Rookie Sam Mayer Wins at Bristol, His First win at 17

Steve Helber/ AP Photo

BRISTOL, TN – RIS – Sam Myer, all of 17 years old, won the UNOH 200 in his first race in the NASCAR Gander Outdoors Truck Series on Thursday night at Bristol Motor Speedway.  It was the first national series race for Mayer.  Mayer was hired this week to race in the Xfinity Series next season for JR Motorsports. His win in his seventh career Truck Series start — fourth this year — was an upset in the opening race of the playoffs.

Mayer passed title contender and teammate Brett Moffitt to score the victory for GMS Racing. He's the second youngest Truck Series winner behind Cole Custer, who was 16 when he won at New Hampshire in 2014.

“What? Oh my gosh, Bristol, dude. I love this place,” Mayer said in somewhat disbelief. “That feels so good.”

Mayer signed his career-changing deal Wednesday.

Mayer is the son of former IndyCar and road racing driver Scott Mayer. He's run a mixed schedule this year of ARCA, and ARCA East and West series races, winning eight times.

Moffitt finished second and moved to the top of the Truck Series standings. The defending race winner made it a 1-2 finish for GMS Racing. Sheldon Creed and Zane Smith, both GMS drivers also in the playoffs, finished 12th and 17th.

“I am proud of everyone at GMS for bringing not just mine, but Sam's and Sheldon and Zane all having fast trucks in the playoffs,” Moffitt said. “That's what we need. We need to have four trucks at Phoenix racing for a championship and this is a good start.”

Tanner Gray was third and followed by Parker Klingerman and Trevor Bayne. Chandler Smith was sixth and Grant Enfinger was seventh — the second-best finish among playoff drivers.

Tyler Ankrum picked up his first career stage victory and finished eighth, followed by Ross Chastain and Johnny Sauter.

Moffitt has a 37-point lead over eighth place, the cutoff line, for the playoffs. The series goes to Las Vegas Motor Speedway next week then eliminated two drivers at Talladega Superspeedway in October. Christian Eckes and Todd Gilliland are both below the cutline.

Austin Hill had a rough night.  He received bumper damage very early in the race and struggled all night, receiving to penalties in pit box violations.  He struggled with the truck’s handling and finished two laps down in 26th place.

