MOORESVILLE, N.C. (Oct. 17, 2024) – Sam Mayer is the Comeback Kid again in 2024, winning at the Charlotte Roval for the second straight season to bound into the NASCAR Xfinity Series Playoffs Round of 8 this week at Las Vegas. The thrilling victory gives the 21-year-old driver a ton of momentum to make it to the Championship 4 for the second year in a row.
Mayer has shown the three tracks in the round are right in his wheelhouse, running at the front at Martinsville and Homestead-Miami. What are the two things that need to happen for Mayer to make a return to the title round with a chance at the championship?
Crew chief Mardy Lindley laid out the No. 1 team’s plan to race for a title in Phoenix.
Minimize mistakes: “We have to not fumble the ball. We have to make sure we are steady. We need 42 points per round, and if we can get that I feel like we have a great chance of advancing the ball to the next round.
Take advantage on the ovals: “I’m pretty excited about the mix of tracks, they should be really good for Sam. It should be good. Martinsville was good. We should have won it in the spring, finished second then. He won Homestead last year, and Las Vegas has been good to him. I have a feeling we’re going to have a good run there as well. It’s pretty exciting. At Charlotte, we won it, did something that Sam has done before. Before the race, if you would have told me…I couldn’t imagine a path where both the No. 1 and No. 7 (Justin Allgaier) made it to the next round. I didn’t think there was going to be that much chaos.”
As for the wild-card race, Lindley pointed to the penultimate race of the season at Martinsville.
“Martinsville is the hardest because it always comes down to a demolition derby,” he said. “You don’t want to be in that spot. Best-case scenario, you have to be locked in before you get there. Ricky Bobby said it best: if you’re not first, you’re last. That seems to be the narrative that comes to my mind right now.
“If you can go to Martinsville and just start the race or get 50 laps in and you’re locked into the finale, you don’t want it to come down to the last lap. The easiest way to do it is just to go out and win. You have to get a ton of stage points in both the first two races and really good finishes. If you can do that, you’re in a really good spot. People are going to trip. There’s eight of us. Everybody seems to do it at least once a season.”
