“I wouldn’t rush it”: Denny Hamlin insists on patience to Sam Mayer before making jump to the Cup Series

Sam Mayer bagged his second win of the season and the sixth win of his NASCAR Xfinity career last Saturday at Iowa Speedway. Like every Xfinity Series driver, the 20-year-old Wisconsin native too, dreams of driving a Cup car in the future. However, NASCAR Cup Series regular Denny Hamlin has recently explained why Mayer should not rush it.

Denny Hamlin believes Mayer has immense potential to be a top prospect to drive on Sundays. However, driving a Cup car and winning races on the Cup level is indeed a hard nut to crack. The seven-time Pocono winner feels that Mayer should further hone his skills in the lower-tier racing series of NASCAR before thinking of moving up the ladder.

While talking to co-host Jared Allen in a recent episode of Actions Detrimental, the Joe Gibbs Racing driver reflected on Mayer's aspiration to drive in the Cup Series and said, (42:20)

"I think that Sam Mayer just needs a little bit more time to get a little more refined but certainly he should be a prospect in the long run to race on Sundays. He said in his post-race presser that he aspires to race on Sundays."

"The good news is he is young enough; he's got tonnes of time and I wouldn't rush it because I think getting in the right situation matters. If you just take the first thing that comes your way, it can sometimes lead to being a bad look for you," explained the veteran racer.

Still, Denny Hamlin applauded Sam Mayer's road racing prowess. Five out of the six wins under the JR Motorsports driver's belt came at road courses with his only win at an oval coming at Texas Motor Speedway earlier this year. Mayer's triumph at Texas was the closest victory in the history of the Xfinity Series as he held off Ryan Sieg by 0.002 seconds.

Currently, Sam Mayer stands 10th in the Xfinity Series point standings with 396 points to his name. He has led a combined 109 laps and has amassed seven top-5s besides eight top-10s.

Denny Hamlin sends words of advice to young drivers like Sam Mayer

Jared Allen asked Denny Hamlin how the latter would convince the budding speedsters not to rush it to the Cup Series. Responding to the question, Hamlin explained that it is better to win as many races as possible in the Xfinity or even in the Truck Series races rather than running 25th in the Cup Series.

"I am definitely of the opinion, winning on Friday or Saturday is better than running 25th on Sunday," Hamlin told Allen. "To me it's not close. Just because you race on Sunday, doesn't mean it's good for you."

Hamlin urged young drivers like Sam Mayer just to keep winning on Trucks and Xfinity cars. He believes their performance on Trucks and Xfinity cars will draw the attention of Cup teams, eventually.

"You're not just gonna be mediocre and then find yourself racing on Sundays...just keep winning on Trucks and Xfinity and it will all work itself out after that; it will give you that opportunity to be in a better ride on Sunday so you don't run 25th," Hamlin added.

Denny Hamlin is a 54-time Cup winner himself. His wide array of accolades includes prestigious victories in races like the Coca-Cola 600, the Daytona 500, and the Southern 500. Besides that, Hamlin also has 18 career victories in the Xfinity Series and two in the Truck Series. His next race is at New Hampshire Motor Speedway on June 23.