Dale Earnhardt Jr. offers strong advice for Sam Mayer after Jeb Burton Martinsville drama

Dale Earnhardt Jr. knows Sam Mayer pretty well. Mayer drove for JR Motorsports for three full-time seasons in the NASCAR Xfinity Series before landing his current ride with Haas Factory Team.

He knows the talent that Mayer possesses and that he one day would like to race on Sundays. It’s why he was disappointed in him after this past Saturday’s race at Martinsville Speedway, when he wrecked Jeb Burton after the checkered flag. And if Mayer were standing in front of him, he would let him know that “his ass was out of line all night.”

“I would say to Sam if he were sitting here right now, his ass was out of line all night,” Earnhardt said on Tuesday’s Dale Jr. Download. “Listen, he’s frustrated with the position he’s in going into that race. To try to help you understand Sam, Sam wants to win and be a successful race car driver so badly. Sam believes that he has and possesses the talent to race on Sunday. I think that he actually does have the speed to race on Sunday.

“What he’s still missing is that judgment, the decision making. A guy that races on Sunday doesn’t do these things and Sam is beyond this, Sam is better than this, Sam should not be wrecking Jeb Burton at the end of the race because he’s mad that Jeb was being a jerk on the track or whatever. He shouldn’t be doing that. If he’s thinking, ‘man, I’m a Sunday guy, I just haven’t had my chance yet,’ you can’t be doing this. I would say that to him.

“I would say, ‘Look, you gotta tone it down, you gotta get it under control. Your emotions got out of control.’ Talking to several people in the race, they said he was pretty damn aggressive, way too aggressive.”

Dale Earnhardt Jr. calls out Sam Mayer for Martinsville incident

The incident occurred shortly after the race. A bit of drama between Mayer and Burton boiled over after the checkered flag and ended in a wrecked 27 car. NASCAR made a decision Tuesday on Mayer. The Haas Factory Team driver was suspended for Saturday’s race at Phoenix Raceway. 

After the race, Mayer was quick to call out Burton. He pointed to the week prior at Talladega Superspeedway as his original reason for disdain.

“The 27 did us no favors last week,” Mayer said. “He caused a demolition derby and a parking lot on the front straightaway at the fastest racetrack we go to, and now he just decides to be an absolute dumbass this go around and race a guy with a purple spoiler 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.”

Earnhardt wasn’t a fan of Mayer’s post-race comments. Earnhardt has been critical of the Xfinity product at Martinsville in the past, though he liked Saturday’s race. He believes Mayer was “still a little too wild.”

“You get to Martinsville, and you see the sh*t that goes on there, and I think you get comfortable. You get out of the car and you’re like, ‘Well, this is what happens here.’ But that ain’t really what we want happening there,” Earnhardt said. “And so, the last couple of races at Martinsville, I’ve gotten on this show and literally asked them to take it off the f*cking schedule because it’s ridiculous the damn stuff that goes down.

“… This was a good one, but it’s like Mr. Sam Mayer was still a little too wild. I would say that.”