In the background of the playoff fight, another story was developing in the middle of the NASCAR Xfinity Series field. After moving Jeb Burton out of the way on an early restart, Sam Mayer had to watch out for the No. 27 car for the rest of the race.
“Go ahead and tell the 41 [Mayer] that he’s done,” radioed Burton. He’s done when I get to him. F*** him and his championship.”
Eventually, the two drivers did find each other again, racing aggressively. On the final lap, Burton was right behind Mayer in the battle for sixth. Without hesitation, he moved Mayer and took a spin. In Turn 1 after the checkered flag, Mayer appeared to intentionally wreck Burton and himself.
That action could lead to possible penalties next week after NASCAR reviews the incident, but previously, officials almost always take a dim view on post-race retaliation.
Burton was furious, and while there was no altercation on pit road, Burton’s team owner, Jordan Anderson, did approach Mayer and give him an earful over his torn up race car.
“I honestly hate it for Jordan,” said Mayer after the race. “Jordan is one of the coolest guys in the garage. He’s worked his tail off to get to this point. I definitely regret wrecking one of his race cars after the competition is over, but Jeb needs a wake-up call. He does not have the it factor. He has the — different factor.”
Mayer’s comments against Jeb didn’t stop there.
Mayer rails against Burton
Sam Mayer, Haas Factory Team Ford
Photo by: Jared C. Tilton/Getty Images
He had a lot to say about Burton, telling The CW: “The 27 [Burton] did us no favors. Last week, he caused a demolition derby and a parking lot on the front straightaway on the fastest race track we go to (Talladega). And now he just decides to be an absolute dumbass and just go around and race a guy with a purple spoiler (playoff driver), like just awful. It was awful to be around him all day. He’s just fast enough to be really, really annoying but not fast enough to do anything else worth a damn. Sucks to be in that spot, around him.”
Mayer also quipped that he’s probably going to get in trouble for this interview, but he continued to tear into Burton in all of his post-race comments.
During a later media scrum, Mayer added: “It’s a principle thing. He’s the worst person to race around in the entire garage. He has a reputation of being over his head every single week and this was a prime example of it.
“He just can’t take no for an answer and a guy with a purple spoiler racing for something huge, moved him out of the way and went on and was faster than him in the end and as soon as he got back to me he gave it the beans and tried to wreck me three corners in a row.
“Thank God I have enough car control to where I can hold onto it and not wreck, but he has no respect for someone racing for something bigger than what he is, and I mean, what is he? He’s like 35th in points and I don’t know what he’s trying to do. It’s awful.”
Burton thinks Mayer will be in “deep trouble”
Jeb Burton, Jordan Anderson Racing Chevrolet
Photo by: Jared C. Tilton/Getty Images
In his own post-race comments posted, Burton said of the run-in: The incident with the 41. At the beginning of the race, he was acting like a child and shipped me into the corner because he was mad about the accident that happened last week. At the end of the race when I caught him, it was time to race him like he raced me. I moved him, I didn’t wreck him, and he didn’t like it.
“And then after the race, he wrecked us. I thought that was pretty funny, so I’m sure he’s going to be in deep trouble for that. I think he’s just disappointed that he didn’t make the playoffs, so he’s acting like a child.”
While Burton crossed the line sixth, Mayer only lost one spot from the bump-and-run, finishing seventh. Mayer was also approached by an aggravated Justin Allgaier after the race, who voices his displeasure for a separate incident involving Mayer.
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