger’s Lead
Watkins Glen International again filled the grid, this time with the largest field of the year: 53 cars. Among the qualifiers were experienced racer and car personality Randy Pobst and IndyCar driver Spencer Pigot. Mersberger won pole but finished second in Race 1. He won Races 2 and 3, both affected by full-course yellows, and was running sixth in Race 4 before an opening-lap incident brought out a red flag and forced the race’s cancellation. Because a lap had not been completed, the race did not count toward the championship. Despite the cancellation, Mersberger won the weekend at Watkins Glen and headed toward Lime Rock Park firmly in command of the title.
Lime Rock Park and GRIDLIFE Circuit Legends proved successful for Mersberger, who racked up three wins despite a mechanical issue that dropped him to 28th in Race 2. Critically, Race 3’s grid was set by lap times, preserving his starting position for the following race rather than burying him in the order. With a nearly insurmountable advantage, Mersberger loaded up for California, where he saw similar success: two first-place finishes and a third, offset by a 25th-place finish in the final race.
While his teammates and rivals kept him honest all season, the red number plates never left Mersberger’s #114 car. His ability to bounce back from misfortune, pair strong results with wins, and capitalize on the championship’s drop-score format helped him build a commanding points advantage. Mersberger scored a win at every round of the 2026 season, and his championship ties him with Matan Rosenberg as the youngest champion in GRIDLIFE history, at just 20 years old.
