Dale Earnhardt Jr. reacts to Sam Mayer, Jeb Burton post-race incident at Martinsville

When Dale Earnhardt Jr. saw Sam Mayer wreck Jeb Burton after the checkered flag this past Saturday at Martinsville Speedway, he came to one conclusion: Mayer should be parked for the 2025 NASCAR Xfinity Series finale at Phoenix Raceway.

Yes, Mayer previously drove for JR Motorsports. But Earnhardt had to “call it like it is.”

“How could he not be suspended? … I like Sam Mayer. He’s part of the JR Motorsports family, he’s always going to be part of our family, we’re always gonna be boys,” Earnhardt said on Tuesday’s Dale Jr. Download. “But we call it like it is on this show, even our guys that drive here currently aren’t immune to getting called out when they make mistakes and so forth. This was an intentional crash. The precedent has been set. A suspension is the call. I can’t see it any other way.

“What would be the explanation to allow him to race at Phoenix? What could they say? They have set the precedent, and I would think it would create quite a lot of chaos would they allow him to run. … NASCAR is gonna come out today, tomorrow or sometime and say he’s suspended. I’m sure they will. I would be blown away if they don’t.”

NASCAR suspends Sam Mayer after post-race incident with Jeb Burton at Martinsville

NASCAR did, in fact, make a decision Tuesday on Mayer. The Haas Factory Team driver was suspended for Saturday’s race at Phoenix. According to Seth Eggert of Motorsports Reference, the suspension for Mayer is the first for a post-race retaliation incident in NASCAR since Jimmy Spencer at Michigan International Speedway in 2003. Haas will not appeal the decision. Ryan Sieg will drive the No. 41 Ford at Phoenix.

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. Jordan Anderson, Burton’s car owner, even went to scold Mayer on pit road himself.

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.”

Mayer was then asked about his conversation with Anderson. It was at that point that he admitted what he did.

“I honestly hate it for Jordan,” Mayer said. “Jordan is one of the coolest guys in the garage, he’s worked his tail off to get to this point. Definitely regret wrecking one of his racecars after competition is over. But Jeb needs a wake-up call, that brother, he does not have the it factor, he has the different factor.”

On3’s Jonathan Howard also contributed to this report.