Sam Mayer, driver of the # 21 Starr Children's Fund Chevrolet, after winning the BushÕs Beans 200 at Bristol Motor Speedway for the ARCA Menards Series in Bristol, Tennessee on September 17, 2020. (Jacob Kupferman/ARCA Racing)
Sam Mayer, driver of the # 21 Starr Children's Fund Chevrolet, after winning the Bush's Beans 200 at Bristol Motor Speedway for the ARCA Menards Series in Bristol, Tennessee on September 17, 2020. (Jacob Kupferman/ARCA Racing)

Sam Mayer Piles Awards On Top of Bristol Win

www.arcaracing.com September 18, 2020

Sam Mayer (No. 21 Starr Children’s Fund Chevrolet) had an evening to remember at Bristol on Thursday, winning his first NASCAR Gander RV & Outdoors Truck Series race and then hopping in his ARCA Menards Series car to complete the sweep of the night’s races in the Bush’s Beans 200. The pair of winner’s trophies were not the only accolades that Mayer piled up as he also came out ahead in ARCA’s special awards categories.

The starting lineup was set according to a rulebook procedure that took into account the point standings from the ARCA Menards Series, the ARCA Menards Series East, and the Sioux Chief Showdown – the three championships that the Bush’s Beans 200 would count for points towards. This procedure put Ty Gibbs (No. 18 Monster Energy Toyota) on the General Tire Pole for the third time this year. Gibbs trails only Michael Self (No. 25 Sinclair Lubricants Toyota) and Chandler Smith (No. 20 JBL Audio Toyota) this season in pole starts as the Venturini teammates have four GT Poles apiece.

A highly competitive race at the front of the field ensued, with nine lead changes setting the season’s highest mark and serving as the most lead changes in a short track race in a little over two years. Sam Mayer led the most laps at 116, earning the Valvoline Lap Leader award for the night, but Ty Gibbs was out in front on lap 100 and was the Richmond Water Heaters Halfway Leader for the eighth time in 2020. Gibbs led 53 laps and pushed his season total to 712 laps led, the most in the series by far. Mayer is his closest competition at 446 laps led. Other lap leaders during the evening included Max McLaughlin (No. 1 Mohawk Northeast Toyota) with 19 laps led, Michael Self with nine laps led, and Bret Holmes (No. 23 Holmes II Excavation Chevrolet) with three laps led.

McLaughlin’s charge to the front was particularly impressive as he had to pull off the feat after lining up 20th on the grid. By finishing third at the end, McLaughlin was the K&N Filters Hard Charger by gaining 17 positions over the course of the night.

Mayer was named the AMS Bounty Rookie of the Race with his win, while runner-up Gibbs was the AMSE recipient of the award among eligible drivers. Hailie Deegan (No. 4 Monster Energy Ford) opened up some much-needed room between herself and Drew Dollar (No. 15 Sunbelt Rentals Toyota) in the Bounty Rookie of the Year standings. Deegan now sits at 585 rookie points to Dollar’s 557 after Dollar finished 18th at Bristol, one of many victims of incidents during the course of the Bush’s Beans 200. Gibbs leads the AMSE rookie standings by 25 points over Nick Sanchez (No. 6 NTI Toyota).

Mayer’s crew chief, Mardy Lindley, was named the Cometic Crew Chief of the Race for leading the GMS Racing crew to the victory. Joe Gibbs Racing crew chief Mark McFarland still leads the Cometic Crew Chief of the Year standings on the strength of five poles and five race wins from drivers Ty Gibbs and Riley Herbst.

The race for the overall ARCA Menards Series championship is very tight on the track between drivers Bret Holmes and Michael Self, but it is not the only battle between the two drivers that is extremely close. Holmes leads the S&S Volvo Laps Completed standings with 2106 laps completed this year, a scant three more laps than Self has turned with 2103. Holmes has finished on the lead lap in all but two races in 2020 while Self has finished off the lead lap just three times.

The Bush’s Beans 200 marked the ninth of 10 Sioux Chief Showdown races and Sam Mayer’s win moved him to the doorstep of the Showdown title. Mayer leads the standings by six points over chief rival Ty Gibbs with the Sioux Chief PowerPEX 200 at Memphis looming as the Showdown finale on September 26. The drivers trailing Mayer and Gibbs in the Showdown standings need something drastic to happen at Memphis in order to have a chance at a longshot win. Michael Self is 18 points behind Mayer and Bret Holmes is 22 points back. Chandler Smith has spent most of the season as the Showdown points leader, but his 23rd-place finish at Bristol after breaking a swaybar has all but eliminated the Georgia driver. Smith is in fifth place, 27 points behind Mayer.

The next race for the ARCA Menards Series is the Toyota 200 presented by Crosley Brands on Saturday, September 19 at 3 PM. Returning to the Winchester Speedway for the first time in three years, the Toyota 200 will be broadcast live on NBC Sports Gold TrackPass and tape-delayed on MAVTV until 6 PM. The ARCA Menards Series East will be back in action on Saturday, October 10 at Five Flags Speedway for their 200-lap season finale at 8 PM and the race will be streamed live on NBC Sports Gold TrackPass.