Jeremy Mayfield Biography

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Jeremy Mayfield Biography

Jeremy Allen Mayfield (born May 27, 1969 in Owensboro, Kentucky) is a NASCAR driver. On May 9, 2009 Mayfield was suspended indefinitely as both owner and driver by NASCAR following what NASCAR said was a positive test for "a drug of concern." Prior to his suspension he drove the #41 All Sport Toyota Camry in the Sprint Cup Series for his own team, Mayfield Motorsports. He is married to his wife Shana, and they own three bulldogs and two pugs. Currently he and his team are sponsored by All Sport, an isotonic sports drink based out of Austin, TX. Jeremy has run paint schemes for sponsors Big Red soda and SmallSponsor.com in 2009 so far also.

Jeremy Mayfield Early Years Racing

Mayfield began racing in his hometown of Owensboro, racing BMX bicycles. He then proceeded to race go-karts at local short tracks, moving to Nashville Speedway USA at the age of 19. He soon went to work for Sadler Bros. Racing as a fabricator, and became their driver, winning Late Model Rookie of the Year at Kentucky Motor Speedway in 1987.

In 1993, he joined the ARCA series, and was named Rookie of the Year. He also made his Cup debut at the Mello Yello 500, starting 30th and finishing 29th in the #95 Ford Thunderbird sponsored by Mac Tools.

Jeremy Mayfield's Early Years in NASCAR

In 1994, Mayfield declared he would run for NASCAR Winston Cup Series Rookie of the Year, and signed to drive the Sadler Bros.' #95 Shoney's Ford. Unfortunately, he struggled heavily in the 95, and was released. He signed to drive the #02 for T.W. Taylor sponsored by Children's Miracle Network for four races, before completing the year in the #98 Fingerhut Ford for Cale Yarborough. He ran twenty starts in his inaugural season, his best finish a 19th at Rockingham. In 1995, he stayed with Yarborough full-time with new sponsorship from RCA, and had an eighth place run at the Miller Genuine Draft 500, and had a 31st place finish in the points standings after qualifying for 27 out of 31 races. The next season, he had two top-fives and earned his first career pole at the DieHard 500. Later that season, he was released and replaced John Andretti in the #37 Kmart/Little Caesar's Ford owned by Michael Kranefuss. Mayfield ended the year 26th in points.

Mayfield returned to the Kranefuss team in 1997. He had eight top tens, including two fifth-place runs, and finished a then career-high 13th place in points. After the season, Kranefuss sold part of the team to Penske Racing South, and the team's identity was switched, with a new number (#12) and new sponsor in Mobil 1. Mayfield took the points lead early in the season, and won his first career race at the Pocono 500. At the end of the season, he was seventh in points. He was unable to replicate his success in 1999, and dropped four spots in the standings, despite twelve top-tens. In 2000, he won four poles and two races. One of the poles, however, was at the DieHard 500, and the car was found to have violated the rules with an illegal fuel substance, and penalties resulted in the team earning -25 points from the race (his 126 points, earned by finishing 14th and leading a lap, were offset by the 151 point penalty NASCAR handed down). Later, while practicing for the Brickyard 400, he crashed hard into the wall. He suffered a concussion, and was forced to miss the next two races. He finished 24th in points that season.

Mayfield Recently in NASCAR

In 2002, Mayfield signed to Evernham Motorsports,replacing Casey Atwood. In his first year, Mayfield had just four top-tens and finished 26th in points. He rebounded some in 2003, winning the pole at the Aaron's 499 and posting 12 top-tens, finishing nineteenth in points. Finally in 2004, Mayfield returned to victory lane at the Chevy Rock and Roll 400 earning his team the 9th spot in the inaugural Chase for the Cup, and finished tenth in points. For a while, winning a race to get into the Chase was referred by the moniker "pulling a Jeremy Mayfield". In 2005, he won the GFS Marketplace 400, and finished ninth in the standings. In August 2006 he was released from Evernham after his team fell out of the top-35 in owner points, and replaced by Bill Elliott and then Elliott Sadler.

