“I do apologize”: Sam Mayer discusses the incident with Ty Gibbs after winning the Watkins Glen Xfinity race

NASCAR driver Sam Mayer stated that he apologizes to rival Ty Gibbs after their late collision at the Watkins Glen Xfinity race.

The 20-year-old claimed his second win in four weeks after he spun his arch-rival post the late restart to the race. It was heartbreak for Gibbs as he had led 70 of 86 laps, but a late caution bunched up the field and gave Mayer a shot.

Sam Mayer pounced on the opportunity by nudging Gibbs out of the way and taking the wheel as the collision was accidental between the duo.

In his post-race interview, Mayer said:

"My mindset is that I didn't really want to do that and I didn't really have to do that. I just made a mistake and wheel-hopped into him and lost control pretty much. Just trying to get too much out of that corner and obviously, he got the short end of the stick. I do apologize to him, if he ever hears this, I do apologize. But it obviously ended up pretty good for us as we got those bonus points, getting the win."

Sam Mayer analyzes his win at Watkins Glen Xfinity race

The 20-year-old stated that he accepts making a mistake but he would always go for the move no matter who the rival is.

As per Nascar.com, Sam Mayer said:

“If I was able to stay there and side-draft him down the back, I would have beat him into the bus stop and probably had the lead there. So as a Cup driver, he knows that; he’s really intelligent when it comes to that. He’s aware. And so he fed me a little fender, and it about wrecked me and put us in a really dangerous spot, so I was pretty upset about that because of my point of view.

“Kevin (Hamlin), my spotter, said over the radio that he’s a Cup spotter, and he would have said to his driver to do that, too. So it’s just part of the really aggressive race that we see nowadays. It would be the exact same thing because I’m going there for the win. I’m trying to do my best to get Victory Lane for my team and my organization.

He added:

"If the same restart happened and he got a better restart than me again — whoever it is — I would try to get to the inside of them as well. Obviously, I wouldn’t try to wreck anybody, including Ty."

It will be fascinating to see how Ty Gibbs responds to Sam Mayer's comments.