By AMANDA VINCENT
Wisconsin native Sam Mayer claimed his first-career NASCAR Xfinity Series win at the track fewer than 10 miles from where he grew up Saturday in the Road America 180 at Road America in Elkhart Lake, Wis. The win came in Mayer’s 71st-career Xfinity start.
“Oh my God, I can’t believe it,” Mayer said. “We had it, there, then lost it for a second and, then, all hell broke loose, there, at the end. It’s so special to get that first win and get that monkey off your back. It feels so good. I felt it all day. I felt like, if I can do this one, I can do anything, and we came here today and did that. All’s well that ends well, I guess.”
Mayer took the lead from Parker Kligerman just before the white flag that followed a second overtime restart. Kligerman finished second, and Austin Hill was third.
One of Mayer’s JR Motorsports teammates, Justin Allgaier, dominated the race that was scheduled for 45 laps but spun from the lead after the second overtime restart, handing the lead to Sage Karam.
Kligerman, then, took a brief lead when Karam got off-track. Karam recovered to finish a career-best fourth in a one-race deal with Sam Hunt Racing.
Allgaier wound up outside the top-10 in 18th at the checkered flag after leading 42 laps. He was the only JRM driver outside the top-10 at the finish. JRM drivers Josh Berry and Brandon Jones finished sixth and 10th respectively.
Mayer took second on lap 38, just before a caution for Alex Labbe on lap 39. After a lap-42 caution for a multi-car incident involving Sammy Smith, A.J. Allmendinger, Cole Custer and Berry resulted in the first overtime, Karam took second on the restart with Allgaier still leading.
The second overtime restart followed a Connor Mosack incident.
Allgaier won the 22-lap opening stage that accounted for nearly half of the 45-lap race. He took the lead from pole sitter Allmendinger on lap six. Custer, then, took second from Allmendinger.
Stage one ended under caution after Chandler Smith hit a barrier when one of his brake rotors exploded with two laps to go in the stage.
After a lap-10 caution for a stalled Katherine Legge, Allmendinger briefly retook second from Custer, but by six laps remaining in the stage, Custer retook the position.
Allgaier swept the stages, winning the 12-lap second stage on lap 34. The stage ended with a one-lap green-flag run after a lap-32 caution for John Hunter Nemechek.
Custer was second at the end of stage two.
Allgaier dominated the stage that also included a lap-25 caution for Riley Herbst. Allmendinger took second from Custer on the restart for stage two, but on the lap-28 restart from the Herbst caution, Custer and Kaz Grala got by Allmendinger for position.
Herbst rounded out the top-five at the finish of Saturday’s race. Other top-10 finishers included Kaz Grala in seventh, Josh Bilicki eighth and Allmendinger in ninth.
