Update 02/22: Post-race interview added. Sam Mayer started Saturday's NASCAR O'Reilly Auto Parts Series race from pole position, but fell back after a flat tire forced him onto pit road.
He rallied back to finish seventh with a fairly clean car, but it didn't stay that way. Mayer's Haas teammate Sheldon Creed was victorious for the very first time in his 138th career start, and so he decided to go and congratulate him.
After that, he realized a moment too late that he had missed the entrance to pit road. Mayer quickly cut down, only to start mowing the lawn in the infield grass. Due to showers earlier in the day, the grass was even less friendly than it normally would be to a 3,000+ pound race car. The splitter got torn off, and Mayer's No. 41 car launched upward in a wheelie. It obliterated the front of the race car, as you can see below:
Sam Mayer went to congratulate his teammate Sheldon Creed on his big NASCAR win…
— Motorsport (@Motorsport) February 22, 2026
But then, oops. That’s unfortunate. pic.twitter.com/z2DpwYDHhD
It's not unheard of to see post-race incidents involving supportive teammates or overzealous race winners, as cars have spun out crisscrossing the track to congratulate winning teammates before. Daniel Suarez at Nashville in 2023 is a recent incident that comes to mind. Carl Edwards even ripped the entire frontend off of his car while trying to do burnouts in the infield grass after winning the 2011 All-Star Race.
As for Creed, he was completely unaware that the incident had even happened after Mayer saluted him, and reacted to the video once he finally saw it during the winner's press conference:
Read Also:https://t.co/yX6TYESsqlpic.twitter.com/ZN8VxIHzXo
— Matt Weaver (@MattWeaverRA) February 22, 2026
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