Sam Mayer won Saturday's NASCAR Xfinity Series race at Watkins Glen International. Mayer made a bump and run on the final restart to give him the lead in overtime and hold off the field to get his second NASCAR Xfinity Series win of his career. 

 

Mayer's move that gave him the race lead came when he made contact with Ty Gibbs on the restart in Turn 1, spinning Gibbs which would collect several other front runners of the race.

 

The Jr Motorsports driver would pull away after the contact with Gibbs and win by a margin of a .909 second victory over Sheldon Creed in second.

 

Gibbs, who led a race-high of 70 of the 86 laps and swept both stages on Saturday proved to be the favorite to win until Mayer made contact with Gibbs on the final start of the afternoon sending Gibbs around. 

 

"I wheel hopped it. That's unfortunate and I feel bad for doing that, Mayer said post-race. Obviously, you don't want to take out any car like that. Just trying to get another win in the Xfinity Series. I've got a lot of catching up to do. I was in there, I put my nose in there and that's part of it. That's an accident but I think everyone can agree it's okay for an Xfinity Series regular to win this race."

 

Gibbs would be credited with a 17th place finish on Saturday afternoon.

 

"I think when you have to race out of desperation like that and you wheel hop and take the leader out, I guess you call that a racing incident but it just really sucks," Gibbs said post-race. 

 

Both Mayer and Gibbs have had a history in the past. Last year, there was a scuffle between the two drivers following an Xfinity Series race at Martinsville Speedway.

 

Rounding out the top five were Sheldon Creed in second, Parker Kligerman in third, Ross Chastain in fourth and Connor Mosack in fifth. 

 

Parker Kligerman, who finished third on Saturday afternoon, will get a boost in the points standings. Kligerman now is only three points behind Riley Herbst for the final transfer spot. Herbst finished 35th after retiring from the race on Lap 37. Herbst had led a 17 point lead over Kligerman heading into Watkins Glen. 

 

Rounding out the top ten were John Hunter Nemechek in sixth, Coke Custer in seventh, Chandler Smith in eighth, Alex Bowman in ninth and Jeb Burton rounded out the top ten. 

 

Austin Hill, who was collected in the late race restart that collected Ty Gibbs, finished 14th and currently holds a nine point lead over Nemechek in the point standings.

 

 

Stage 1 Winner: Ty Gibbs

Stage 2 Winner: Ty Gibbs

Race Winner: Sam Mayer