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After winning his second race of the Xfinity Series season at Iowa Speedway last weekend, Sam Mayer explained how he feels about not being a top candidate for Cup Series rides. He responded strongly by saying it “Pisses me off” that he’s not getting more Cup Series attention. Will Sam Mayer make it up to the Cup Series sometime soon?
Realistically, 2024 is a tough year for Mayer to jump to the Cup Series. Most of the Silly Season movement is in the Ford camp, with Front Row Motorsports having two open seats and SHR shutting down. The JGR No. 19 is a Toyota ride available, but Chase Briscoe looks like the current favorite for the ride.
Mayer is a Chevy driver, and the movement happening in the Chevy camp surrounds Trackhouse. With Michael McDowell joining Spire in 2025 and Zane Smith out of a ride, Trackhouse needs to find a place for all five drivers under contract. There’s just no place for Sam Mayer in the Chevy camp.
Either way, Mayer is only in his third full-time season in the Xfinity Series. While he’s shown a lot of promise within that time, he has also shown some inconsistency. He had seven DNFs in 2023 and four already in 2024, not even halfway through the season. His first three wins of 2023 came on road courses, so coming into the year, the question was whether or not he could consistently win on ovals.
Mayer could easily benefit from another year in the Xfinity Series with some more time to develop. However, he is also within that window of about three to four seasons in the lower series before jumping up to Cup that 8/12 full-time current Cup drivers who debuted this decade had. More about that in the article below.
What’s Happening? The debate about the right time for a driver to jump up to the Cup Series was ignited…
It’s tough to project what 2025 Silly Season will look like, but contracts will continue to expire, and more opportunities will open up. If Mayer continues to win races, he will certainly garner interest from somewhere.
Other rides might potentially open up in 2024. However, would those be the best opportunities for someone like Mayer to develop?
Denny Hamlin raised an interesting point on a recent episode of Actions Detrimental. When discussing Mayer, Hamlin said it is more about the opportunity Mayer will get at the Cup level instead of just getting to Cup for the sake of it. As Hamlin said, “I am definitely of the opinion winning on Friday or Saturday is better than running 25th on Sunday.”
We turn back to what realistically can open up for Mayer this year. Maybe the second Kaulig Racing car or the second Rick Ware Racing car. Both of these cars currently sit outside the top 30 in owner’s points.
Is it better for Mayer to race in Cup full-time for a smaller team, or to keep winning races in the Xfinity Series? At some point, if Mayer wants to go Cup racing, he has to take what comes his way, but, does he have to do that right now? He is in race-winning equipment in the Xfinity Series, an ideal place to develop and improve.
However, it would be tough to ignore if a Cup Series offer comes down the line, as unrealistic as it may be.
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