(Photo: John Arndt | The Podium Finish)
FORT WORTH, TEXAS — Sam Mayer continued his consistent 2022 season on Saturday, finishing third at Texas Motor Speedway in the SRS Distribution 250. It’s his sixth top five in the last seven NASCAR Xfinity Series races and his seventh top 10 of the campaign.
“We have a lot of momentum going into the next couple weeks,” Mayer told The Podium Finish. “I’m super proud of this No. 1 Accelerate Chevy Camaro team. They’ve been on it.”
Mayer finished 12th quickest in practice and qualified ninth on Friday, but his team made several positive changes throughout the race. He clawed up to sixth at the end of Stage 1 and placed seventh in Stage 2 after avoiding several crashes.
“We really overhauled our mindset from yesterday to today,” Mayer said. “It really benefitted us with a strong car and keeping up with the racetrack.”
Mayer climbed into the top five early in Stage 3 and moved up to third in the final run of the race — a 22-lap dash to the finish. He finished ahead of all full-time Xfinity drivers as only Cup drivers Tyler Reddick and William Byron beat him.
Through 12 races, Mayer sits seventh in points and is the highest among drivers without a win. He’s currently without crew chief Taylor Moyer, who was suspended for four races after Dover for a loose wheel. Moyer will return to the pit box at Nashville Superspeedway in June.
Next week, the Xfinity Series stays home at Charlotte Motor Speedway for the Alsco Uniforms 300, followed by the debut of Portland International Raceway and the Pacific Office Automation 147. Mayer has only raced at the Charlotte ROVAL and has never raced at Portland.
“JRM is really good everywhere and we’re working really hard on Charlotte,” Mayer said. “Keeping up with the racetrack there is really similar to keeping up with it [at Texas]. We learned a lot for next week.”
Saturday’s race at Charlotte is scheduled for 1 p.m. ET on FS1. It’ll be the network’s annual “driver’s only broadcast” with Cup Series drivers providing all race commentary.
EDITOR’S NOTE: Luis Torres contributed to this report from Texas Motor Speedway.
