SPEEDWAY, Ind. – The exciting return to the traditional Brickyard oval turned sour for two NASCAR Xfinity Series competitors.
On the opening lap into Turn 3, Sam Mayer was stuck in the middle of a three-wide maneuver that sent him sideways. As the field checked up, Josh Berry was punted into the outside wall as others spun to avoid the mayhem.
Mayer and Berry were out before completing a single lap.
Berry, driving part-time for AM Racing after the release of full-time driver Hailie Deegan, was hopeful for extra seat time on the oval of Indianapolis Motor Speedway but will have to look at Sunday’s race in the No. 4 Panini / Caitlin Clark Ford Mustang with a blank notebook.
“It looked like [from] watching the replay Sam [Mayer] got put in the middle and just got loose, made some contact with the 16 (AJ Allmendinger), and we just saw stacked into it. [We] really couldn’t see it until I was in the back of the 81 (Chandler Smith). So, just unfortunate, just wrong place at the wrong time.”
As an Xfinity series regular, Mayer was perplexed from the initial contact for multiple reasons.
“I just got yelled at last week by Chandler [Smith] for putting [my car] on people’s doors, and then that happens to me. We were three-wide for no reason on the first lap and my teammate could give me a little more grace and didn’t.
“I feel like I have a right to be upset.”
Despite the frustration, Mayer was focused on the next race after the Olympic break at Michigan International Speedway.
“I’m going to pick up, carry on, move on and do my best to absolutely go out there and win Michigan because I want redemption from this one.”
Mayer’s two wins in Texas and Iowa hold firm the fourth overall seed for the Xfinity Series Playoffs, which begin after three remaining regular season races. The green flag at Michigan is scheduled to wave at 3:30 p.m. ET on USA Network and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio Channel 90 on August 17.