Mayer Rises Late For Iowa Xfinity Series Repeat

NEWTON, Iowa – Though he wasn’t the dominant driver in Saturday’s Hy-Vee Perks 250 at Iowa Speedway, Sam Mayer was able to capitalize on late-race circumstance to capture his first NASCAR Xfinity Series win of the year.

Mayer was running second behind polesitter Jesse Love on lap 222, when Matt DiBenedetto ran into the back of Corey Day, dropping fluid throughout turns one and two of the seven-eighths-mile oval.

When the top two got back around to that end of the racetrack, Love unknowingly ran right through the oil slick, sending him out of the groove and allowing Mayer to dart through to the top spot down low.

A caution waved moments later as fifth-running Brandon Jones spun in the oil and crashed in turn two, cementing a lead that Mayer wouldn’t relinquish the rest of the way.

In total, Mayer controlled the final 28 laps for his second straight triumph at Iowa in the Xfinity Series, and he drove away from Love by nearly two seconds following the last restart with 17 to go.

Though Love began closing in the waning moments, another yellow – the ninth of the afternoon – was called for the spinning car of Garrett Smithley in turn two after Mayer had already taken the white flag.

That froze the field and allowed the Franklin, Wis., native to drive back around with ease and snap his 25-race winless drought at NASCAR’s second-highest level.

“This win is everything right here,” said Mayer as he basked in the cheers of the assembled fans on the frontstretch.

Not only did it lock him into the playoffs, Saturday’s win also marked the maiden victory for Haas Factory Team since its rebranding from the Stewart-Haas Racing nameplate during the offseason.

That was something that Mayer was equally ecstatic about as he celebrated.

“First win for Haas Factory Team, that’s awesome!” he exclaimed. “This is one of the most special wins I have. These guys, they love me to death, and I love them to death. We’re just some good old boys trying to go race, and today we didn’t just go race, we won the whole thing.”

But making Mayer’s victory a little more improbable was the fact that he overshot his pit box during his first pit stop of the day on lap 66, dropping from fourth to 16th at that point and forcing him to dig deep to get back in the mix.

“Our car was so fast all day long; I tried to botch it on pit road, but we didn’t lose it at the end of the day!” he noted. “Even when that happened, I knew this car was good enough that it could easily come back through the field with no problem.

“I’m so excited about this one. There aren’t words for it.”

After starting from the pole, Love raced among the top 10 nearly all race long, but appeared to have gained firm control on a lap-213 restart when his four fresh tires propelled him past defending series champion Justin Allgaier – who had taken just two tires on the preceding caution to gain track position.

Allgaier spun a lap later in a three-wide battle with two of his JR Motorsports teammates, Zilisch and Ross Chastain, but Love held firm during the next restart and looked to be well on his way.

But the oil from DiBenedetto’s crash – and later, a lack of short-run speed – doomed the hopes of the 20-year-old from Menlo Park, Calif., leaving him with a frustrating runner-up finish.

“I’m just numb about it,” said Love in the immediate aftermath as he climbed from his car.

Chastain, who topped stage two and dominated the midsection of the event by leading a race-high 120 laps, ended up third in JR Motorsports’ part-time fifth entry ahead of Zilisch and AM Racing’s Harrison Burton.

Zilisch led 62 of the first 64 laps and easily won stage one, but spent most of his afternoon battling back from a loose wheel that forced him to make a second pit stop during the first stage break.

From there, the 19-year-old prodigy fought his way through traffic and eventually got back into contention, but was pushed wide by Love during the final restart and could never recover.

Zilisch’s fourth-place finish ended his three-race win streak, but did allow him to move into a tie with Allgaier for the regular-season point lead.

Playing a ‘super sub’ role after the release of Josh Williams earlier in the week, Carson Hocevar was sixth in the Kaulig Racing No. 11, with Sheldon Creed, Ryan Sieg, Carson Kvapil and Christian Eckes closing out the top 10.

Allgaier ended up 16th after his late spin with 37 to go, while Taylor Gray was one spot lower in 17th after charging from the rear of the field to run as high as second at one point in the final stage.

Gray’s day went sideways due to a slow final pit stop on lap 207, which dropped him out of contention.

The bubble battle in the Xfinity Series playoff race was turned upside down by Harrison Burton’s top-five finish, as his cousin Jeb Burton struggled with the handling of his race car all afternoon en route to 29th at the checkered flag.

That allowed Harrison to move into the 12th and final playoff spot by 17 points over Sieg and 19 points over Jeb with just four races remaining until the start of the postseason run toward a championship.

NASCAR Xfinity Series teams return to action Saturday, Aug. 9 at Watkins Glen (N.Y.) Int’l for the Mission 200 at the Glen. Zilisch won the race last year in his Xfinity Series debut.

Broadcast coverage from the Finger Lakes airs at 3 p.m. ET, live on The CW, the Motor Racing Network, and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio, channel 90.