Ty Gibbs, driver of the #18 Monster / Terrible Herbst / ORCA Toyota, and Sam Mayer, driver of the #21 Chevy Accessories Chevrolet, talk during a weather delay in the Menards 200 presented by Crosley Brands for the ARCA Menards Series on August 1, 2020 at at Toledo Speedway in Toledo, Ohio. (Nic Antaya/ARCA Racing)
Ty Gibbs (left) and Sam Mayer talk during a weather delay in the Menards 200 presented by Crosley Brands for the ARCA Menards Series on August 1, 2020 at at Toledo Speedway in Toledo, Ohio. (Nic Antaya/ARCA Racing)

NOTEBOOK: Sam Mayer Returns To Gateway Looking For Redemption

www.arcaracing.com August 27, 2020

It was going to be Sam Mayer’s first career ARCA Menards Series win.

Until it wasn’t.

Mayer led nine laps in last year’s event at World Wide Technology Raceway at Gateway, but could not fend off a final challenge from rival Ty Gibbs in Turns 3 and 4 of the final lap. Instead, he absorbed a door-check from Gibbs, slid out of the groove and settled for a third-place position, while it was Gibbs who went to Victory Lane with HIS first series victory.

“That scenario probably wouldn’t happen,” said Mayer on a video conference call with media this week. “But I would drive it in harder so he couldn’t get to me. I was trying to play it safe so he couldn’t side draft me off the corner coming to the line.

“That is something I would change for sure.”

Mayer will return to Gateway Saturday driving the No. 21 QPS Employment Group with a lot more experience and looking for a little redemption.

The 17-year-old from Franklin, Wisconsin, finally collected his first ARCA Menards Series win earlier this summer at Ohio’s Toledo Speedway. He’s coming off an ARCA Menards Series East win, passing Gibbs for the lead en route.

“Looking at the replay, I was like ‘I got that sideways?’,” said Mayer. “I was doing it one-handed because of my brace. It was one handed, full lock, elbows up. Me and Ty, I don’t think we ever touched. The whole race. It was fun racing with Ty, it sucks he had those troubles.”

Incredibly, since the Gateway race, the two drivers have nearly identical stats.

Mayer has seven wins, four seconds and five thirds over the ARCA Menards, East and West series. Gibbs has seven wins, five seconds and two thirds in 22 starts in the same series.

They have raced against one another 19 times, with Gibbs getting the edge 10-9.

Gibbs has finished second to Mayer four times, while Mayer has finished second to Gibbs three times. And they’ve finished within one position of each other on 10 occasions.

Mayer is also making his second NASCAR Gander RV & Outdoors Truck Series start of the season Sunday at WWT Raceway. He finished 15th last week at Dover immediately following his ARCA East win.

“I would say we have a good shot to win the ARCA race,” Mayer said. “Having that advantage of track time on Saturday going into the Truck race, I will be upset if we don’t get anything but a top-five. Obviously we are going to keep building and building, but I feel confident we can come out of there with a top five.”

News & Notes

– Hailie Deegan will finally be going to an ARCA Menards Series track in which she has experience at.

The 19-year-old from Temecula, California, is having a strong rookie season in the series, piloting the No. 4 Monster Energy Ford to a pair of top fives and 10 top 10s in 12 starts despite a roster of tracks she’s seeing for the first time.

That changes with Gateway, where she was 23rd in 2018 and ninth last year in the East/West combination races.

“I think this year I can definitely improve on that,” said Deegan. “We’ve been working hard as a team to get our program where it needs to be and I feel like we’re making gains every race. It was nice to have a weekend off and get a little downtime and refocus. I’m ready to get back to the track and get our Monster Energy Ford up front.”

The DGR-Crosley team is taking the same car which Deegan raced at Pennsylvania’s Pocono Raceway in June (seventh) and Kentucky Speedway in July (14th/accident).

– Max McLaughlin will feature a new look on his No. 1 for Saturday.