Sam Mayer Rises As Tire Issues Plague Drivers at Iowa (2024)

Bad vibrations.

That’s not just a song and album by A Day to Remember. It’s also the theme for many drivers in Saturday’s (June 15) NASCAR Xfinity Series race at Iowa Speedway.

It started early on with AJ Allmendinger blowing a right front tire just 32 laps into the race. The problems only worsened from there as many more drivers started complaining about chattering and vibrations.

One racer who avoided those problems and conquered the partially-repaved .875-mile oval was Sam Mayer, taking the lead around lap 244 over Riley Herbst and retaking the position in overtime. He went on to win his second NXS race of the year, surviving the attrition-filled event where only 26 of 38 drivers wound up finishing.

Herbst finished second, while Corey Heim took home third. Sammy Smith and Sheldon Creed rounded out the top-five finishers.

Winners

Mayer was one of two JR Motorsports drivers who had really good days. Though he didn’t dominate the race like Chandler Smith, Mayer still led 47 laps, including several about two-thirds of the way into the event.

However, he lost the lead to John Hunter Nemechek coming off pit road during a caution around lap 202. That clean air and leadoff position proved key for drivers who wanted to maintain first for several laps.

When trouble befell Nemechek, Mayer found a chance to get on the front row and eventually passed Herbst for the lead. Once he did, he held off advances from the No. 98 to earn his second win of the season.

After earning just one top 10 in the first six events, Mayer has two wins and seven top fives in the past nine races. That’s a remarkable 9.11 average finish during that span compared to 26.33 in his first six races.

He’s also moved up from 20th in the standings after Richmond Raceway to 10th after Iowa. That’s quite a jump within nine races. Of course, Mayer was locked into the playoffs after winning at Texas Motor Speedway by a nose. But this second win and a smattering of top-five finishes have put him in serious talks for a title run. This 20-year-old will be one to watch in the playoffs.

Herbst displayed his displeasure with Mayer after the checkered flag, sliding up into his No. 1 car and cutting the left-rear tire. After the race, Herbst mentioned that it was for what happened in the first two stages, which could’ve been when Mayer slid up into Herbst.

Though the No. 98 lost out on his first win of the season, Herbst still took home his second runner-up result, matching his season best from Talladega Superspeedway. And he’s now seventh in the standings.

Craftsman Truck Series phenom Heim claimed his second top five in the seven races he’s run for Sam Hunt Racing. He even survived early tire blistering.

Fourth-place finisher Smith, meanwhile, has now earned three top fives in the past four events.

All the attrition allowed for several underdogs to get a top 15, including Matt DiBenedetto whose seventh was the best of his Xfinity career. Ross Chastain, driving for DGM Racing, placed ninth, while part-time Kaulig Racing driver Daniel Dye was 10th.

In 11th-15th were Parker Kligerman, Ryan Sieg, Leland Honeyman, Ryan Ellis and Anthony Alfredo, respectively. All of them were from smaller organizations that benefitted from a clean, strong result.

Losers

It almost felt like the cornfields of Iowa became giant popcorn (like in The Croods) over some of the contenders. You never knew when the kernels were going to pop and bring down a tire in a matter of seconds. Some cars had good enough setups to withstand the madness, but others definitely didn’t.

Among those with tire issues were AJ Allmendinger, Jesse Love, Justin Allgaier and Austin Hill. Now, three of those drivers had wins already and are locked in the playoffs. However, Allmendinger doesn’t have a win, so this 37th-place result wasn’t what he needed.

Kaulig as a whole has underperformed, at least on some of the ovals. The No. 16 driver does have three top fives and seven top 10s on the year. But Allmendinger is still hunting for that elusive trophy. One might even argue his limited Cup schedule for the team, where he ran full-time last season, has gone better than his full-time switch back to the Xfinity program.

Allgaier’s season, meanwhile, is starting to feel like Kyle Larson‘s from 2022-23. During that stretch over in Cup, Larson also had either really good finishes or he DNF’d. But in a way, that’s a good thing for Allgaier. Why? Because we know the No. 7 team has it all put together and that it’s just mostly bad luck ruining Allgaier’s runs.

Besides, this veteran JR Motorsports group already has a victory at Darlington Raceway (thankfully). I’d say as Allgaier goes through the summer months, he’ll need to work on consistency, stringing good results together to boost momentum through the playoffs. If he does that, this team should remain in good shape to contend for a championship.

The Playoff Pit

After Iowa, Cole Custer currently leads the standings, and as a driver without a win on the year, winning the regular season championship would be huge for the 2023 Xfinity champion. It would give him some more playoff points, solid protection which can help him move on to the Round of 8. There’s still 11 races left, though, so anything can happen.

Among those other drivers without a win, Creed and Herbst sit 92 and 91 points, respectively, over the cutline. Allmendinger is 10th in the playoff standings, +60 above the cutline. Kligerman remains 55 points ahead of dropping out, while Sammy Smith is +31 in the final playoff spot.

Sieg is the first driver beneath the elimination line, with Alfredo and Brandon Jones also remain on the outside looking in.

Paint Scheme of the Week

Ryan Ellis’ No. 43 of Alpha Prime Racing sported a new look with ShineWater on board. Last year, the base of the scheme was more white, but this year blue was in the background for much of the first two-thirds of the car. Plus, the added fruit set well with both the design and the background.

All of Ellis’ schemes have been fire so far this season. Of course, APR’s creative director Ryan Pistana always does a great job designing them.

Ellis finished 14th in the event at Iowa.

Fuel for Thought

Just what caused all the blistering that led to the tires going down? Was it the warm temperatures on the racetrack? The lower air pressures on the tires? The older, abrasive surface of a portion of the track?

More than likely it was a combination of all of then. We saw the Cup Series cars have issues in their Friday practice, so it wasn’t really surprising to see these Goodyears blow out like they did in the Xfinity race.

But the amount of cars that had issues is what surprised me. Drivers had to choose whether to push really hard, risking cutting a tire, or to ease off and risk going a lap down (in the most extreme cases). Crew chiefs could only do so much under the circ*mstances, as was the case for Hill. Unfortunately for the Richard Childress Racing cars, the adjustments weren’t enough, as both crashed out.

Is Iowa now like a shorter version of Darlington? Will Sunday’s Cup race be similar to what happened at Bristol Motor Speedway?

I think we need a few more years of racing at Iowa in order to know for sure. But this year is a strong indication the varying strategies needed will endear Iowa to the fan base, keeping the racing unpredictable the same way Bristol earlier this year was widely lauded by them.

Where to Next

Up next for Xfinity is New Hampshire Motor Speedway on Saturday, June 22. The Sci Aps 200 is set to air at 3:30 on USA Network.

Last year, Nemechek dominated the race at Loudon, leading 137 of 206 laps.