Close-call NASCAR races are some of the most thrilling events in motorsports. Every second and inch matters when drivers are competing for the ultimate prize. Several competitions over the years have been won by extremely minute differences, where every factor and section of the race could have completely altered the outcome.
One such race was the 2024 Andy’s Frozen Custard 300 at Texas Motor Speedway, where Sam Mayer of JR Motorsports won the competition in a photo finish. His No. 1 Chevrolet was just 0.002 seconds ahead of Ryan Sieg’s No. 39 Ford.
The NASCAR Xfinity Series re-lived the iconic moment from the previous season when they posted a video of the race’s final lap on its X handle.
Sam Mayer’s Win at the 2024 Andy’s Frozen Custard 300
Jesse Love of Richard Childress Racing started in the pole position but could not capitalize on his lead. Chandler Smith quickly moved to the front and led for the first 25 laps.
Mayer started in the 10th position and stayed among the top 10 runners for the most part. Then, on Lap 28, Justin Allgaier of JRM took the lead and was unstoppable. He won the first stage, followed by Smith.
In the second Stage, the lead changed hands between Brandon Jones, Cole Custer, and Smith. Eventually, Allgaier swept Stage 2 as well by 0.945 seconds over runner-up Custer.
The No. 7 driver’s dominance continued in the final stage as well. However, the chaos and caution in the final chapters of the race shuffled things up a bit. On the 150th lap, Austin Hill moved to the front and maintained his position for the next 24 laps.
After the 190th lap, Sieg was leading the pack following a restart. His Ford looked strong until Mayer caught up with him on the last lap.
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After the second turn, Mayer overtook Sieg moments after making close contact with the latter. The No. 1 driver was all set to make a pass at Sieg and succeeded in doing so. And just off Turn 4, Sieg made contact with him and the two ran together extremely closely, side by side, to the finish line.
Mayer was less than a fraction ahead of the No. 39 Ford to take home one of the closest wins in the Xfinity Series.
The 20-year-old driver was in utter disbelief as he arrived in the victory lane. After his win, he faced the cameras and said: “This team, the amount of adversity we’ve had to fight this entire year so far, and to come to a mile-and-a-half that I want to say I’m good at, but it took a lot. It took every ounce of me for me to do that today.”
Sieg, who was inches away from his first-ever Xfinity victory, was disappointed after the result and had a few comments to make about it.
“It sucks. We had a really good car. I just got tight, so tried to change my lines and do everything. I saw him coming, and I did all I could do, and at the end, I was just trying to run him up into the wall to try to win the race. We were so close. This sucks.”
Currently, in his 11 starts this season, Mayer has five top-five finishes and sits third in the overall driver rankings.