Sam Mayer Tag

By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service CONCORD, N.C. – With a masterpiece of strategy and modicum of good fortune, Chase Elliott won Saturday’s BetMGM 300 at Charlotte Motor Speedway in his first NASCAR Xfinity Series start of the season. Saving a set of new tries for the final run in the 200-lap event at the 1.5-mile track, Elliott grabbed the lead after a Lap 183 restart and held it the rest of the way. Driving a No. 17 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet with a paint scheme reminiscent of the signature lookRead More

By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service DARLINGTON, S.C. — Justin Allgaier finally beat Murphy’s Law to the checkered flag in Saturday’s Crown Royal Purple Bag Project 200 at Darlington Raceway. This time, there were no bizarre circumstances to keep the driver of the No. 7 JR Motorsports Chevrolet out of Victory lane, like the late cut tire that deprived Allgaier of a near-certain win at Phoenix in the fourth race of the season. After crossing the finish line 3.407 seconds ahead of runner-up Austin Hill, Allgaier had his first victoryRead More

By Holly Cain, NASCAR Wire Service The hometown favorite, Ryan Truex prevailed in a thrilling double-overtime finish in the BetRivers 200 NASCAR Xfinity Series race Saturday at Dover (Del.) Motor Speedway, leading only the two final laps to earn back-to-back victories at the one-mile track. The New Jersey native and defending race winner started alongside 20-year old Carson Kvapil on the front row for the final overtime re-start then pulled away to take the lead and ultimately the white flag – signaling one lap to go. An accident elsewhere onRead More

By David Morgan, Associate Editor FORT WORTH, Texas – They say everything’s bigger in Texas and Saturday’s NASCAR Xfinity Series race at Texas Motor Speedway lived up to the hype, coming down to a photo finish to determine the victor. In the end, Sam Mayer and JR Motorsports would inch their way past Ryan Sieg and the little team that could, RSS Racing, by just .002 seconds at the finish line to bank the win in the Andy’s Frozen Custard 300 – the second closest finish in Xfinity Series history. SiegRead More

By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service MARTINSVILLE, Va. — With a dramatic victory Saturday night at Martinsville Speedway, Aric Almirola removed an asterisk from his career record and collected a $100,000 Dash 4 Cash bonus in the process. With considerable help—perhaps unintentional—from Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Sheldon Creed after an overtime restart, Almirola grabbed the lead from Sam Mayer and won the DUDE Wipes 250 under caution when Riley Herbst, pole winner Brandon Jones and Ryan Ellis wrecked in Turn 2 on the final lap. The victory was Almirola’s firstRead More

By Holly Cain, NASCAR Wire Service Kyle Larson was ultimately both patient and smart taking the lead on the final overtime lap to win an aggressive Featured Health 250 NASCAR Xfinity Series race at Circuit of The Americas (COTA), the first road course test for the series this year that earned an “A” for high-drama and close competition. New Zealander Shane van Gisbergen and Austin Hill were duking it out for the lead – and pushing each other high off the race line as the field approached the checkered flag.Read More

By David Morgan, Associate Editor AVONDALE, Ariz. – Day two at Phoenix Raceway will be highlighted by NASCAR’s second highest division, as the NASCAR Xfinity Series wraps up its 2023 campaign by crowning its newest champion – all of which would be a first-time champion. Twelve championship hopefuls started the six-week march to the Valley of the Sun, with only four drivers left standing to duel it out in the Arizona desert on Saturday night. It all comes down to a battle between the JR Motorsports duo of Justin Allgaier andRead More

By Holly Cain, NASCAR Wire Service HOMESTEAD, Fla. – Sam Mayer claimed his first career NASCAR Xfinity Series oval-race victory in the second half of a NASCAR double-header at Homestead-Miami Speedway on Saturday in the Contender Boats 300 after holding off last week’s race winner Riley Herbst by a mere .227-second. It marks the JR Motorsports driver Mayer’s fourth series victory of the season – and his career – most important for Mayer – who joked he didn’t breath the final four laps – it is his ticket into the Championship 4 finale that will decideRead More

By Holly Cain, NASCAR Wire Service LAS VEGAS — It was a fitting venue, a perfect scenario for Riley Herbst to earn his first career NASCAR Xfinity Series race – a dominating 14.9-second victory in the Alsco Uniforms 302 at his home track, Las Vegas Motor Speedway. Herbst’s No. 98 Stewart-Haas Racing Ford led 103 of the 201 laps of the Playoff race leaving no room for error in this career-making day for the 24-year old Las Vegas native. It was the largest margin of victory in the series thisRead More

By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service CONCORD, N.C. – The NASCAR Xfinity Series has a new road course ace. “We may be Allmendinger 2.0,” Sam Mayer quipped after winning Saturday’s Drive for the Cure 250 presented by BlueCross BlueShield of North Carolina at the Charlotte Motor Speedway Road Course and clinching a spot in the Round of 8 in the series Playoffs. The reference was to AJ Allmendinger, winner of the previous four Xfinity races at the 2.32-mile, 17-turn circuit. With Allmendinger ineligible for the race as a full-time NASCARRead More