NASCAR driver penalized, docked points after Darlington race

Following his fourth place finish in Saturday afternoon's NASCAR Xfinity Series race at Darlington Raceway, JR Motorsports' Sam Mayer found himself in 11th place in the point standings.

Already a race winner this season at Texas Motor Speedway in a photo finish over RSS Racing's Ryan Sieg, the driver of the No. 1 Chevrolet is locked into the playoffs, but he is still fighting for additional playoff points, either via wins, stage wins, or a top 10 finish in the regular season point standings.

Now Mayer finds himself in 12th place in the standings, as he and the No. 1 team were docked 10 points following Saturday's Crown Royal Purple Bag Project 200. Teammate Brandon Jones has moved up to 11th, and Mayer finds himself 16 points outside of the top 10 instead of only six.

Sam Mayer penalized after Darlington

NASCAR issued the 20-year-old Franklin, Wisconsin native and his team an L1-level penalty for violating Sections 14.3.1.4 A of the NASCAR Rule Book pertaining to Inspection Re-Certification.

According to NASCAR.com, it was discovered that the team "made a change to the car that would have necessitated it to go through the recertification process".

Crew chief Mardy Lindley was also suspended for the next race at Charlotte Motor Speedway on Saturday, May 25.

Mayer is still higher in the standings than where he started the race weekend at the four-turn, 1.366-mile (2.198-kilometer) egg-shaped oval in Darlington, South Carolina, as he entered the race in 14th place.

His fourth place finish at Darlington was his fourth top four finish in the last five races after he started the year without a single finish higher than ninth in the first six events.

The next race on the 2024 NASCAR Xfinity Series schedule is the BetMGM 300, which is set to be broadcast live on Fox from Charlotte Motor Speedway beginning at 1:00 p.m. ET on Saturday, May 25. Begin a free trial of FuboTV and don't miss it!