As Sam Mayer wrecked the roof of his Chevy on the backstretch at Daytona International Speedway, Austin Hill, Justin Allgaier, and John Hunter Nemechek sat in their cars and waited.
The NASCAR Xfinity Series season opener on Saturday evening culminated in a blaze of sparks on the back straightaway, with Mayer going over shortly after making a daring move on the final lap of the Beef 300 at Daytona. The 19-year-old driver from Franklin, Wisconsin, was aiming for his first career victory.
Mayer used his own momentum and a push from Nemechek to make a large run on his JR Motorsports teammate in an overtime restart, capitalizing on Allgaier establishing too much of a separation at the white flag. Mayer moved down on Allgaier and then made a daring pass to his outside in Turn 2, with Allgaier chasing him all the way to the outside wall while Mayer squeezed in and claimed the lead.
Later, as Mayer was unable to free himself, his car skidded sideways to the left before turning to the right off the nose of Austin Hill's car. Mayer's vehicle crashed and rolled down Daytona's backstretch on its roof for hundreds of yards before spinning back onto its wheels. Mayer was unharmed.
Mayer's crash ended up bringing out the caution on the penultimate lap, freezing the field as the leaders went three-wide midway down the backstretch. Following a video review, NASCAR decided that Austin Hill was the leader at the time of the yellow, earning him his second consecutive victory in the Xfinity Series' first race.
After the scary crash, Sam Mayer walked out of the car unharmed and spoke to the media.
"Yeah, unfortunate way to end the night because I feel like we were one of the best..."
Sam Mayer spins upside down, fans react to the crazy final crash
On the final lap of the NASCAR Xfinity Series season opener on Saturday evening, Sam Mayer flipped out of the lead and spun upside down, causing a huge spark. While he walked out without injury, he was disappointed to end the night in such a way.
Fans all over social media created a crazy final lap crash. Here are some reactions:
"I'm glad Mayer is alright"
Some fans were upset that the caution was thrown out a little later than expected when such a huge crash occurred. One fan tweeted:
"No caution and Mayer is upside down..."
Another Twitter user said:
"Not gonna show when the caution actually came out yikes."