After three and a half seasons with JR Motorsports, Sam Mayer began the next chapter of his career with Haas Factory Team at Daytona.
Since the day Sam Mayer turned 18 years old at Pocono Raceway in 2021, he was part of the JR Motorsports family. It was his NASCAR identity.
After a few roller-coaster seasons, including a four-win 2023 season and a Championship 4 appearance, change was needed for the now 21-year-old. In mid-August at Michigan International Speedway, Haas Factory Team executive Joe Custer announced the Wisconsin native as one of the organization‘s two drivers for the 2025 Xfinity Series season.
“I‘m definitely ready to turn the page and have a new chapter in the Xfinity Series with Haas Factory,” Mayer told NASCAR.com bluntly, “because they are going to do wonders in my career.”
Mayer matured on and off the track during his tenure at JRM. With the guidance of crew chief Mardy Lindley, who he worked with dating back to his time in the ARCA Menards Series with GMS Racing, Mayer made incremental progress yearly.
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By departing JRM, he was going on his own. But he won‘t soon forget his time driving the No. 1 Chevrolet while transitioning to a new manufacturer, piloting the No. 41 Ford.
“It was quite the adventure and a lot of fun,” Mayer said of his time at JRM. “I had a lot of ups and downs. They treated me well and made a home for me. I appreciate all the time that I‘ve spent for them.”
By joining Haas Factory Team, Custer landed one of the most sought-after free-agent drivers. He sees a monumental upside to Mayer, who is coming off consecutive seasons with at least three victories.
“I feel Sam is one of the preeminent raw talents,” Custer stated. “Sam is younger and a little more raw in a good way. With Sam, I don‘t want to say we need to corral him, but we need to give him more confidence again that if something goes wrong or whatever, the car is there, the pit crew is there, the team is behind him. I‘m looking for him to take what he‘s done and deliver in our stuff.”
The decision to move on from JRM was simple for Mayer. With Cole Custer earning consecutive Championship 4 appearances, including the 2023 championship, he knew the opportunity for success was apparent with the organization formerly known as Stewart-Haas Racing.
“It‘s been crazy because this is the first time that I‘m making a lateral move in the same series to a new team,” he stated. “It‘s been quite the experience for me. The Haas Factory boys have been amazing to work with already.”
It was important for Mayer to secure a multiyear deal with HFT to have some stability moving forward. The contract prolongs his dream of racing in the Cup Series, but he‘s focused on being competitive weekly.
By switching to another top-tier team, Mayer knows the demands it takes to be successful. He feels free at HFT, knowing the support of the organization behind him.
“I can just walk into the shop and be whoever I want to be,” he said. “It‘s a great feeling to walk in there and feel like I‘m the [expletive]. I want to have that confidence that I can dominate the weekend because, at the end of the day, it‘s a winning organization and something I want to do.”
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While Haas‘ Cup Series team has scaled back to one full-time entry, the company has added employees to its Xfinity lineup and is focused on being in contention to win every race.
Before 2024, Haas‘ depth in the Cup Series weaved into its Xfinity program. Not having that as much starting in 2025 is something that‘s on Custer‘s mind with the rebrand.
“We did lean on some Cup resources for engineering, design,” Custer said. “We have all those capabilities, just not the depth. You could argue that one of our challenges is to make sure our Xfinity program doesn‘t suffer from some of those changes, reductions on the Cup side. We have our eyes on that and we have to make sure that doesn‘t happen.”
Immediate areas of growth for Mayer are getting up to speed at the track quicker during practice and qualifying to set the precedent for race day. It‘s crucial for the No. 41 team to begin the season strong, as he scored four finishes of 30th or worse — and three DNFs — in the opening seven races of 2024. He ended 2024 with career lows in top fives (eight), top 10s (13), average finish (18.0) and tallied eight DNFs.
The presumption for 2025 is that the two-car organization will be strong.
“We have the recipe for success,” Mayer noted. “The goal is to go win a championship. I haven‘t done that yet and I want to break my win record of four; I‘m going to try to get five. I know that‘s lofty, but we want to go and do it. We‘re here to dominate.”
Mayer kicked off 2025 with a runner-up finish at Daytona while his teammate Sheldon Creed placed close behind in third.