HOMESTEAD, Fla. — No dice on a Dash 4 Cash grand prize or a race victory at Homestead-Miami Speedway, but Sam Mayer continued his hot start to the 2025 Xfinity Series with a runner-up result in the Sunshine State.
Aside from wrecking out in February at Atlanta, Mayer has finished seventh or better in the first six races of this year’s campaign.
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“We’re executing really, really well,” Mayer told NASCAR.com. “Huge shoutout to these Haas Factory boys. They brought a really fast Ford Mustang. It’s a great day being bummed out with P2. Anytime that you finish in the top five and you’re kicking yourself, it’s obviously a good day.”
Mayer was one of the few drivers who could compete in the same zip code as Kyle Larson in the first 194 laps as Friday evening’s Truck Series winner returned to Homestead a day later to lead 132 laps before falling short to Justin Allgaier on an overtime restart.
The No. 41 driver grabbed 15 stage points on the day and only trailed Larson in laps led with 22.
A Taylor Gray spin with six laps to go bunched the field back up for a Lap 199 restart. Only Larson, Allgaier, Mayer, Austin Hill and Sheldon Creed were on the lead lap at the time and were the five battling it out when the green flag waved.
Mayer opted to fall behind Larson on the inside for the restart, and contact between the two in the restart zone ultimately took them both out of contention for the victory. With it went Larson’s bid for a rare weekend tripleheader sweep.
“I haven’t mistimed a restart like that in a long time,” Mayer said. “That’s why I’m so bummed out is because I know that for one, I ruined [Larson’s] race because obviously he’s going for the sweep and I took that away from him just by a silly mistake. I was trying to get everything I could get. But it’s obviously a bummer for both of us and if I ever do get the chance to talk to him, I would. If I would have timed it maybe even a half a second better, it would have been pretty good. I think we would have won the race because I think we were six-tenths a lap faster than him on the short run and if I could have got to his right rear one time it would’ve been game over for him. So screwed myself, screwed him. Did everything but screw the 7 (Allgaier) and 21 (Hill), man. Just can’t be letting those points go like that.”
Homestead is arguably Mayer’s best track on the NASCAR circuit now with four top 10s in four starts, including a victory in 2023.
“For one, it’s good cars. Like when you have really good cars and you’re able to drive it up against the wall, the sky’s the limit,” Mayer said. “You see that with Larson. He’s able to take a really good car and rip the fence and clear us by 10 seconds. So we’ve got to get better. Obviously, we’re decent enough to hang out, but hanging out is not my type of race. We’re gonna continue to get better. But this place is probably my favorite on the schedule so that plays the hand into it as well.”
Mayer will once again be in play for the $100,000 Dash 4 Cash award next Saturday at Martinsville Speedway (5 p.m. ET, The CW, MRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio). He’ll battle it out with Homestead Dash 4 Cash winner Allgaier, Hill and Haas Factory teammate Sheldon Creed, who completed the top five on Saturday.
“We hold ourselves to that standard,” Mayer said. “We want to go out there and win every race and win every stage and get all the points for ourselves. We’re just a little bit off, but today was the first day in the right direction I think. I’m really excited to keep it going with these boys. We worked really hard during the offseason and into the season as well to get better, and we’re just gonna keep it rolling.”