It appears there is a new road course ringer in the NASCAR Xfinity Series – JR Motorsports’ Sam Mayer. The 20-year-old driver, Mayer, had a dominate performance on the Charlotte Motor Speedway Road Course, leading 50 of the 67 laps and snagging the win by .909 seconds over runner-up Cole Custer.
Mayer was in a must-win situation heading into the Round of 12 cutoff race at the Charlotte ROVAL but it’s not a huge surprise to fans that he was able to pull of the victory. The Frankin, Wisconsin native has had a standout year, posting his first Xfinity Series career win at Road America, followed by a win at Watkins Glen and now a win at the Charlotte ROVAL. With all three of his wins on road courses, he says he might be “Allmendinger 2.0”.
Mayer now heads to Las Vegas Motor Speedway to kick off the NASCAR Xfinity Series Playoffs Round of 8 – his second time making it to the second round of the Playoffs. In four Xfinity career starts at Las Vegas, Mayer has put up two top-10 finishes.
“Las Vegas is one of my favorite 1.5-mile tracks that we go to and I’m ready to get there with the momentum we have coming off a win at the ROVAL and transferring to the next round of the Playoffs,” said Sam Mayer. “I am so proud of this No. 1 JR Motorsports team for not giving up and building such fast Chevrolets for me to go out and perform at the highest level.”
Rollin’ the dice at Las Vegas Motor Speedway
The NASCAR Xfinity Series wrapped up the Round of 12 last weekend at the Charlotte Motor Speedway Road Course so now it’s time for the Round of 8, which will kick off this Saturday, October 14 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway with the Alsco Uniforms 302 at 3:30 p.m. ET on the USA Network, the NBC Sports App, PRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.
NASCAR Xfinity Series
Next Race: Alsco Uniforms 302
The Place: Las Vegas Motor Speedway
The Date: Saturday, October 14
The Time: 3:30 p.m. ET
The Purse: $1,329,729
TV: USA, 3 p.m. ET
Radio: PRN, SiriusXM NASCAR (Channel 90)
Distance: 301.5 miles (201 Laps); Stage 1 (Ends on Lap 45),
Stage 2 (Ends on Lap 90), Final Stage (Ends on Lap 201)
The 1.5-mile Las Vegas track has hosted 32 Xfinity Series races, producing 23 different race winners and 19 different pole winners. Six races have been won from the pole or first starting position, most recently by Chase Briscoe in 2020.
JR Motorsports’ Justin Allgaier, who is a Round of 8 contender, has gotten pretty lucky at the Las Vegas track, having posted the most top fives (10), top 10s (15), lead lap finishes (16) and laps completed (3,529).
Two previous winners are entered in this weekend’s Alsco Uniforms 302 – Josh Berry, who snagged his wins in 2021 and 2022, and Austin Hill, who is the track’s most recent winner (2023). If Hill wins again this weekend, not only will he clinch his spot in the Championship 4 for the first-time in his career, but he will also become just the second driver in Las Vegas Motor Speedway Xfinity Series history to post back-to-back wins. The first and only other driver to accomplish the feat is Chase Briscoe (2020 sweep).
Although only two previous Las Vegas Motor Speedway winners are entered in the race this weekend, there is another driver who might be one to keep an eye on – John Hunter Nemechek. Not only has the 26-year-old driver had a standout year thus far (seven wins, 15 top fives and 22 top 10s), he also is no stranger to winning the first race in the Round of 8. In the 2018 (Kansas) and 2021 (Texas) seasons, although he was not in Playoff contention, he won the first races in the Round of 8 (30th race of the season and fourth of the Xfinity Playoffs).
| Track | Race Winners | Season | Race Number | Date |
| Kansas | Kyle Busch | 2016 | 30 | Saturday, October 15, 2016 |
| Kansas | Christopher Bell | 2017 | 30 | Saturday, October 21, 2017 |
| Kansas | John H. Nemechek | 2018 | 30 | Saturday, October 20, 2018 |
| Kansas | Brandon Jones | 2019 | 30 | Saturday, October 19, 2019 |
| Kansas | Chase Briscoe | 2020 | 30 | Saturday, October 17, 2020 |
| Texas | John H. Nemechek | 2021 | 30 | Saturday, October 16, 2021 |
| Las Vegas | Josh Berry | 2022 | 30 | Saturday, October 15, 2022 |
This season marks the second time that Las Vegas Motor Speedway will host the first race of the Round of 8 in the Xfinity Series Playoffs. Since the inception of the Playoffs in the NASCAR Xfinity Series in 2016, Las Vegas Motor Speedway has occupied two spots on the postseason schedule. From 2016-2019, the 1.5-mile Las Vegas Motor Speedway was not included in the Playoff schedule. In the 2020 and 2021 seasons, the track was moved to the first race in the postseason – Chase Briscoe won in 2020 and Josh Berry won in 2021. Then the Las Vegas, Nevada track was moved to the fourth race in the Playoffs starting last season (2022-2023).
