Saturday was an eventful day for 22-year-old ascending motorsports talent Sam Mayer at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Just hours after an awkward interview moment, he finished second in the NASCAR Xfinity Series Pennzoil 250 beatinglate entry and Cup Series star Kyle Larson, in the process.

The race generated plenty of controversy with Richard Childress making his feelings clear on calls from Joe Gibbs Racing star Aric Almriola for his driver, Austin Hill, to be banned for a crash. Larson was also involved in an unfortunate incident with Dale Earnhardt Jr.’s star man, Justin Allgaier. 

Mayer — who survived a scary fire last season — earned the coveted pole for the race with a strong showing in qualifying. To celebrate, he took an interview with CW host Kim Coon.

“I knew that we were going to be really good,” Mayer started the interview while staring at Coon off-camera. “I was really confident. This team did a really good job last year and uh….”

The Haas Factory Team driver noticed the broadcaster pointed in the opposite direction. Mayer never stopped speaking. “Camera is over here, and that’s great. Obviously, I’m a professional at this,” he said to a chorus of applause from the other reporters.

“Just super proud of these guy,s and the Ford Mustang was really good. Yeah, just super cool to get another pole this year. We’re doing our job right! So let’s go and finish the job!”

He acknowledged the incident shortly after, re-tweeting a clip of the interview while adding “at least Kim had my back.:

Mayer, who finished ninth in last year’s Xfinity Series standings, finished second in the Pennzoil 250 to maintain his perch atop the 2025 rankings. He doesn’t have a victory yet, but his Indianapolis showing was his ninth top-five finish.

Connor Zillisch captured a third consecutive victory to vault up to second in the standings. Taylor Gray, Kyle Larson, and Rryan Sieg rounded out the top five.

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Mayer was complimentary of the team post-race. “Yeah, this one hurts a lot. Really proud of these guys, they put the work in the last couple of weeks and we’ve been getting better and better every time we show up to the racetrack.”

“I’m leaning on the fly. This is my first full race here…I feel like we’re making gains each and every week. We’re going to show up and be even better, and I can’t wait for that first victory because it’s going to taste so good.”

Mayer and his Haas team will get another shot next week as the circuit moves to the Iowa Speedway for the Overton’s 225.