Sam Mayer is slowly transforming from a scrappy young gun with wide-eyed aspirations into a more humble team leader with a focused approach.
Sam Mayer is slowly transforming from a scrappy young gun with wide-eyed aspirations into a more humble team leader with a focused approach.
The 2026 NASCAR O'Reilly Auto Parts Series has been much quieter for Mayer, who ended the 2025 season a race early after NASCAR suspended him for a race after an incident in the penultimate race of the season.
This season, Mayer has quietly put together good finishes and kept himself out of trouble. What he can't keep himself away from are issues he hasn't been able to prevent.
"This season has been one to remember because of all the fun times that I've had with this race team but also, like holy crap, we just can't get anything going our way. We qualify on the pole at Atlanta and get a tire cut down early again both races. So it's like, man, can't get away with anything," Mayer said. "We've had a lot of flashes in the pan. That's been super positive and I felt like we could have won probably three or four races by now and just haven't and that's just kind of part of racing."
Mayer is on the bubble to make the Chase but he's looking at how high he climb up the standings -- eyeing "eighth or ninth" in the standings, not just staying in the top-12.
"We definitely used our last mulligan at Atlanta... But to be honest, there's no defense here. We're attacking right now more than anything," Mayer said. "You show up to Iowa and you're the guy. You're the driver that's won two in a row and... you kind of got that, like your head high. You're really excited and... obviously Daytona, the Haas cars are so fast on these speedway-type of racetracks."
Taking things week by week and staying present is clearly Mayer's approach but it was different for the 23-year-old at an even younger age.
Mayer once openly questioned why owners haven't considered him for a NASCAR Cup Series ride. While he still wants to race in Cup, his perspective has shifted.
"For me, it's like 'Yes, I want to go cup racing.' Cup racing is a dream of mine. I've been dreaming about it the last decade, really. But I've kind of matured," Mayer said. "When I was at JRM, I was just a kid who wanted to go Cup racing. That's literally all I cared or think thought about and it kind of distracted me a little bit from the here and the now."
More than anything, Mayer is grateful for the opportunity he has to race in NASCAR.
"It's like, not everything needs to be rushed and everything needs to happen on God's time and sometimes it's different than what you think," Mayer said. "Obviously, at some point in my career, hopefully in the next couple of years, I'll be in the NASCAR Cup Series because that is a dream of mine at the end of the day. But I'm just super grateful for the opportunities that I've had at Haas Factory team and obviously JRM too."
With just two cars, no clear "star" driver and being a little older, Mayer is in a different position at Haas than at JRM.
"I was a kid walking into JRM for the first time and I'm like, 'Man, I don't even know what up and down is right now. Like, I'm just kind of trying to figure out my way,' and I matured and learned as I was over there and got better. But I still never was able to break out of my shell over there just because, like, you have Justin Allgaier over there. At that time, you had Noah Gragson and they were winning almost every single weekend and so you're kind of like in the shadows. You're like, 'Hey guys, how's it going? I'm here too. I win every now and then,' It took me so long to mature and and learn these hard lessons over there," Mayer said.
As one of two drivers from a relatively-new team that formed from the ashes of Stewart-Haas Racing last season and underwent a manufacturer change this season, Mayer has had to step up.
"I was able to take a lot of those lessons that I learned kind of the hard way in some aspects and take that to Haas Factory team and kind of have that leadership role a little bit... just because it's a new team. You're the guy driving and you have to be a leader," Mayer said. "It's hard but when you're coming into a new team and everyone's kind of learning and doing stuff at the same pace, it's a little easier and it's easier to kind of have that leadership role."
Whether that leadership role parlays itself into a win or multiple wins remains to be seen. However, Mayer's mindset is shaping up for him to be successful in 2027 and beyond.
