XFINITY: Controversial DVP call by NASCAR puts Playoff contender Sam Mayer in last place at Talladega

Written By Brock Beard

by Brock Beard / LASTCAR.info Editor-in-Chief

PHOTO: Haas Factory Team, @HaasFactoryTeam

Sam Mayer picked up the 5th last-place finish of his NASCAR XFINITY Series career in Saturday’s United Rentals 250 at the Talladega Superspeedway when his #41 Audibel Ford was eliminated under NASCAR’s “Damaged Vehicle Policy” (DVP) after 15 of 100 laps.

The finish, which came in Mayer’s 148th series start, was his first of the season and first in a XFINITY Series race since this same race last year on October 5, 2024, 36 races ago. In the XFINITY Series’ last-place rankings, it was the 4th by DVP, the 15th for the #41, and the 176th for Ford. Across NASCAR’s top three series, it was the 15th from the DVP, the 62nd for the #41, and the 1,081st for Ford.

After coming just short of making the “Championship Four” last season, Mayer has found new life with the Haas Factory Team, where he and former Joe Gibbs Racing driver Sheldon Creed have impressed in several races this season. Consisting of the remnants of the shuttered Stewart-Haas Racing, Mayer’s #41 team has contended for wins right from the start of the season, racking up 13 top-five finishes and 17 top-ten finishes in these first 30 races, including a win at Iowa.

With an impending manufacturer switch to Chevrolet in 2026 and a new black paint scheme for the final few races of the season, Mayer has endured a challenging Playoffs. Aside from a 3rd in Bristol and 9th in Las Vegas, he finished 16th in Kansas and 19th on the “Roval,” giving him a slim 8-point advantage over the cutline. To avoid a “must-win” scenario at Martinsville, he’d have to both put up a strong finish and avoid a disqualification like he incurred in this race last season.

In qualifying for Talladega, Mayer fell short of making Roun 2 when he qualified 13th with a lap of 53.197 seconds (180.010mph), three positions ahead of teammate Creed in 16th.

Securing the 38th and final starting spot as Taylor Gray, who due to a transmission issue on his #54 Operation 300 Toyota was the only car to not turn a lap in qualifying. Gray incurred a redundant tail-end penalty for unapproved adjustments, joined by 14th-place Blaine Perkins in the #31 Werner Chevrolet and 19th-place Mason Maggio in the #91 Denssi Energy Pouches Chevrolet.

Also dropping to the rear voluntarily was Caesar Bacarella, who qualified Alpha Prime Racing’s #5 Mongoose Power Solutions Chevrolet in 25th. Over the radio, NASCAR reminded him he could line up in his qualified spot behind Ryan Sieg, but Bacarella elected to fall to the rear. During his run down pit road, the Alpha Prime team advised Bacarella he was too slow on the first half of pit road, which would be his approach to Stall 17 on the far end of the pits. “We’ll just ride the first two stages, then do our thing at the end,” he was told.

By the time the green flag dropped, intervals showed Bacarella up to the 33rd spot (2.921 seconds back of the lead) ahead of Joey Gase’s #53 Donate Life Alabama Chevrolet, up to 34th from 36th on the grid (2.924), then the penalized Perkins (3.064) and Gray (3.190), followed by Carson Ware’s #74 Costa Oil Filters Chevrolet (3.203) and the penalized Maggio now last (3.325).

When the preliminary entry list was posted on Monday, the #74 car was shown without a listed driver or sponsor. That night, JM Graphics received a call from Carson Ware that he’d be running the car on Saturday with sponsor Costa Oil Filters. By Tuesday, JM completed final revisions on the wrap that was used on the car, featuring Costa’s $50 oil change promotion on the hood.

As the green flag dropped, it was Ware who fell to last place by the backstretch, already trailing the low lane by open track. Ware later apologized for this, saying the field stacked up in front of him at the start. By the beginning of Lap 2, he was 4.545 seconds back of the lead, just over a second behind the now 37th-place Bacarella. On Lap 3, the tail end of the field began to come apart, so the 36th and 37th spots fell to a trailing Kyle Sieg in the #28 Big House Construction Ford and David Starr in the #35 To Rescue The American Spirit Chevrolet, who formed a two-car draft of their own.

