| Sam Mayer | |
| Birth Name: | Samuel Adam Mayer[1] |
| Birth Date: | 26 June 2003 |
| Birth Place: | Franklin, Wisconsin, U.S. |
| Achievements: | 2019, 2020 ARCA Menards Series East Champion 2017 INEX Legends Car Young Lions National Champion 2019 Bobby Isaac Memorial Winner |
| Awards: | 2018 CARS Late Model Stock Tour Rookie of the Year |
| Total Busch Races: | 104 |
| Years In Busch: | 4 |
| Busch Car Team: | No. 1 (JR Motorsports) |
| Prev Busch Pos: | 3rd |
| Prev Busch Year: | 2023 |
| Best Busch Pos: | 3rd (2023) |
| First Busch Race: | 2021 Pocono Green 225 (Pocono) |
| First Busch Win: | 2023 Road America 180 (Road America) |
| Last Busch Win: | 2024 Hy-Vee PERKS 250 (Iowa) |
| Busch Wins: | 6 |
| Busch Top Tens: | 54 |
| Busch Poles: | 2 |
| Total Truck Races: | 14 |
| Years In Truck: | 3 |
| Prev Truck Pos: | 100th |
| Prev Truck Year: | 2021 |
| Best Truck Pos: | 27th (2020) |
| First Truck Race: | 2019 UNOH 200 (Bristol) |
| Last Truck Race: | 2021 UNOH 200 (Bristol) |
| First Truck Win: | 2020 UNOH 200 (Bristol) |
| Truck Wins: | 1 |
| Truck Top Tens: | 5 |
| Truck Poles: | 0 |
| Total Arca Races: | 28 |
| Years In Arca: | 4 |
| Best Arca Pos: | 7th (2020) |
| First Arca Race: | 2018 Fans With Benefits 150 (Iowa) |
| Last Arca Race: | 2021 Bush's Beans 200 (Bristol) |
| First Arca Win: | 2020 Menards.com 200 (Toledo) |
| Last Arca Win: | 2020 Bush's Beans 200 (Bristol) |
| Arca Wins: | 5 |
| Arca Top Tens: | 23 |
| Arca Poles: | 1 |
| Total Arca East Races: | 26 |
| Years In Arca East: | 4 |
| Best Arca East Pos: | 1st (2019, 2020) |
| First Arca East Race: | 2018 United Site Services 70 (Loudon) |
| Last Arca East Race: | 2021 Bush's Beans 200 (Bristol) |
| First Arca East Win: | 2019 Zombie Auto 150 (Bristol) |
| Last Arca East Win: | 2020 Pensacola 200 (Pensacola) |
| Arca East Wins: | 9 |
| Arca East Top Tens: | 21 |
| Arca East Poles: | 5 |
| Total Arca West Races: | 5 |
| Years In Arca West: | 4 |
| Arca West Car Team: | No. 23 (Sigma Performance Services) |
| Best Arca West Pos: | 16th (2020) |
| First Arca West Race: | 2018 Casey's General Store 150 (Iowa) |
| Last Arca West Race: | 2024 General Tire 200 (Sonoma) |
| First Arca West Win: | 2020 Star Nursery 150 (Las Vegas Bullring) |
| Last Arca West Win: | 2024 General Tire 200 (Sonoma) |
| Arca West Wins: | 2 |
| Arca West Top Tens: | 3 |
| Arca West Poles: | 2 |
| Updated: | July 20, 2024 |
Samuel Adam Mayer (born June 26, 2003) is an American professional stock car racing driver. He competes full-time in the NASCAR Xfinity Series, driving the No. 1 Chevrolet Camaro for JR Motorsports. His father is the founder of QPS Employment Group, and former IndyCar Series driver, Scott Mayer.[2]
Mayer is the 2019 and 2020 East Series champion. He drove for GMS Racing (the other Drivers Edge Development team) both of those years in their No. 21 car and also won the inaugural championship of the ARCA Menards Series Sioux Chief Showdown in 2020. Mayer started his NASCAR career driving for Jefferson Pitts Racing and MDM Motorsports in 2018 before joining GMS, JRM, and Chevrolet as a development driver in 2019.
