LONG POND, Pa.: Hunting for his first NASCAR Xfinity Series win in an overtime finish in Saturday’s Explore the Pocono Mountains 225 at Pocono (Pa.) Raceway, Sam Mayer left nothing on the table.
When the checkered flag waved, the JR Motorsports driver finished second under caution behind the No. 21 Chevrolet of Austin Hill, but Mayer was in no mood to celebrate his second runner-up finish of the season.
Instead, Mayer sat on pit road wondering if he cost the JR Motorsports team, a victory at the “Tricky Triangle.”
On the last lap of the race, Mayer had muscled his way into second when leaders Austin Hill and Josh Berry door-slammed battling for the win. The contact knocked Berry’s car sideways and to the bottom of Long Pond straightaway.
Berry attempted to recover and side draft his JR Motorsports teammates, but the two cars slammed fenders which cause the right front tire of Berry’s to blow entering the Tunnel Turn and sending the No. 8 Tire Pros Chevrolet Camaro into the wall.
Ryan Sieg spun moments later from inside the top-10 to trigger the caution and freeze the field and ultimately end the race.
Mayer finished second – scoring his fifth top-five finish of the season, but Mayer was in no mood to celebrate his team’s accomplishment, instead the Franklin, Wisc. native was worried about the racing on the last lap that ultimately destroyed a race car.
“I am super proud of this 1 team from JR Motorsports,” said Mayer. “Obviously, the organization was kickin’ tail today and I am super proud to be a part of it this year. The biggest emotion I am feeling right now is just frustration on myself. I feel really bad for getting the No. 8 damaged and having him probably cut a tire.
“I don’t really know what happened but seeing him backwards in the fence over there and me having contact with him on the backstretch, that’s the first thing I think of. I feel really bad for them and their No. 8 Tires Pro car.”
Many felt post-race that Mayer blaming himself for the last lap incident wasn’t his to shoulder, even Berry who was evaluated and released from the infield care center after the race’s conclusion took responsibility for the incident and said Mayer wasn’t to blame.
Mayer saw an opportunity to earn his first career Xfinity Series win – little did he know the hole would close and chaos would erupt.
“I really wanted to win this one and we were super, super close,” added Mayer.
“That was the first time where I was in the scenario where I was racing back to the checkered flag with a shot to win and I shot the gap three wide middle and it just closed up super-fast because he (Berry) was trying to side draft. It was the worst timing ever.”
Controversial runner-up finish or not, the finish was a good rebound for the 20-year-old driver after finishing 18th last weekend at New Hampshire Motor Speedway.
“We stayed in the game today and that’s all that really matters for this team,” Mayer added.
Follow Chris Knight on Twitter @Knighter01 or email: [email protected].
Super proud of how we handled our day today. Stayed in it, and had some fun with all the craziness that happened. Thanks @JRMotorsports for a bad fast car again. P2! pic.twitter.com/HAfuYxzGoR
— Sam Mayer (@sam_mayer_) July 23, 2023
