Despite only leading 30 laps all race, Sam Mayer capitalized on a late race restart to win his first race of the 2025 NASCAR Xfinity Series season at Iowa Speedway on Saturday, Aug. 2.
Mayer gained the lead on a late race restart and held off the pack on a few subsequent restarts to find victory lane.
The triumph is the first one for Haas Factory Team in its first season. Mayer scored the eighth win of his career and his second straight at Iowa.
“This ones everything right here,” Mayer told The CW. “First win for Haas Factory Team, that’s awesome. This is one of the most special wins I’ve had.”
Jesse Love crossed the line second, after starting from the pole, leading the early portions of the race, and running inside of the top five all race long. Ross Chastain finished third after leading the most laps in the race, 120. Connor Zilisch finished fourth, falling shy of winning his fourth consecutive race of the season despite leading 62 laps. Harrison Burton rounded out the top five with a fifth-place finish.
The remaining top 10 finishers included Carson Hocevar in sixth, Sheldon Creed seventh, Ryan Sieg eighth, Carson Kvapil ninth and Christian Eckes 10th.
When the green flag flew to begin the race, Zilisch quickly moved from third to first in just one lap, taking the lead from Love in turn 1 on lap 2. However, the two wouldn’t be able to battle it out, as the first caution of the afternoon flew quickly, as Austin Dillon and Sieg went for a spin behind them. Sieg would ultimately pit for tires, and Dillon fell off the lead lap on the following green flag run.
Zilisch retained the lead on the following restart, with Love settling in behind him from there. The race settled into some green flag racing after the second restart, something the initial start didn’t see. By lap 20, the lead duo of Love and Zilisch had set sail on the rest of the field, separating themselves by over two seconds.
The opening stage ended in that fashion, with Zilisch out front by roughly a second over Love. Zilisch had brief contact with Garrett Smithley while lapping the driver of the No. 14, but continued otherwise unscathed to win the stage. Notably, Harrison Burton earned a pair of stage points in the first stage, drawing the playoff cutline gap even closer.
The second stage started with a much different outlook on the race than the first stage ended with. Zilisch had to pit twice to tighten lug nuts, forcing him to start at the rear of the field. That allowed Love and Chastain to control the restart, with Love and the outside lane prevailing once again.
Love held the lead for the first 25 laps of stage two, but was passed by Chastain soon after. While Chastian began to pull away, Love lost another position to Brandon Jones, moving him quickly back to third. Further behind the leaders, Zilisch worked his way up to 16th in that time. Both Love and Zilisch would have a chance to reset, though, as the caution flew on lap 91 for a spin by Ryan Ellis and Anthony Alfredo. Also of note under the second yellow, playoff hopeful Dean Thompson spent time on pit road with the hood up on his No. 26 car.
On lap 96, the field took the restart once again with just over 20 laps to go in the stage. Chastain held the lead, again utilizing the outside lane on the restart. Zilisch and Love, who dominated the opening stage, didn’t fare as well. Zilisch made contact with JRM teammate Justin Allgaier while running outside of the top 10, and Love made contact with Mayer running for third, forcing him back to seventh. Zilisch continued to struggle with grip and composure throughout the remainder of the stage, which was ultimately won by Chastain.
At the start of the final stage of the race, Jones was penalized for speeding on pit road, putting him to the rear of the field for the restart. That allowed Chastain and Smith to restart up front, with Chastain beating his JRM teammate to retain the lead. The third caution for an incident flew a handful of laps later, as Thompson went for a spin after contact with Corey Day. The timing of the yellow created an altered strategy with a few drivers, including Jones, Allgaier and Eckes, who stopped under the yellow with just over 100 laps to go.
Chastain retained control of the lead on the subsequent restart, with Gray keeping him honest closely behind. Meanwhile, Zilisch worked himself back up inside the top five in relatively short order, not long after complaining about grip and track position at the end of stage two.
Much like the previous run, Gray slowly reeled in Chastain for the lead, with Zilisch continuing to regain track position, putting himself back to third with 85 laps to go. Once the lead pair got into lapped traffic, Gray pulled ever closer to the rear of the Chastain car, but never got close enough to get around him.
Just as the field was approaching the final round of green flag pit stops, the caution flew for Daniel Dye, who lost a tire in turn 4, making hard contact with the outside wall. The strategy the race had set up was out the window, with the final restart coming with less than 50 laps to go.
Pit stops following the Dye crash shuffled the field, as Jones and Allgaier took just two tires, coming out as the leaders on the pit stop. Zilisch and Chastain were able to retain their top five positions, while Gray’s team struggled with lug nuts on their stop, setting him back outside of the top 10 for the following restart.
The field restarted with 38 laps to go, Jones struggled firing off, allowing Allgaier to briefly hold the lead. However, Love pulled through on fresher tires and took the lead back for the first time since stage one. Allgaier’s restart went from bad to worse from there, as he tangled with Chastain and Zilisch into turn 1 the following lap, sending him around and bringing out another caution.
The quick yellow set up for another restart with 30 laps to go in the race. However, it would be another quick stop for another yellow. Matt DiBenedetto made contact with Day on the restart, pushing oil from his No. 99 Viking Motorsports Chevrolet. However, the caution was held for a lap, allowing the field to run through the oil, cousin Jones to spin and a few other drivers to wash up the track at the exit of turn 2, finally bringing out the caution.
After a lengthy track cleanup burnt off a few laps, the subsequent and final restart of the race came with 17 laps to go. Mayer was able to capitalize on the launch, entering turn 1 without a car beside him. Love and Zilisch made some contact, washing both up the track, allowing Burton to jump to third. Love retained his track position, but Zilisch fell back to sixth.
Even with the chaos on the final restart, the last 10 laps of the race were clean, allowing Mayer to keep the lead he had built on the restart, no caution flew until the last lap of the race, when Smithley went for a spin. However, since Mayer took the white flag, the race was over, giving Mayer his first win of the season.
Xfinity Series Results from Iowa
The Xfinity Series now heads to upstate New York at Watkins Glen International next Saturday, Aug. 9. The green flag for that race is scheduled for 3 p.m. ET with The CW carrying the race broadcast on television.
Josh joined Frontstretch in 2023 and currently covers the ARCA Menards Series. Born and raised in Missouri, Josh has been watching motorsports since 2005. He currently is studying for a Mass Communication degree at Lindenwood University