Mayer got off to an early start in racing, competing in go-kart events at the age of four.[3] Although his father, Scott Mayer, was an open-wheel racer, Sam chose in his preteen years to focus on stock car racing.[4] Over the course of the 2017 summer, during which Mayer turned fourteen, he spent the summer in Charlotte to race Legends cars; he won the Young Lions division of the Charlotte Motor Speedway Summer Shootout.[5] He also raced in a Limited Late Model and won at Greenville-Pickens Speedway to become the track's youngest winner.[6] He came back to Wisconsin and won a September Midwest Truck Series race at Dells Raceway Park in his first series start.
In 2017, Mayer came in touch with industry veteran Lorin Ranier, who eventually landed Mayer a late model ride with JR Motorsports in the CARS Tour for 2018. Mayer's late model racing also brought him to the World Series of Asphalt, where he finished second to Stephen Nasse. Ranier also led Mayer to MDM Motorsports for a limited slate in the ARCA Racing Series and NASCAR K&N Pro Series East in the back half of 2018, with age restrictions being a factor in which races Mayer could run, as both series only let 15-year-old competitors race on certain tracks. In his first ARCA race, Mayer ran as high as third and finished inside the top-ten.[7] After the CARS Tour season was over, Mayer was voted the series' Most Popular Driver for 2018. The CARS Tour season included one victory, at Wake County Speedway.[8]
On December 5, 2018, it was announced that Mayer would run a full NASCAR K&N Pro Series East schedule with GMS Racing as part of a 2019 schedule that would also include seven ARCA races and four NASCAR Gander Outdoors Truck Series races with the team. All four of the Truck races will come after Mayer turns sixteen; his debut is slated to be at Bristol Motor Speedway in August. That race would be followed by appearances at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park, Martinsville Speedway and ISM Raceway.
Mayer scored his first K&N East win at Bristol on April 6, 2019, leading every lap.[9] He nearly scored his first ARCA Menards Series win at Gateway in June after a late pit gamble, but was moved up the track by Ty Gibbs in the final set of corners and was relegated to third.[10] In October, he won the 2019 K&N East championship to become the youngest NASCAR champion at 16 years, 3 months, and 8 days; the previous record was 16 years and 5 months by Todd Gilliland in 2016. Mayer ended the 2019 season with four wins and top tens in all but one race.[11]
While racing in the ARCA Menards Series and ARCA Menards Series East in 2020, Mayer made a TA2 Trans-Am start at Road America and suffered a hairline fracture in his wrist during a race-ending crash.[12] The injury forced Colin Braun to sub in for Mayer midway through the AMS race at the Daytona International Speedway road course.[13] Mayer later won ARCA's first trip to Lebanon I-44 Speedway.[14]
On September 15, 2020, Mayer and JR Motorsports announced an agreement to have him drive one of the organization's NASCAR Xfinity Series cars part-time in the latter portion of 2021 and full-time in the 2022 season.[15] Two days later, Mayer swept the night at Bristol, winning both the Truck Series and ARCA race.[16] He overcame a pit miscue to claim the checkered flag in the ARCA event.[17] Mayer won the East finale at Five Flags Speedway to capture the series championship with an average finish of 1.2 on the season.[18]
On January 14, 2021, defending ARCA champion Bret Holmes announced he would begin fielding a part-time Truck Series team, the No. 32, for himself and Mayer for the upcoming season. In addition, Mayer would also drive select races in Bret Holmes Racing's No. 23 car in the ARCA Menards Series and ARCA Menards Series East.[19] Three days later on January 17, it was also announced that Mayer would run seven races in the No. 75 for Henderson Motorsports in the Truck Series, beginning at the Daytona Road Course, which would end up being his only start with Henderson Motorsports.[20]
On January 4, 2022, it was confirmed that Sam Mayer would drive the JR Motorsports No. 1 in 2022, replacing Michael Annett. At the Martinsville spring race on April 8, Mayer finished fifth after doing a bump and run on Ty Gibbs on the final lap. After the race, Gibbs attempted to spin Mayer out during the cool-down laps before both drivers engaged in a fistfight on pit road.[21] Mayer would go on to finish seventh in the final points standings with a best result of second at Talladega.
