Being compared to a goldfish is something Sam Mayer never thought he’d hear. But a directive by No. 41 Haas Factory Team crew chief Jason Trinchere reminded Mayer that goldfish — thanks to a 10-second memory — are the happiest animal on Earth.
Trinchere is a fan of “Ted Lasso,” a sports-comedy drama about an American football coach hired to manage a British soccer team despite having no prior experience. Initially, Lasso was hired to sabotage the club, but ultimately, the players rallied around the optimistic coach and succeeded.
“He is a really big motivator. He is a fantastic leader,” Mayer told NASCAR.com of Trinchere. “He does a great job in the shop, at the race track, everything that he does. The ‘Ted Lasso’ thing is something you can lean into and relate to when you’re in this scenario. You have to believe, roll and have to be like a goldfish.”
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Mayer’s 2026 season has been one of change after a successful debut campaign with HFT in 2025. The No. 41 team swapped from Ford to Chevrolet, reuniting with Hendrick Motorsports horsepower. The speed has been apparent, with a pair of Kennametal Pole Awards.
The results tell a different story. Through 10 races, Mayer has a quartet of top-10 finishes, with a best effort of fifth at Phoenix Raceway. Due in part to a collection of crashes and mechanical woes, Mayer currently has a 19.2 average finish, on pace to be the worst of his five years as a full-time NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series driver. By contrast, teammate Sheldon Creed — who ranks second in the driver standings — has the second-best average finish (6.8) among all full-timers. (Justin Allgaier ranks first with a 6.0 average finish.)
“Tough. Painful. Rough. Long,” Mayer said, giving a laundry list of adjectives to describe the 2026 season. “We have two poles, a bunch of laps led and it’s been awesome on the frontside of things. But finishing races has been challenging. It’s one of those things where you can’t point fingers at anybody. No one is not doing their job, and everyone is executing how we need to. We just have to get the monkey off our back a little bit and make sure everything is buttoned down.
“It’s one of those things that is tough, but it will make you stronger on the backside.”
Throughout Trinchere’s career as a crew chief, positivity has been a core theme. While that is being tested early in 2026, the fact that the sheer speed is visible doesn’t make him concerned as the season progresses.
“The finishes are frustrating,” Trinchere said. “We have the speed; we just need to have a complete race. I feel like once we have one, it will start clicking off. That’s how it was last year. Last year, Connor (Zilisch) went on that run that was so impressive, but we were in the top five in pretty much all of those races. If we can build that momentum back again like we had last year, points will take care of themselves.”
Early issues have taken Mayer out of the running most weeks in 2026. He’s missed out on ample stage points, totaling 44 through 10 races. He’s banked stage points in six out of 20 stages.
The pairing doesn’t believe their strategy will change heavily throughout the remainder of the regular season. But if there is a chance to be creative and secure stage points, the No. 41 team will adopt that philosophy.
Trinchere noted: “Right now, I think we’re back so far that if I can put him in the top three and let him do his thing on a restart, that’s what I’m going to do.”
Sitting 14th in the regular-season championship battle and 29 points below the cutline currently held by Rajah Caruth, Mayer recognizes his championship aspirations are running thin. Mayer and the O’Reilly Series will next do battle at 4 p.m. ET on Saturday at Talladega Superspeedway (The CW, MRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).
MORE: O’Reilly Auto Parts Series standings | O’Reilly Auto Parts Series schedule
“I’m at a spot now where I’m going to go trophy hunting every week and let the points take care of themselves because I know this team is capable of it,” Mayer said. “It’s just about having everything go your way. It’s never over until it’s over.
“It’s going to be tough, and that’s why I’m focusing on wins because that is the most short-term success that you can look for, and a championship at the end of the year is going to be a bonus on top of that. If we can bust off six wins this year, there’s a chance, you never know.”
Before competing at Bristol Motor Speedway, Mayer got a new hairdo — a complete buzzcut — to hopefully provide a spark in the No. 41 team’s performance.
“It was another thing I could do, like, I’m trying everything,” Mayer said. “We’re going to go to battle every week and do our absolute best, and we’re going to do whatever we can to get our mojo back.”
From contending to wins to trying new things, Trinchere additionally believes there is a chance for the No. 41 team to grind into the upper echelon of the championship table, especially if huge points performances can be achieved.
“I would be happy at the end of [the regular season] if we’re top six in points,” Trinchere said. “When you look at the fact that you have a maximum day is 76 points, it can make a big swing quickly, which we saw in the opposite direction. We had two races where we barely scored two or three points.
“A lot of things that have happened outside of our hands. We try not to dwell on and mope around and be ‘Why us?’ We just keep our heads down, be a goldfish and forget about it.”