Sam Mayer breaks down 'unfortunate' overtime incident with Ty Gibbs at Watkins Glen

The talk after Sam Mayer’s victory at Watkins Glen during Saturday’s Xfinity Series race all centered around his incident with Ty Gibbs.

While Gibbs was dominating the race, Mayer took him out towards the finish, and ended Gibbs’ day prematurely. Some cheered, some booed and everyone had an opinion on the matter, but Mayer is setting the record straight.

Evidently, Mayer is simply going to do all he can for his team, as he told SiriusXM NASCAR Radio on Tuesday.

🏆 "I'm trying to get wins and points and success for my race team, so I'm going to do whatever I can to do that."

🗣️ @JRMotorsports driver @sam_mayer_ broke down the the Turn 1 move in OT on @TyGibbs that led to his 2nd career @NASCAR_Xfinity win Saturday at @WGI. pic.twitter.com/E4yNRKbRCo

— SiriusXM NASCAR Radio (Ch. 90) (@SiriusXMNASCAR) August 22, 2023

“(Ty Gibbs) called it desperate. I mean, I’m trying to get wins and points and success for my race team, so I’m going to do whatever I can to do that,” Mayer explained. “Obviously, I over-drove the corner way too much, and wheel-hopped it into the corner, and he was just at my front bumper at that point. It’s definitely an unfortunate way to end a race for somebody, because you want to be able to race them all the way back, and beat them. Which I think we could’ve, because we were in such a good spot, and our car was so good.

“With the short run, I think we could’ve stuck with him, and maybe made something happen. But just an unfortunate deal. Part of learning and developing as a young racer. I didn’t get the restart that I really wanted. I launched with him, and I lost a little but going up the hill and down the hill. Then just, trying to get to him on the inside, and wheel-hopped it right into his bumper.”

While Mayer believes he’s in the right, and has the trophy to show for it, one person who disagreed with his opinion was Denny Hamlin, who touched on the topic during his latest Actions Detrimental podcast.

“Personally, I like Sam. I sang his praises after Road America, ‘Man, he’s trending in the right direction.’ He was doing a lot of foolish things early. He’s cleaning it up. He’s doing a good job. His road course finishes have been very, very good lately. I think road course racing is a good indication of where you’re somewhat at on talent, I really do. I think that that’s a pretty good indicator,” explained Hamlin. “But I don’t know. Him or his team completely overreacted to what happened in the esses. Ty is in front in the esses. It is hard to run side-by-side in the esses.

“Now people are going to call me a homer, because I’m sticking up for Ty, they can f— off. Because I will call it as straight as I can call it. It doesn’t matter who’s involved.”

Regardless, Sam Mayer has a bright future ahead of him, as does Ty Gibbs. Perhaps we’re seeing the beginning of a budding rivalry from the young, talented NASCAR drivers.