One thread runs through much of Sam Mayer’s development in ARCA and success in NASCAR.
Mardy Lindley was Mayer’s crew chief when he won for the first time in the ARCA East series with GMS Racing.
When he won his two championships in that division.
When he won at Road America in 2023 for his first NASCAR Xfinity Series checkered flag, as well as the six since, and when he made his playoff run.
So one would have to wonder, will the change of crew chiefs have a greater effect on the 21-year-old from Franklin than the change in teams or manufacturers?
After 3 ½ seasons in NASCAR’s No. 2 division with JR Motorsports and longer than that under the Chevrolet umbrella, Mayer will make his first start in a Haas Factory Team Ford this weekend at Daytona International Speedway. Jason Trinchere will be on his pit box.
“Yeah, it’s definitely bittersweet, because we brought Mardy on in ’23, to go out there and to win four races and absolutely have one of my best career Xfinity seasons, Mardy was a huge part of that, for sure,” Mayer said.
“I think my development as a driver got exponentially better with him on board, and I learned a lot. And ’24 we backed it up with three wins and a solid playoff run as best we could do.”
The season-opening United Rentals 300 is scheduled for 4 p.m. Saturday.
Trinchere, whose background is in engineering, spent last season in the Craftsman Truck Series with Spire Motorsports. Before that he spent three seasons with Kaulig Racing, where he enjoyed a five-win season in 2021 with AJ Allmendinger and worked with a handful of drivers including Wisconsinite Derek Kraus.
Twenty two of Mayer’s 24 ARCA and NASCAR victories have come while working with Lindley, the others with Charles Denike (2020 Bristol trucks) and Chris Bray (2024 Sonoma ARCA West). During the first year and a half of Mayer’s time in the Xfinity Series at JR Motorsports, he worked with Taylor Moyer, and they had solid performance overall, including a finish of seventh in the standings in their only full season, but no victories.
Mayer moved to Haas – the updated version of the defunct Stewart Haas Racing – saying he was looking for more opportunities for advancement to the Cup Series with Ford. Lindley will work with 18-year-old top prospect Connor Zilisch at JRM.
“Certainly had that success with Mardy, and it sucks having to part ways, but it’s something that you know you have to kind of look at the greater good and weigh the pros and the cons,” Mayer said. “And I think that the longevity of my career can come with a lot of really good things with this path, and it’s something that I’m really excited about.”
This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Wisconsin NASCAR driver Sam Mayer adapts to new crew chief, Haas, Ford
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