While the Sieg / Starr pair remained about a second behind the main pack, the stranded Ware continued to lose ground. On Lap 4, he was 9.360 seconds back of the lead, then 12.811 on Lap 5, 16.586 on Lap 6, 20.311 on Lap 7, 23.940 on Lap 8, and 28.024 on Lap 9. Through this run, Ware reported his gauges looked fine, including his water temperature. The spotter stayed in constant contact about where the leaders were running and how many had broken away up front. By Lap 12, when he was 39.546 back of the lead, the first 35 cars were separated by just 4.162 seconds with the first five cars single-file. On Lap 13, the team told Ware to hold the “very top” in the high lane when he’d be lapped, a message relayed a second time on Lap 14. That time by, Ware was 47.266 seconds back of the lead and about to be caught. Coming to the line to complete Lap 15, Ware held the high lane. To his inside, race leaders Jesse Love and Nick Sanchez rushed past.

At that exact moment, it happened.

Running in the 7th spot as the fourth car back on the inside line, Jeb Burton’s #27 Sportsman Channel Chevrolet bumped Sheldon Creed’s #00 Road Ranger Ford, who was pinned behind William Sawalich’s #18 Soundgear Toyota. As Creed fought for control, Burton’s car pulled to the left, hooking the left-rear of Brandon Jones’ #20 Toyota to Burton’s outside. This turned Jones hard to the left, back into the right-rear of Creed, sending both cars spinning up the track. At the same time, Burton’s #27 continued to pull to the right, crowding Brenden Queen’s #11 Action Industries Chevrolet, Ryan Sieg’s #39 Sci Aps Ford, and Jeremy Clements’ #51 All South Electrical Chevrolet into the outside wall, where the spinning Creed blocked their path, followed by Jones. In the resulting pileup, Mayer pulled to the left to try and escape, only for Clements’ car to spin into his path, collecting both Mayer, the #32 Bommarito Automotive Group Chevrolet of Jordan Anderson, and the #42 Botticelli Chevrolet of Anthony Alfredo.

Miraculously, Ware avoided any involvement in the accident – but it was close. With the leaders barely clear of Ware at the time, the spinning Creed came within inches of collecting Ware’s car, and the spotter urged him to stay in the gas as he escaped into Turn 1. Under the ensuing caution, Ware apologized for his slow start and was told he wasn’t to blame for the accident. He also earned the first Free Pass of the day, and on Lap 18 climbed out of last place.

Of the ten cars collected, only Ryan Sieg’s #39 remained stranded on the apron of Turn 1 while the others made it back to pit road. Repairs began in earnest before NASCAR threw the red flag for cleanup and repairs to the outside wall. First to take the last spot from Ware was Brandon Jones, who had heavy damage to both front fenders of his Toyota. Jones was shown a lap down along with 37th-place Anderson, 36th-place Mayer, 35th-place Alfredo, and 34th-place Clements. The stranded Sieg was shown 2 down, one lap behind this group, but for some reason was classified 32nd. Of the damaged cars on pit road, Creed was among the first to pull into the garage, most of the bodywork stripped away from the both sides of his Ford, similar to Sieg’s #39.

When the red flag period ended on Lap 19, last place briefly fell to Jordan Anderson, then to Jeremy Clements with Queen in 37th and Sieg back to 36th. Once again, Sieg was a lap behind the two cars behind him, shown 3 laps down on the NASCAR.com leaderboard while Queen and Clements were each 2 down. This was strange as NASCAR.com’s “Raw Feed” function of the online leaderboard credited Sieg with the same 15 completed laps as the other drivers eliminated in the accident.

A further complication then brought Mayer into the battle. After the crew patched together the nose of Mayer’s car with bits of silver and black bear-bond, NASCAR radioed that Mayer received a two-lap penalty for too many crew members over the wall repairing his damage, a violation of the DVP. During this two-lap penalty, Mayer’s “Crash Clock” expired. And though the #41 returned to the track, he was ordered back to pit road, then to the garage just as the race restarted. By then, the penalty had dropped Mayer to last place on Lap 20, though CW’s broadcast still showed Clements in last place with Sieg in 36th and Mayer in 34th. CW’s scoring error wasn’t corrected until after the checkered flag, when Mayer was shown in last place during the victory lane segment. NASCAR’s own published results confirmed Mayer as the last-place finisher.

In all, the Bottom Five was filled by the first pileup of the day. Mayer was listed out by his DVP expiring followed by Clements, Queen, Sieg, and Creed. Alfredo and Anderson also went to the garage soon after the red flag ended, putting him 33rd and 32nd.

