NEW SMYRNA, Fla. — On the heels of his dominant 2019 season, Sam Mayer remained quick to kick off 2020.
The Franklin, Wisconsin native recorded the quickest practice time (18.378 seconds) in the 100-minute session at New Smyrna Speedway on Monday afternoon, piloting the No. 21 Chevy Accessories Chevrolet for GMS Racing.
“It took awhile for us to figure it out, but we made a bunch of changes in the rear end and it didn’t really do anything. But then we found something right at the end before our mock run that really gave us speed we were looking for […] I feel like we’re gonna start on the pole and lead every lap like we did at Bristol last year.”
Sound 🆙 to hear from the quickest man so far today: @sam_mayer_.
“We found something right at the end.”#ARCAMenards | #Skips175 pic.twitter.com/sKU3bu2rbX
— ARCA Menards Series (@ARCA_Racing) February 10, 2020
Mayer won the 2019 ARCA Menards Series East championship, collecting four wins and 11 top five finishes in the process. In the season opener last year at New Smyrna, he finished fourth.
Racing-Reference: Sam Mayer Career Statistics
Making his first series start, Derek Griffith (18.444) was second quickest, followed by Corey Heim (18.524), Mason Diaz (18.564) and Ty Gibbs (18.643).
Chase Cabre, Jesse Love, Max McLaughlin, Gio Scelzi and Giovani Bromante rounded out the top 10.
Racing-Reference: Practice Results
Qualifying for the Skip’s Western Outfitters 175 is scheduled to take place at 5:30 p.m. EDT with the green flag scheduled to fly at 7:40 p.m. NBC Sports Gold TrackPass will have live coverage of the event.
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