NASCAR
Sam Mayer Takes First Xfinity Series win at Home in Road America
ELKHART LAKE, Wis. – In career start number 71, Sam Mayer is finally a NASCAR Xfinity Series winner. The 20-year-old behind the wheel of the JR Motorsports No. 1 Chevrolet showed up when it counted, taking the lead coming to the white flag in double-overtime at Road America. The Franklin, Wisconsin native gets to celebrate his biggest win yet on his home turf.
Heavy prerace favorite and polesitter AJ Allmendinger failed to add onto his road course win total. Early electrical issues plagued the Kaulig No. 10 all race. The dominator instead was 2018 Road America winner Justin Allgaier. The No. 7 Chevrolet took command on lap six and won both Stages.
Earlier in the race, two separate harrowing moments of brake failure occurred going into turn one. Ending Stage 1 was Chandler Smith turning right at the start/finish line. Later on in the final Stage, Alex Labbe had a long slide through turn one and into the wall.
Chandler Smith lost his brakes and had to use the wall to slow the car going down the straight.
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The first overtime would be triggered after a multi-car incident in turn five. A sliding Josh Berry sent Sammy Smith into AJ Allmendinger, setting back out several strong cars.
Allgaier held the lead on a second overtime restart, only to spin off track trying to regain lost ground. This briefly gave the lead to Sage Karam, but Sam Mayer took over by the white flag. Over the closing four miles, Mayer managed his gap over Parker Kligerman to his maiden Xfinity Series victory.
“Oh my God,” Mayer said in victory lane. “This car was as fast as Xfinity 10G, it was just about getting track position. We had it there at the end and I lost it for a second, I mean all hell broke loose, and we ended up on top. This team, it’s so special to get that first win, that monkey off our back. That feels so good. I felt it all day, like if I could do this one, I can do anything. We came here today and did just that.”
“I was going to pass them off into (turn) 12 or 13, but it went straight. There was no grip out there off-line, probably stupid to go outside of someone like that, but all’s well that ends well I guess.”
Road America remains 14-for-14 on delivering different winners in the Xfinity Series.
Behind Mayer, the Road America top-10 were: Parker Kligerman, Austin Hill, Sage Karam, Riley Herbst, Josh Berry, Kaz Grala, Josh Bilicki, AJ Allmendinger and Brandon Jones.
Mayer is now the eighth different driver to lock themselves into the 2023 Xfinity Series Playoffs with a win. The remaining Playoff grid can be seen below. Six races remain in their regular season.
The next stop for the Xfinity Series is Michigan International Speedway, for the Cabo Wabo 250. The Irish Hills green flag will fly Saturday at 3:30 p.m. ET on NBC, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio Channel 90. It’s getting close to crunch time for many Xfinity drivers to win their way into postseason contention.
Written by Peter Stratta
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Photo Credit to Logan Riely/Getty Images