On August 9, 2022, it was announced that Mayer would return for the 2023 season.[22] He started the 2023 season with a 27th place finish at Daytona, where he flipped down the backstretch on the final lap. Mayer scored his first career win at Road America.[23] He followed it up with his second win at Watkins Glen.[24] During the playoffs, Mayer won at the Charlotte Roval and at Homestead to make the Championship 4.[25] [26] Mayer finished fifth at Phoenix and third in the points standings.[27]
Mayer started the 2024 season with a 36th place DNF at Daytona. At Texas, he scored a narrow victory over Ryan Sieg at Texas by 0.002 seconds,[28] making it part of a three way tie for the second closest finish in Xfinity Series history.[29] Mayer scored his second win of the season at Iowa.[30]
On August 17, 2024, Mayer signed with Haas Factory Team to drive the No. 41 Ford in 2025.[31]
Mayer's father Scott Mayer is the founder of QPS Employment Group and Accelerate Professional Talent Solutions, Mayer's primary sponsor in the Xfinity Series. As of 2023, the company has 57 branches across 8 states and employs thousands of associate employees, one of the largest employment firms in the midwest.[32]
Mayer is in a relationship with Amelia Sawalich, the sister of fellow driver William Sawalich.
(key) (
Bold – Pole position awarded by qualifying time. Italics – Pole position earned by points standings or practice time. * – Most laps led. ** – All laps led.)| NASCAR Xfinity Series results | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year | Team | No. | Make | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 | 27 | 28 | 29 | 30 | 31 | 32 | 33 | Pts | Ref | |||
| 2021 | JR Motorsports | 8 | Chevy | DAY | DRC | HOM | LVS | PHO | ATL | MAR | TAL | DAR | DOV | COA | CLT | MOH | TEX | NSH | POC 18 | ROA 35 | ATL 9 | NHA 39 | GLN 10 | IRC 27 | MCH 33 | DAY 12 | DAR 39 | BRI 9 | LVS 34 | TAL 38 | ROV 10 | TEX 13 | KAN 8 | MAR 4 | PHO 13 | 25th | 338 | [33] | |||
| B. J. McLeod Motorsports | 99 | Chevy | RCH 12 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 2022 | JR Motorsports | 1 | Chevy | DAY 30 | CAL 6 | LVS 25 | PHO 22 | ATL 21 | COA 5 | RCH 3 | MAR 5 | TAL 28 | DOV 5 | DAR 5 | TEX 3 | CLT 3 | PIR 38 | NSH 5 | ROA 20 | ATL 34 | NHA 15 | POC 6 | IRC 7 | MCH 33 | GLN 6 | DAY 34 | DAR 11 | KAN 9 | BRI 4 | TEX 8 | TAL 2 | ROV 11 | LVS 7 | HOM 5 | MAR 6 | PHO 34 | 7th | 2231 | [34] | ||
| 2023 | DAY 27 | CAL 2 | LVS 7 | PHO 11 | ATL 9 | COA 7 | RCH 17 | MAR 31 | TAL 29 | DOV 9 | DAR 8 | CLT 35 | PIR 3 | SON 10 | NSH 3 | CSC 18 | ATL 5 | NHA 18 | POC 2 | ROA 1 | MCH 5 | IRC 2 | GLN 1 | DAY 19 | DAR 11 | KAN 37 | BRI 35 | TEX 38 | ROV 1* | LVS 5 | HOM 1 | MAR 25 | PHO 5 | 3rd | 4032 | [35] | |||||
| 2024 | DAY 36 | ATL 11 | LVS 38 | PHO 34 | COA 9 | RCH 30 | MAR 2 | TEX 1 | TAL 36 | DOV 3 | DAR 4 | CLT 4* | PIR 28 | SON 3 | IOW 1 | NHA 19 | NSH 10 | CSC 19 | POC 10 | IND 37 | MCH 37 | DAY | DAR | ATL | GLN | BRI | KAN | TAL | ROV | LVS | HOM | MAR | PHO | -* | -* | [36] | |||||
| NASCAR Camping World Truck Series results | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year | Team | No. | Make | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | Pts | Ref | ||||||||||||||||
| 2019 | GMS Racing | 21 | Chevy | DAY | ATL | LVS | MAR | TEX | DOV | KAN | CLT | TEX | IOW | GTW | CHI | KEN | POC | ELD | MCH | BRI 21 | MSP | LVS | TAL | MAR 28 | PHO 19 | HOM | 50th | 54 | [37] | |||||||||||||||
