JR Motorsports Race Report
Saturday, Oct. 15, 2022
Race 30 of 33: Alsco Uniforms 302 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway
Track Specs: 1.5-mile tri-oval / 201 laps
Race Winner: Josh Berry
Mayer’s finish: 7th
Points position: 8th (-36 from cutline)
Sam Mayer and the No. 1 Accelerate Professional Talent Solutions team came away from the Vegas Strip with a seventh-place payout in Saturday’s Alsco Uniforms 302 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. Mayer raced among his fellow playoff contenders throughout the race and scooped up valuable stage points in both Stage One and Two en route to his 17th top-10 finish of 2022. With two races left in the Round of 8, Mayer is eighth in the championship standings and the No. 1 team is seventh in the battle for the owner’s title.
Race Rundown
Sam Mayer came out of the gate with a fifth-place starting spot and showed plenty of speed in the opening stage. But with the No. 18 of Trevor Bayne nearly spinning out in front of the Acceleration Professional Talent Solutions Chevy, Mayer had to check up and give up several position in the early stages.
He dropped to 10th but with fast lap times, Mayer was able to navigate lap traffic and pick off several competitors falling through the field. He gained four positions and clawed back to sixth for the conclusion of Stage One.
Knowing there was speed to be had with a loose condition, Mayer only wanted tightened up a bit under the stage-ending caution. The No. 1 team took four tires, fuel and a slight adjustment on pit road.
The team fired off from seventh for Stage Two. Initially, Mayer kept the Accelerate Professional Talent Solutions Chevrolet stuck to the bottom lane, but soon began moving around in an effort to find more speed. Mayer admitted that he was “really happy,” with the car and that “it felt good”, though track position was paramount. He maintained throughout and finished Stage Two in seventh.
With Mayer saying the No. 1 was getting snappy loose at the end of the stage, the team pitted for four tires, fuel and elected to go back on the changes from the last stop. He took the restart for the final stage in seventh in the top lane.
Once the field settled in, Mayer again started moving his line around in a search for more momentum after dropping to 11th. With a tight condition, Mayer struggled getting back to the throttle in the high line and moved back to the bottom.
The No. 1 team addressed the tight condition during its green-flag pit stop on lap 144. As the field cycled through various stops, Mayer returned to 11th spot.
Mayer hung just inside the top 10 as the laps clicked away. The field went through another caution on lap 160 that saw almost all the lead lap cars hit pit road. Mayer leveraged his stop for four tires, fuel and adjustments into positions on the racetrack. Once back to green-flag gracing, he methodically climbed forward to the seventh spot, where he took the checkered flag.
Sam Mayer, driver No. 1 Accelerate Professional Talent Solutions Chevrolet team
“It was an absolute fight out there and we did all we could to stay in it today. Everyone on this Accelerate Professional Talent Solutions team worked hard at it, and there’s plenty of fight left in us for these next two races. For me, I learned a few things and was able to get more comfortable with the different lanes you need to be able to run at tracks like this.”
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