Saturday marked the inaugural race of the 2023 NASCAR Xfinity Series at Daytona International Speedway. The race had some extreme dramatics, featuring an absolutely insane finish after a huge crash in the final lap left the winner of the race unclear.
The crash occurred after Xfinity Series competitor Sam Mayer was able to gain a number of positions to get all the way into first place in the final lap. Just as he did so, he was unfortunately spun out in the final lap after the top three racers tried to go three wide.
That final lap. pic.twitter.com/cjU4eumpQ0
— FOX: NASCAR (@NASCARONFOX) February 19, 2023
That led to controversy. The race leader at the time of the caution flag coming out was unclear. After a review, it was decided that Austin Hill was the winner of the race, just barely finished ahead of John Hunter Nemechek.
Here is the photo NASCAR competition officials used to determine the winner.
The tower utilizes frame-by-frame video that syncs the time of caution with the time stamp of the video. This is the frame at the time of the final caution of the race. pic.twitter.com/h6bIJ2tLmO
— NASCAR Xfinity (@NASCAR_Xfinity) February 19, 2023
Austin Hill wins the Xfinity Series race at Daytona! pic.twitter.com/2sbBqsWhXy
— FOX: NASCAR (@NASCARONFOX) February 19, 2023
It was obviously a heartbreaking result and an extremely scary crash for Sam Mayer, and his car was pretty much totaled due to the crash.
Huge damage for Sam Mayer's machine at Daytona. #NASCAR pic.twitter.com/s3DbV8NlJ4
— FOX: NASCAR (@NASCARONFOX) February 19, 2023
Luckily Meyer ended up being largely unharmed from the crash. He spoke with Dustin Long of NBC Sports shortly after the race and detailed that it was the worst crash he has ever suffered.
“It actually was a lot more violent than I thought it was going to be. That first impact with the wall, kinda just going up and then landing down. It is probably the hardest hit that I have ever taken. I’ve taken some hard hits at speedways now and I think that’s number one.”
#NASCAR … Sam Mayer was fine after going upside down for the first time in a stock car. Here is what he said of the incident. pic.twitter.com/Ndbiur2PID
— Dustin Long (@dustinlong) February 19, 2023
This is actually the second straight year in the NASCAR Xfinity Series at Daytona that a huge crash occurred in the final lap similar
Last lap crash in the Xfinity race today at Daytona. pic.twitter.com/aO19X2I0oK
— Danny White (@DannyWh87210651) February 20, 2022
[Fox NASCAR on Twitter, Dustin Long on Twitter]
About Reice Shipley
Reice Shipley is a staff writer for Comeback Media that graduated from Ithaca College with a degree in Sports Media. He previously worked at Barrett Sports Media and is a fan of all things Syracuse sports.