Sam Mayer went from chasing a strong finish at Charlotte Motor Speedway to fuming over a 24th-place result. Caught in traffic after a late restart, the Haas Factory Team driver ran into trouble and eventually limped home a lap down after contact in the closing laps. Frustration quickly turned to fury, and Mayer made no attempt to hide his anger. But it was his post-race outburst, rather than his disappointing finish, that has now landed him in hot water with the NASCAR community.
Watch What’s Trending Now!
On the latest episode of Door Bumper Clear, veteran NASCAR Tommy Baldwin offered a different perspective on what unfolded at Charlotte. Rather than blaming the drivers Mayer struggled to get past, Baldwin noted where the Haas Factory driver can improve himself.
“If you paid attention, from 12th to 20th last night, them boys were battling. That’s a whole another group of guys that were battling their own race,” said Baldwin on the Door Bumper Clear podcast. “I think what Sam meant was, yes, he needed to do a better job getting through those guys. And there’s going to be some other guys that were up there that didn’t pit, right, that were going to be way slower. But that’s racing.”
Mayer had been running near the front for most of the Blue Cross NC 300, but a late caution changed things. A crash involving Brent Crews brought out the yellow flag with 14 laps to go, forcing teams to make a pit strategy decision. While some drivers pitted for fresh tires, Mayer’s team chose to stay out and protect track position.
When the race restarted on Lap 191, Mayer was back in 14th and struggling for grip on his older tires. He tried to move through the field but got caught up in a bottleneck involving several cars, including Jeremy Clements.
The contact left Mayer with tire damage, forcing him to pit again. He lost a lap in the process and could do little to recover, eventually finishing 24th. And after he got out of his No. 41 Chevrolet, he, quite literally, lashed out at everyone in the NOAPS.
“Everyone in this series s*cks,” he said. “There’s nobody worth anything past 10th place, and it’s atrocious. I hate it. It’s annoying. Just gotta be better. Everyone just crashes at the end of these races, and it just doesn’t make sense to me. We cannot go another 10 laps without hitting each other.”
Baldwin’s co-host Freddie Kraft, who currently works with 23XI’s Bubba Wallace, chimed in, saying, “I didn’t think that comment was very necessary. Sam’s a good kid. He’s made some stupid comments in the past, and he probably regrets this one too. But it just seemed unnecessary at the moment.”
This isn’t the first time Mayer has clashed with a rival and lashed out after a race. At Martinsville in October 2025, he spun Jeb Burton into the outside wall on the cooldown lap after the two tangled during the race. Mayer also criticized Burton in his post-race interviews, claiming he didn’t have the “It factor.” NASCAR later suspended Mayer from the championship race at Phoenix.
Mayer refused to apologize to Burton but expressed regret over damaging his car, which was owned by Jordan Anderson. He acknowledged that Anderson’s team was a small operation and that repairing the car would be costly. So far, Mayer has not shown any regret or apologized for what happened in Charlotte.
Kraft, who was the spotter for Dean Thompson in Charlotte this weekend, also believed that it was Mayer’s fault for not being able to clear those on older tires. He asked former driver and current analyst Jeff Burton about Mayer’s antics, and The Mayor too wasn’t willing to side with the Haas driver.
“I saw the wreck cuz I was there watching them, but I’m not 100% sure what all happened. So it’s hard for me to say,” Burton said. “But I do think you have to be careful when you get out, and you have a blanket, ‘All these people back here suck.’ Well, you’re going to race with them next week. You just be a little careful.”
Burton’s response is one that echoes the same sentiment that multiple personalities have shared about Cup driver Carson Hocevar. ‘You don’t need to have friends, but you don’t want to have enemies.’ For Hocevar, too, it’s been more his social media interactions and behavior that have led to calls for him to be more respectful.
Mayer belittled everyone outside the top 10, but he isn’t far ahead of them himself. He sits sixth in the championship standings with 2,235 points, just 67 ahead of 10th-place Parker Retzlaff, who has 2,168 points.
That’s exactly why Burton has a warning for Mayer, who will leave Haas Factory Team to return to JR Motorsports next year, driving the No. 1 Chevrolet for the team with which he won seven races.
“If you are behind 10th, you don’t have a whole lot to lose,” Burton said. “So, you got to be careful what you say about those guys.”
Mayer is also just 59 points behind championship leader Sheldon Creed, with four races remaining to close the gap. If his comments have rubbed some of them the wrong way, he could find himself on the receiving end of some tough racing before the season ends.