The Xfinity Series will kick off the weekend with practice on Friday, October 13 at 7:05 p.m. ET followed by qualifying at 7:35 p.m. ET on the USA Network.
The Great Eight: Gambling into the penultimate round of the Playoffs
The competition just tightened up for the race to the championship as four drivers were eliminated last weekend – Daniel Hemric, Parker Kligerman, Josh Berry and Jeb Burton – leaving eight drivers in the hunt. These eight drivers – John Hunter Nemechek, Austill Hill, Justin Allgaier, Sam Mayer, Cole Custer, Chandler Smith, Sheldon Creed, and Sammy Smith – now head to Las Vegas Motor Speedway where fans will be sure to be on the edge of their seats as six of these eight Playoff contenders finished in the top-10 when the series ran at the track earlier this season. Let’s take a look at how they have performed at the 1.5-mile track:
John Hunter Nemchek: Currently leading the Playoff standings, Nemechek heads to Las Vegas with five starts, one top five, three top 10s and 45 laps led. He finished sixth at the track earlier this season.
Austin Hill: Second in the standings, Hill heads into the weekend as one of two previous Las Vegas Motor Speedway winners entered in the race. He’s made four starts, posting one win (2023), one top five, two top 10s and 34 laps led.
Justin Allgaier: Sitting in third in the Playoff standings, Allgaier is the most experienced driver in the field with 18 starts, 10 top fives, 15 top 10s and 277 laps led. Although he has yet to land himself in Victory Lane at Las Vegas, he has come extremely close, finishing runner up four times (most recently in March).
Sam Mayer: Coming off a win at the Charlotte Road Course, Mayer heads to Sin City with a lot of momentum. He has made four starts at the track, posting two top-10 finishes and having led 26 laps. He finished seventh when the series was last there in March.
Cole Custer: Currently fifth in the Playoff standings, Custer has made six starts at the track, posting two top fives and four top 10s. He has led a total of 54 laps and finished 12th earlier this season.
Chandler Smith: As one of two rookies in Playoff contention, he’s only made one start at Las Vegas Motor Speedway but made an impressive debut. He won the pole, led 118 of the 200 laps, and ultimately finished the race in third.
Sheldon Creed: Taking up the seventh spot in the standings, Creed has made three starts at the Las Vegas track, posting two top-10 finishes. He’s led five laps and finished in ninth-place earlier this season.
Sammy Smith: In the final Playoff spot is rookie Sammy Smith. He has made one start at Las Vegas Motor Speedway where he finished in 17th.
NASCAR Xfinity Series, Etc.
Hailie Deegan to compete full time in the Xfinity Series in 2024 – NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series regular Hailie Deegan will be moving up to the NASCAR Xfinity Series in 2024, driving the No. 15 Ford with AM Racing.
“I am excited about the opportunity to compete full time in the NASCAR Xfinity Series, starting next year with AM Racing,” said Deegan. “From the start, the team has been nothing but great to work with and the vision that Wade has for the team to accomplish align with my values perfectly.”
She is currently wrapping her third full time season in the NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series. In her 67 starts, she has posted five top-10 finishes.
Deegan is one of 24 different female competitors to race in the NASCAR Xfinity Series all-time. She has one Xfinity Series start under her belt, which came last season at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, where she started 20th and finished 13th setting a new record for best finish by a female in their Xfinity Series debut surpassing the previous record held by Shawna Robinson of a 15th-place finish at Rougemont.
Ryan Reed returns to Xfinity Series at Las Vegas – Ryan Reed, who has won twice in the NASCAR Xfinity Series at Daytona, will be returning to the series this weekend at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.
Reed will be piloting the No. 66 Chevrolet with Alpha Prime Racing (in partnership with MBM Motorsports) for his first start since the 2018 season.
Reed has made starts in all three of NASCAR’s national series but ran full-time seasons in the Xfinity Series from 2014 to 2018 with RFK Racing, making 171 starts and posting two wins (2015, 2017), seven top fives and 27 top 10s.
“It is so cool to be able to make my return to Xfinity racing,” Ryan said. “The Xfinity Series was my home for many years, so it just feels right to be back.”
