Sam Mayer has some high expectations for himself which that includes winning eight championships and 201 race wins in the Cup Series.
The teenager, who doesn’t turn 18 until Saturday, is set to make his Xfinity Series debut on Sunday at Pocono Raceway. And he has all the records to break as he progresses in his NASCAR career.
“Whenever I hear someone say, ‘You always want to underestimate something and then exceed your expectation,’ … you’re pretty much giving up before you get there,” he told NBC Sports.
“I don’t want to get to my expectations right away. I’m going to shoot for eight (Cup) championships and 201 race wins in the Cup Series because I want to break all the records in the world.
“So, I’m going to put all the expectations all the way out there — where it is borderline impossible to reach — and if I can’t get there, a close second is 150 wins and seven championships. … Even if you don’t get to your expectations, you’re still breaking a lot of records, you’re still making a lot of people proud, and you’re doing well.”`
While he might be just making his Xfinity debut now, he already had a contract with JR Motorsports to race in the Xfinity Series since September 2020. The only thing that prevented him from making his debut was because he was ineligible to race in the series. He will be racing full-time for JRM from the 2022 season.
Mayer can take inspiration from last season winner of different tiers of NASCAR, all in their early twenties: Cup Series (Chase Elliott, 24), Xfinity Series (Austin Cindric, 22) and Truck Series (Sheldon Creed, 23).