CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Sam Mayer enters the O'Reilly Auto Parts Series Chase buried in the standings. Yet, he is not worried about the 70-point deficit he must overcome to chase down former teammate Justin Allgaier.
Videos by FanBuzz
He is just happy that he gets to go on offense over the final nine weeks of the season, starting this weekend at Darlington Raceway.
"We're almost kind of racing for free just because the pressure's off," Mayer told FanBuzz on Wednesday. "Like we don't —we're not the guy at the top that we're trying to defend anything. We're the ones attacking, and if we can make it happen, we make it happen."
#NASCAR - Sam Mayer has not had the regular season he wanted, but he has remained pretty chipper throughout.
He says he's just blessed to be able to compete for wins, and he feels doubly so entering the Chase. pic.twitter.com/SlrXksIDYk— John Newby (@JohnNewby_) September 2, 2026
Make no mistake — Mayer knows that it will be a difficult task chasing down Allgaier. After all, the JR Motorsports driver leads the series with six wins this season, and he had a 229-point lead over second place in the standings when the regular season ended.
Now, however, Allgaier's lead is only 25 points over second place and 70 points over Mayer in 10th. Allgaier still has the dominant speed that made him the No. 1 seed entering the Chase, but Mayer still sees a path to his own championship.
Just build on that past playoff experience and deliver some big moments when the pressure is the greatest.
"I know when the lights get bright, and I know kind of how to dim them out and focus on what I need to do," he said. "So that's what we're gonna try to do.
"The goal for this postseason — it's a lofty one — but we're gonna try to go out there and win three races. That's kind of what's gonna put us back in the game a little bit."
Mayer doesn't know how this Chase will progress. He's never competed in this format before, nor have any of his competitors. They are all learning together about the importance of stage points, top-10 finishes, and wins.
All he knows for certain at this point is that he can't afford to have the Chase progress as the regular season, a stretch in which he had six DNFs and five due to crashes.
"It's been... it was a rough regular season," he said. "We had ups and downs. We had good moments and terrible moments. I thought we could have won a couple of races, and we just didn't.
"But still making the Chase and having a shot at it is still an awesome thing. So we're just gonna go out there, execute what we can these last nine races, and see what the Chase brings us."
This postseason will begin on Saturday night as the O'Reilly Auto Parts Series drivers take on Darlington Raceway (7:30 p.m. ET). It will then continue with eight other races, culminating in the championship at Homestead-Miami Speedway on Nov. 7.