Unofficial Results: UNOH 200, Bristol Motor Speedway

Fin, St, Driver, Truck, , Laps, St1, St2, Tms Led, Laps Led, Playoff Pts, Pts, Status
1) 17, Sam Mayer, No. 24 Armour Guard Chevrolet, 200, 7, 5, 1, 30, 5, 50, Running
2) 2, Brett Moffitt (P), No. 23 GMS Racing Chevrolet, 200, 1, 3, 2, 117, 1, 53, Running
3) 16, Tanner Gray #, No. 15 Ford/Ford Performance Ford, 200, , , , , , 34, Running
4) 35, Parker Kligerman, No. 75 Food Country USA Chevrolet, 200, , 9, , , , 35, Running
5) 24, Trevor Bayne, No. 45 Proceller8 Chevrolet, 200, , , , , , 32, Running
6) 9, Chandler Smith, No. 51 JBL Toyota, 200, , , , , , 31, Running
7) 1, Grant Enfinger (P), No. 98 ADS/Lucas Oil/Curb Records Ford, 200, 5, , , , , 36, Running
8) 7, Tyler Ankrum (P), No. 26 LiUNA! Chevrolet, 200, 2, 1, 1, 53, 1, 48, Running
9) 34, Ross Chastain(i), No. 42  Chevrolet, 200, , , , , , 0, Running
10) 23, Johnny Sauter, No. 13 Vivitar Ford, 200, 9, 2, , , , 38, Running
11) 4, Matt Crafton (P), No. 88 Great Lakes Flooring/Menards Ford, 200, 6, 7, , , , 35, Running
12) 8, Sheldon Creed (P), No. 2 Chevy Accessories Chevrolet, 200, 3, , , , , 33, Running
13) 10, Christian Eckes # (P), No. 18 Safelite AutoGlass Toyota, 200, 10, 10, , , , 26, Running
14) 3, Ben Rhodes (P), No. 99 Tenda Heal Ford, 200, , , , , , 23, Running
15) 11, Todd Gilliland (P), No. 38 Speedco Ford, 200, , , , , , 22, Running
16) 15, Derek Kraus #, No. 19 Incredible Bank Toyota, 200, 8, 6, , , , 29, Running
17) 6, Zane Smith # (P), No. 21 Chevy Accessories Chevrolet, 199, 4, 4, , , , 34, Running
18) 21, Carson Hocevar, No. 40 Scott's Chevrolet, 199, , 8, , , , 22, Running
19) 19, Raphael Lessard #, No. 4 Canac Toyota, 199, , , , , , 18, Running
20) 36, Camden Murphy, No. 8  Chevrolet, 199, , , , , , 17, Running
21) 13, Timmy Hill, No. 56 Hill Motorsports Chevrolet, 197, , , , , , 16, Running
22) 20, Tate Fogleman #, No. 02 Solid Rock Carriers Chevrolet, 197, , , , , , 15, Running
23) 26, Clay Greenfield, No. 68 Rackley Roofing Toyota, 197, , , , , , 14, Running
24) 25, Jordan Anderson, No. 3 Bommarito.com/Sefton Steel Chevrolet, 197, , , , , , 13, Running
25) 27, Danny Bohn, No. 30 North American Motor Car/Sierra Delta Toyota, 196, , , , , , 12, Running
26) 5, Austin Hill (P), No. 16 United Rentals Toyota, 195, , , , , , 11, Running
27) 31, Josh Bilicki(i), No. 00 Insurance King Toyota, 193, , , , , , 0, Running
28) 22, Spencer Boyd, No. 20 Steelsafe Shelters Chevrolet, 192, , , , , , 9, Running
29) 32, Jennifer Jo Cobb, No. 10 Fastener Supply Company Chevrolet, 190, , , , , , 8, Running
30) 28, Natalie Decker, No. 44 Ruedebusch Development Chevrolet, 186, , , , , , 7, Running
31) 33, Cody Erickson, No. 41 Magnum Contracting Inc Chevrolet, 183, , , , , , 6, Running
32) 14, Codie Rohrbaugh, No. 9 Pray for Joshua Chevrolet, 167, , , , , , 5, Brakes
33) 12, Stewart Friesen, No. 52 Halmar Racing To Beat Hunger Toyota, 167, , , , , , 5, Running
34) 18, Austin Wayne Self, No. 22 GOTEXAN/AM Technical Solutions Chevrolet, 153, , , , , , 5, Accident
35) 30, Norm Benning, No. 6 H&H Transport Chevrolet, 38, , , , , , 5, Suspension
36) 29, Josh Reaume, No. 33 Colonial Countertops Toyota, 9, , , , , , 5, Suspension
(i) Ineligible for driver points in this series, (#) Rookie, (P) Playoffs qualified

Race Length: 200 laps, 106.6 miles
Time of Race: 1 hr, 17 min, 57 sec
Average Speed: 82.053 mph
Margin of Victory: 4.413 second

Stage 1 Top 10: 23, 26, 2, 21, 98, 88, 24, 19, 13, 18
Stage 2 Top 10: 26, 13, 23, 21, 24, 19, 88, 40, 75, 18

Race Comments: Sam Mayer won the UNOH 200 presented by Ohio Logistics at Bristol Motor Speedway, his first win in the NASCAR Gander RV & Outdoors Truck Series.

Prior to the start, the following vehicle(s) dropped to the rear of the field under penalty: No. 10 (unapproved adjustments).

Caution Flags: 5 for 41 laps;
Laps: 8-13 (No. 16, 52 Incident Turn 1 [6]);
57-67 (Stage 1 Conclusion [75]);
83-88 (No. 20, 30 Incident Turn 4 [51]);
112-119 (Stage 2 Conclusion [42]);
157-166 (No. 16, 22 Incident Turn 3 [38]).

Lead Changes: 4 among 3 drivers;
G. Enfinger (P) 0;
B. Moffitt (P) 1-60;
T. Ankrum (P) 61-113;
B. Moffitt (P) 114-170;
S. Mayer 171-200.

Cometic Gaskets Pole Award: Grant Enfinger, No. 98

Mobil 1 Driver of the Race: Sam Mayer, No. 24

Sunoco Rookie of the Race: Tanner Gray, No. 15