NASCAR: New full-time driver set to begin journey
By Asher Fair
Sam Mayer turns 18 years old this Saturday. His career as a full-time driver in the NASCAR Xfinity Series is set to begin the following afternoon.
Last year, JR Motorsports signed a fourth full-time driver to compete for their Xfinity Series team for the 2021 NASCAR season, but due to NASCAR’s restrictions on drivers under the age of 18 competing at certain tracks, it was announced that this driver would not get the chance to make his series debut until the season’s 16th race at Pocono Raceway.
That race, this Sunday afternoon’s Pocono Green 250, has finally arrived, and with that, Sam Mayer, who is set to turn 18 years old this Saturday, is set to make his debut behind the wheel of the #8 Chevrolet.
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Touted in effectively the same way as rising superstar Ty Gibbs, the 17-year-old Franklin, Wisconsin native is considered one of the most promising young prospects in NASCAR right now. This weekend is set to mark the start of a new journey, one which he is naturally quite excited to embark upon.
"“I still can’t wrap my head around this. I’m so grateful because not many people my age get this opportunity. I’m going to be jumping in an Xfinity car when I’m 18 and one day old. That is such a weird feeling. I’m so excited for it and blessed for this opportunity.”"
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Mayer won the 2019 ARCA Menards Series East championship with four wins and seven other top five finishes throughout the 12-race season. In the 2020 season, he won five of six races and finished in second place in the other one to secure his second consecutive title.
He competed in just 13 of 20 races on the 2020 ARCA Menards Series schedule, but he managed to finish in seventh place in the championship standings anyway. He won five of those 13 races and finished no lower than fourth in seven of the other eight.
Mayer also had the opportunity to compete in a few Truck Series races in 2019 and 2020. Last year, he won at Bristol Motor Speedway in just his seventh career start, two races after finishing in what was then a career-high fourth place at World Wide Technology Raceway at Gateway.
This year, he has competed at the Daytona International Speedway road course, Richmond Raceway and Circuit of the Americas.
While he recorded a DNF in his first start of the year at the Daytona International Speedway road course, he finished in ninth place at Richmond Raceway and sixth at Circuit of the Americas in a truck that has finished no higher than 27th in any other race this season.
The only exception to Mayer’s status as a “full-time” Xfinity Series driver throughout the remainder of the 2021 season is the race at Richmond Raceway, when team owner Dale Earnhardt Jr. is set to compete behind the #8 Chevrolet in his annual one-off appearance at NASCAR’s second highest level of competition.
This start is set to mark Earnhardt’s 26th consecutive season of some level of competition in NASCAR.
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Be sure to tune in to NBC Sports Network at 12:00 p.m. ET on Sunday, June 27 for the live broadcast of the Pocono Green 225 from Pocono Raceway to watch Sam Mayer make his Xfinity Series debut.