NASCAR Xfinity Series; Franklin native no stranger to postseason

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WATKINS GLEN, NEW YORK - SEPTEMBER 14: Sam Mayer, driver of the #1 10X Health Chevrolet, waves to fans as he walks onstage during driver intros prior to the NASCAR Xfinity Series Mission 200 at The Glen at Watkins Glen International on September 14,

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FRANKLIN, Wis. - The NASCAR Xfinity Series playoffs are here and Franklin native Sam Mayer, the 21-year-old who races for JR Motorsports, is no stranger to the postseason.

Mayer is back in the playoff hunt for the third straight year. The first track will be this Saturday at Kansas Speedway.

"The playoffs, the intensity level is way up compared to normal," said Sam Mayer, JR Motorsports driver. "The regular season is great. We've had a really great year so far getting two wins, but now that the playoffs are here, you have to win because it's the biggest thing that you can do to guarantee yourself to the next round."

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FOX6's Lily Zhao: "How do you handle the opening playoff weekend? Is it a mindset of, this is a must win race, and how do you the pressure? Or are you like it's just another race, just do what I can do to get a win?"

"I think for us, in the moment, it's going to be it's just another race," said Mayer. "We've done all the preparation before this, there's no need to stress out, we've done our job up to this point. Now we've just got to go out there and execute and do the best we can on the racetrack because at the end of the day, if you try to do too much, you'll get yourself in trouble, so you just got to go nice and easy and you'll do your thing at the end of the day."

This postseason, Mayer will start off as the No. 7 seed.

Last year, he competed in the championship race and was only able to do so thanks to a big win at the Charlotte Roval that helped him stave off elimination.

Sam Mayer

"It was the round of 12," said Mayer. "We had two awful races before that and we were in a must-win situation that week, and we went out there and we dominated. We got the pole at the start of the day, led most laps and ended up winning the race. It was one of the coolest experiences because it gave me so much confidence in myself because we went out there and just dominated. It wasn't even close and it's a feels good day because you go out there, you did what you had to do, you did the job and then it ended up paying off in the long run because we did make it to the Championship 4."

FOX6's Lily Zhao: "How much does being in the Championship 4 before and racing in the championship race help you as a young driver when you're approaching another playoff season?"

"It’s special because you're kind of defending what you did last year because you want to back it up," said Mayer. "To make it to the Champ 4, I set the bar really, really high, but I'm really looking forward to seeing what we can do because I feel better as a race car driver and my team is certainly a lot better than last year, so I feel like we can be a huge threat to win the championship at the end of the day."

The playoffs begin on Saturday at Kansas Speedway.