Sam Mayer scores an emotional first NASCAR victory at Road America, his home track

ELKHART LAKE – Sam Mayer of Franklin scored his first NASCAR Xfinity Series victory Saturday in the Road America 180 in a race that tied a record with eight cautions.

Who is the winner, Sam Mayer?

The 20-year-old came out of karting and legends cars and connected with Chevrolet. That led him to Dale Earnhardt Jr.’s JR Motorsports, where he has raced in the Xfinity Series since becoming eligible after his 18^th birthday.

He was coming off a second place last weekend at Pocono Raceway that tied his career best. In his second full season in the No. 1 JR Motorsports Chevrolet, he entered the day ninth in points with five top-fives and 11 top-10s. The year started off in spectacular fashion when his car was overturned while he was fighting for the win at Daytona and sent sliding down the back stretch on his roof.

Mayer won in his seventh NASCAR truck start when he pulled off an ARCA-truck sweep at Bristol Motor Speedway in 2020.  He has finished in the top 10 in more than half his Xfinity starts (37 of 71) and has 18 top-five finishes.

How did Sam Mayer win the Road America 180

Mayer was fifth for the final restart in overtime with Justin Allgaier, who had dominated, in the lead.

When Allgaier slid wide in Turn 6, Sage Karam moved to the front, and then Mayer pressured him for the lead in Turn 8, where Allgaier and Mayer both ran wide. Oil-drying compound laid down during the preceding red flag made the surface particularly slippery.

Mayer found himself racing Parker Kligerman for second as they went down into Turn 12 but couldn’t get around as Karam built a gap. But then Karam lost traction in 13, leaving Kligerman and Mayer fighting for their first victory.

Kligerman was unable to defend Mayer’s inside pass in Turn 14, and Mayer ran a clean final lap to beat Kligerman to the line by .386 seconds.

Two other Wisconsin drivers raced

Josh Bilicki of Richfield finsihed eight, his best result in 187 starts across NASCAR's three national series.

Parker Retzlaff of Rhinelander finsihed 14th.

The key numbers

The box score shows two lead changes among three drivers, with AJ Allmendinger leading the first five, Justin Allgaier six through 47 and Mayer 48-49. But on the wild 48th lap, four drivers swapped the lead five times among them. Official lap leaders are only counted at the start/finish line.

Mayer became the 17^th driver to win in 17 NASCAR national series races, including 14 in the Xfinity Series.

Eight caution flags tied a race record set in 2013

Allgaier led 42 of the 49 laps but finished 18^th.

Pole-sitter AJ Allmendinger led the first five laps but struggled with brakes, got punted off course and ninth.

This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Sam Mayer wins NASCAR Xfinity Series Road America 180