Heading into the final race of the “Round of 8” next Saturday in Martinsville, both Mayer and teammate Sheldon Creed find themselves below the cutline to make the “Championship Four.” Both are the two lowest-classified drivers with Mayer 22 points behind and Creed back by 41.

Stirring late-race charge by Caesar Bacarella leads Saturday’s underdog stories

While Austin Hill continued his superspeedway dominance by completing a season sweep at Talladega, several underdog drivers escaped the Lap 15 pileup unscathed, then found their way through two more wrecks before the race finished in overtime at sunset.

Finishing a stunning 5th was Caesar Bacarella – the same driver who was too slow on pit road during his speed check, and had voluntarily dropped to the tail end of the field before the green flag. Bacarella was able to catch the lead pack in the early laps, then on the final sprint to the checkers found himself among the leaders coming off the final corner, taking home his first career top-five finish in his 38th series start. Combined with a 7th-place finish for a struggling Parker Retzlaff in the #4 Every Man Jack Chevrolet, it was a brilliant day for Alpha Prime Racing.

Just before Bacarella’s rally, Garrett Smithley made some aggressive moves through the middle lane and charged into the Top 5 on the final lap in his #14 ThermoTech Chevrolet. He was still running about that position entering Turn 3 when Leland Honeyman, Jr.’s #70 Wawa Chevrolet nearly wrecked in front of him. Honeyman raced up to 2nd late in the going despite a missing left-front fender from a mid-race tangle with Connor Zilisch and still came home 8th, his first top-ten finish since the spring race in Atlanta. Smithley checked-up for Honeyman and finished 12th, right behind his SS-Green Light Racing teammate Nick Leitz, whose #07 Firman Chevrolet recovered from a pair of incidents earlier in the race to take a career-best 11th.

Blaine Perkins also came back from his tail-end penalty to battle among the lead draft for much of the afternoon, eventually coming home 6th – his fourth top-ten finish of the year and a new career-best, improving on his 7th at this same track this past spring.

Carson Ware, who after his narrow escape on Lap 15 lost a lap a second time in Stage 3, then earned another Free Pass under the final caution of the day. He came home 21st, the last driver on the lead lap. This stands as the best finish of the year for Mike Harmon Racing and nearly a career-best for Ware, whose top mark remains a 20th at Pocono in 2020.

Among the contenders who fell back late were Mason Maggio, still another driver to nearly recover from his pre-race tail-end penalty. Maggio worked his way into the Top 10 during the final caution, but fell off the lead lap back to 22nd. Josh Williams took the final restart on the front row, but ran out of fuel and plummeted to 14th. David Starr and Brennan Poole also looked strong late before they dropped to 18th and 19th.

LASTCAR STATISTICS

*This marked the first last-place finish for the #41 in a XFINITY Series race since September 3, 2011, when Johnny Chapman’s run in the unsponsored #41 Rick Ware Racing Chevrolet ended with overheating issues after 1 lap around Atlanta. It’s also the first last-place finish for the #41 in a XFINITY Series race at Talladega.

THE BOTTOM FIVE

38) #41-Sam Mayer / 15 laps / DVP

37) #51-Jeremy Clements / 15 laps / crash

36) #11-Brenden Queen / 15 laps / crash

35) #39-Ryan Sieg / 15 laps / crash

34) #00-Sheldon Creed / 15 laps / crash

2025 LASTCAR XFINITY SERIES OWNER'S CHAMPIONSHIP

1st) Kaulig Racing (5)

2nd) Joe Gibbs Racing, SS-Green Light Racing (4)

3rd) Alpha Prime Racing (3)

4th) JR Motorsports, Sam Hunt Racing (2)

5th) Cope Family Racing, DGM Racing x JIM, Haas Factory Team, Joey Gase Motorsports with Scott Osteen, Jordan Anderson Racing, Mike Harmon Racing, Our Motorsports, Pardus Racing, Richard Childress Racing, RSS Racing, Young’s Motorsports (1)

2025 LASTCAR XFINITY SERIES MANUFACTURER'S CHAMPIONSHIP

1st) Chevrolet (23)

2nd) Toyota (6)

3rd) Ford (2)

2025 LASTCAR XFINITY SERIES DRIVER'S CHAMPIONSHIP

Brock Beard https://lastcar.info
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