Mayfield signed a contract with Bill Davis Racing for 2007, driving the #36 Toyota Camry with primary sponsorship from 360 OTC. Associate sponsors included World Wrestling Entertainment, the TNT television network, and rock band Kiss. He ran a total of 13 races for Bill Davis Racing in 32 attempts with a best finish of 22nd at Kansas Speedway. In August 2007, it was announced that Mayfield and Davis would part ways at the end of the season. Later in the season, he would take over driving the #66 Best Buy car for Haas CNC Racing starting with Atlanta 2007. Late in 2007, he and teammate Scott Riggs would switch rides with Mayfield ending up in the #70 car for the 2008 season.
Mayfield completed seven races in the #70 with a best finish of sixteenth before he was released from the team. He would complete one additional race at Dover in the #40 Target Dodge, filling in for the injured Dario Franchitti. He would start tenth and finished twenty-fifth.

In 2009, Mayfield announced that he will attempt the full season in a self-owned Toyota. He will use the number 41. He raced his way into the Daytona 500. Mayfield will operate out of Billy Stavola's shop. Tony Furr will serve as the crew chief. The team currently has about twenty employes. After 10 races in the 2009 season, Mayfield qualified for just 5.

Controversy

On August 8, 2006, Jeremy learned through NASCAR.com that he was not placed onto the entry list for Watkins Glen, instead replaced by former Evernham driver Bill Elliott. With discussions of a move to Bill Davis Racing by Mayfield in the past month or two before this, it seemed likely that Jeremy would be released to make this transition sooner than later. Evernham later confirmed that Mayfield had been released from his contract after making comments about Evernham not being at the track often. Mayfield later stated that the problems with the 19 car stemmed from lack of attention from the team owner due to a "close personal relationship" with developmental driver Erin Crocker. Mayfield stated that Evernham was not with the Cup cars most weeks because of the extensive attention that he was giving Crocker and her #98 truck team. Evernham later admitted that he was seriously involved with Crocker.

Substance abuse violation

On May 9, 2009, Mayfield was suspended indefinitely by NASCAR for violating NASCAR's substance abuse policy. Mayfield stated, "I believe that the combination of a prescribed medicine and an over the counter medicine reacted together and resulted in a positive drug test. My Doctor and I are working with both [NASCAR consultant] Dr [David] Black and NASCAR to resolve this matter." Mayfield Motorsports named formerHall of Fame Racing driver J.J. Yeley as interim driver and Jeremy's wife Shana Mayfield as the interim owner.

David Black, whose company oversees NASCAR's testing programme, disputed Mayfield's claims, stating, "What we have is a clear violation of policy. In my many years of experience, I have never seen a violation like this due to the combination of over-the-counter or prescription products." Owing to NASCAR policy, Dr. Black refused to specify the substance that Mayfield had tested positive for, instead saying it was "a drug of concern."

However, at the NASCAR Sprint All-Star Race the week after his suspension, Mayfield publicly stated that he had only taken two tablets of Claritin-D, and that he had never used any sort of illegal drug. His wife and crew chief backed these claims. Afterwards, criticism of NASCAR's testing policy became rampant, and several suggested that NASCAR's secrecy over Mayfield's results was politically motivated as to not smear the reputation of Claritin, who was a sponsor of Carl Edwards and NASCAR on FOX at the time. To this day, Mayfield refuses to enter NASCAR's rehabilitation program, and has alluded to legal action against NASCAR.

On June 9, ESPN.com stated that during the random drug screening on May 1 at Richmond International Raceway, Mayfield tested positive for methamphetamine.

On the June 15th edition of the Bubba the Love Sponge radio show, show host Bubba Clem conducted an in-studio experiment in which he ingested the same mixture of Adderall XR (which Bubba is currently taking as prescribed by a physician)and two doses of Claritin-D that Mayfield claimed to have taken prior to his drug test. A subsequent urine test, also administered in-studio, showed that Clem tested positive for the use of both amphetamines and methamphetamines. This would seem to lend credence to Mayfield's argument that it was a combination of these two substances that led to a positive methamphetamine test.

Jeremy Mayfield Career Stats