TALLADEGA, Ala. – Sam Mayer was one foot short from earning his first career NASCAR Xfinity Series win.
On pit road after Saturday afternoon’s (Oct. 1) Xfinity race at Talladega Superspeedway, Mayer sat next to his No. 1 JR Motorsports Chevrolet, knowing that another chance at his first win had escaped him. He finished a mere 0.015 seconds behind the race’s winner AJ Allmendinger.
“Finishing second at a place like this puts a weird feeling in your stomach,” Mayer said. “We were three feet short. Can’t do anything about that, unfortunately.”
But he wasn’t alone. Behind his parked car were the Nos. 39 and 10 of Ryan Sieg and Landon Cassill, respectfully. Both of whom are also winless in their Xfinity careers.
Sieg, who was close to winning his way into the Xfinity Series playoff Round of 8, finished fourth, his 16th career Xfinity top five. Despite coming close to winning his first race after nearly eight full Xfinity seasons of competition, the Georgian is still optimistic.
“I’ve learned a lot from these races,” Sieg said. “I feel like [that first win] is coming soon. I’m pumped. I feel confident we’re going to the Round of 8.”
Then, there was Cassill, who despite making 204 starts in Xfinity, still remains winless after Saturday. He had to settle for a third-place result and his fifth career top five.
Despite their results, all three drivers had a chance at winning on Saturday.
With one lap to go, Mayer led the Xfinity field into turn 1 with Sieg in tow. The JR Motorsports driver had pulled the No. 39 ahead of the rest of the field by almost three car-lengths before heading into the 2.67-mile circuit’s long backstretch.
But they were only stranding themselves on an island. The Kaulig Racing duo of Almendinger and Cassill led the charge of the bottom lane to catch and overtake the unsuspecting Sieg.
“I was trying to do all that I could do with [Mayer],” Sieg said. “I was trying to see which lane was going to go. I went high and then got a little shove and had to go back to the bottom.
“There was one time I could’ve got ahead of the No. 16 there, but it’s so tough to do that here.”
Mayer quickly cut to the bottom of the track to block the Kaulig tandem. It worked well.
Too well.
The Nos. 16 and 10 checked up for one last shot at the lead as the field traveled onto the frontstretch for the last time, and it left Mayer all out on his own. The maneuver allowed Sieg to regain his momentum on the high lane.