CORONADO, Calif. — Sam Mayer took his share of the blame and then some after a major pileup that halted Saturday’s NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series race, with multiple cars pounding and moving the retaining barrier on the temporary street course at Naval Base Coronado.
Each of the three drivers eliminated from the United Rentals Driven to Serve 250 by the massive 25-car calamity were OK after a check at the track’s infield care center. Prime among them was Anthony Alfredo, who reported leg numbness after taking the brunt of the heavy impact and was stretchered to a waiting ambulance.
RELATED: Race results | At-track photos: Coronado
Mayer was despondent after his miscue in the 36th of a scheduled 60 laps.
“First off, I just need to apologize for everybody in the field and everybody in the garage,” Mayer said. “I cannot be making mistakes like this, and I’m just heartbroken right now. I mean, I can’t be doing that. That’s just irresponsible, it’s embarrassing. I’ve got to be better.”
Mayer’s No. 41 Haas Factory Team Chevrolet was on the inside lane after a final-stage restart, contesting fourth place with Alfredo’s No. 96 Viking Motorsports Chevy. As the field barreled into first turn, Mayer clipped the inside wall at the slight right-hander, an error that angled his car into Alfredo’s, carrying both into the outer barrier. The violent impact pushed the concrete wall back several feet, prompting a red flag that lasted 43 minutes, 10 seconds for repairs. It also left nearly two dozen cars collected in the melee.
Alfredo, who said Mayer apologized to him in the care center, initially said he struggled to extract himself from his damaged car after losing feeling in his left knee. He said the feeling returned after five minutes: “They said I probably just hit a nerve or something in there really hard, and like it just went, like, asleep, basically, when you hit your funny bone, but in my knee.”
WATCH: Mayer discusses wreck
The crash was as severe as it was quick, and Alfredo managed to signal the Coronado crowd with a thumbs-up and a raised fist as he was led away.
“I’m feeling a lot better now,” Alfredo said. “Just at first had to catch my breath, and then had to kind of wiggle my arms and legs a little bit, see what was hurting most because it was all over. Yeah, I had just seen the replay sort of as spotty. I don’t know how the 41 ended up in my lap like that, but he just clobbered me, and we hit about as head-on as you could. So, hitting straight concrete like that doesn’t feel good. It sucks, because this is one of the most fun tracks I’ve ever driven.”
Both of the principal drivers involved took the early exit especially hard, considering what was at stake — a victory in a showcase race and the opportunity to capitalize on premium final-stage positioning. Mayer had the chance to build more momentum, heading into the San Diego event with three top-five finishes in the last four events.
“We were up front, thought we could win to be honest with you, and we were looking really good, and I just didn’t want to get used up on those restarts there towards the end,” Mayer said, “and I thought if I upped my aggression level from what it was, I could be in a really good spot, and I just overstepped my bounds. This one hurts a lot because San Diego is so freaking cool. This race track is so much fun. These guys work so hard. I’m literally going to have to go walk around the entire garage and apologize, because there’s what, 20-some people involved? Like, that’s just embarrassing. I can’t be doing that, and I hate it for everyone who’s involved because they literally had no choice but to just drive in it, and it’s on me.”
Alfredo was bidding for his first top five of the 2026 campaign, his first with the newly expanded Viking Motorsports group. He felt that a productive strategy call and his own road-racing improvement might have put him in position.
“Yeah, I’m pissed off, honestly, when it’s something that’s preventable,” Alfredo said. “It’s just racing. I’m just mad because you don’t know how many opportunities you’re going to have like that, especially for us. I say we’re getting more competitive, and I feel like we’re going to have a lot more chances, but you never really know, and this is probably the most level playing field we’ll have all year, right? Coming to a new track, especially a road course. I struggled on them the first time I was learning them, but I put a ton of work into trying to figure this stuff out, especially with some of the better guys and the ringers that come and race with us.
“So to go toe to toe with them and have the raw pace to win, and then obviously a strategy on top of that that was probably going to win us the race or certainly give us a top three was really rewarding, and I just hate we couldn’t finish that off.”