NASCAR
Sam Mayer Delivers Haas Factory Team’s First NASCAR Victory in Iowa Repeat
NEWTON, Iowa – Painfully close to an Xfinity Series victory all season long, Sam Mayer finally had his day in Iowa. Following a slow first pit stop, the No. 41 Ford fought and clawed all race long to be in position to capitalize late. Mayer earns back-to-back cornfield wins at Iowa, Ford’s first Xfinity win of the year, and a maiden win for Haas Factory Team.
Looking for an unprecedented and historic four-peat, Connor Zilisch picked up right where he left off the last three weeks. The JR Motorsports No. 88 Chevrolet took Stage 1 with ease after starting fourth. Zilisch would roll off 25th for Stage 2, however, only recovering to 17th following a loose wheel and second pit stop. This Stage went to JR Motorsports teammate Ross Chastain.
Chastain continued to be in command until a restart inside of the final 40 laps. JRM cars were taken three-wide entering turn one, with Zilisch getting loose and knocking Chastain into Justin Allgaier. This exchange gave the lead to Jesse Love, who lost the top spot on the next restart to Sam Mayer.
Mayer had to hold off the field on one final restart with less than 15 laps left. This happened after NASCAR was a lap late throwing a yellow with oil on the track, causing a few cars to spin in turn two. Mayer soon shot out of the restart zone like a cannonball. Others racing hard behind him allowed the No. 41 Mustang to scoot away. For the second-straight year, Mayer left the competition in his mirrors at Iowa.
“I mean, this one’s everything right here,” Mayer said. “This one’s for all the guys here at Audibel. There’s a lot of people here in the stands for the Audibel people, so it’s really cool to get a win in front of them. First win for Haas Factory Team, that’s awesome. This car was as fast as Xfinity Mobile all day long. I tried to botch it on pit road, but we didn’t. I can’t believe it. This is one of the most special ones I have. These guys, they love me to death that love them to death, and we’re just some good old boys trying to go race it, so this one feels great.
“I simply knew that this car could easily come back through the field, no problem. Huge shout out to the guys at the shop and the guys on pit road. The guys coming to me right now! This is awesome. I’m so excited about this one.”
Mayer beat Jesse Love, Ross Chastain, Connor Zilisch, and Harrison Burton to the checkers. The rest of the Iowa top-10 were: Carson Hocevar, Sheldon Creed, Ryan Sieg, Carson Kvapil, and Christian Eckes.
Mayer is the eighth different winner to lock up a coveted 2025 Xfinity Series Playoff berth. Four spots remain up for grabs with four races left in their regular season. The top-five effort for Harrison Burton also put him on the plus side of the cut line battle.
Xfinity Series cars will be back in action Saturday from Watkins Glen. The New York road course will see one driver with an Empire State of Mind after 82 laps around the high-speed circuit. The Mission 200 at The Glen goes green at 3 p.m. ET on The CW, MRN, and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio Channel 90. Road racing master Shane van Gisbergen will be trophy chasing in this race. We may be treated to an all-time classic battle between him and Connor Zilisch.
Written by Peter Stratta
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Photo Credits to Meg Oliphant/Getty Images