| 2020 | 24 | DAY | LVS | CLT | ATL | HOM | POC | KEN | TEX | KAN | KAN | MCH | DRC | DOV 15 | GTW 4 | DAR | RCH 19 | BRI 1 | LVS | TAL | KAN | TEX | MAR 18 | PHO 17 | 27th | 179 | [38] | |||||||||||||||||
| 2021 | Henderson Motorsports | 75 | Chevy | DAY | DRC 37 | LVS | ATL | BRD | 100th | 01 | [39] | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Bret Holmes Racing | 32 | Chevy | RCH 9 | KAN | DAR | COA 6 | CLT | TEX | NSH | POC | KNX | GLN 9 | GTW | DAR | BRI 22 | LVS | TAL | MAR | PHO | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
Season still in progress
Ineligible for series points
(key) (
Bold – Pole position awarded by qualifying time. Italics – Pole position earned by points standings or practice time. * – Most laps led.)| ARCA Menards Series results | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year | Team | No. | Make | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | Pts | Ref | ||
| 2018 | MDM Motorsports | 40 | Toyota | DAY | NSH | SLM | TAL | TOL | CLT | POC | MCH | MAD | GTW | CHI | IOW 10 | ELK | POC | ISF | BLN | DSF | SLM | IRP 7 | KAN | 52nd | 400 | [40] | |
| 2019 | GMS Racing | 21 | Chevy | DAY | FIF 15 | SLM 2 | TAL | NSH | TOL 5 | CLT | POC | MCH | MAD 3 | GTW 3 | CHI | ELK 3 | IOW | POC | ISF | DSF | SLM 5 | IRP 3 | KAN | 14th | 1650 | [41] | |
| 2020 | DAY | PHO 20 | TAL | POC 3 | IRP 2 | KEN 4 | IOW 2 | KAN | TOL 1 | TOL 1 | MCH | DRC 3 | GTW 3 | L44 1 | TOL 1* | BRI 1* | WIN | MEM 2 | ISF | KAN | 7th | 553 | [42] | ||||
| 2021 | Bret Holmes Racing | 23 | Chevy | DAY | PHO | TAL | KAN | TOL | CLT | MOH | POC 22 | ELK | BLN | IOW | WIN | GLN 14 | MCH 4 | ISF | MLW 2 | DSF | BRI 29 | SLM | KAN | 27th | 149 | [43] | |
| ARCA Menards Series East results | |||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year | Team | No. | Make | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | Pts | Ref | ||
| 2018 | Jefferson Pitts Racing | 27 | Ford | NSM | BRI | LGY | SBO | SBO | MEM | NJM | THO | NHA 17 | IOW 17 | 18th | 200 | [44] | |||||
| MDM Motorsports | 41 | Toyota | GLN 5 | DOV 4 | |||||||||||||||||
| 12 | GTW 11 | NHA 10 | |||||||||||||||||||
| 2019 | GMS Racing | 21 | Chevy | NSM 4 | BRI 1** | SBO 2 | SBO 11 | MEM 4 | NHA 2 | IOW 1* | GLN 3 | BRI 1 | GTW 4 | NHA 5 | DOV 1* | 1st | 511 | [45] | |||
| 2020 | NSM 1 | TOL 2 | DOV 1 | TOL 1* | BRI 1* | FIF 1 | 1st | 332 | [46] | ||||||||||||
| 2021 | Bret Holmes Racing | 23 | Chevy | NSM | FIF | NSV | DOV | SNM | IOW | MLW 2 | BRI 29 | 29th | 57 | [47] | |||||||
| ARCA Menards Series West results | |||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year | Team | No. | Make | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | Pts | Ref | ||
| 2018 | Jefferson Pitts Racing | 27 | Ford | KCR | TUS | TUS | OSS | CNS | SON | DCS | IOW 17 | EVG | GTW | LVS | MER | AAS | KCR | 52nd | 27 | [48] | |
| 2019 | GMS Racing | 21 | Chevy | LVS | IRW | TUS | TUS | CNS | SON | DCS | IOW | EVG | GTW | MER | AAS | KCR | PHO 2* | 37th | 42 | [49] | |
| 2020 | LVS 1* | MMP | MMP | IRW | EVG | DCS | CNS | LVS | AAS | KCR | PHO 21 | 16th | 122 | [50] | |||||||
| 2024 | Sigma Performance Services | 23 | Chevy | PHO | KER | PIR | SON 1* | IRW | IRW | SHA | TRI | MAD | AAS | KER | PHO | -* | -* | [51] | |||