Jeremy Mayfield
Template:NASCAR current driver Jeremy Allen Mayfield (born May 27, 1969 in Owensboro, Kentucky) is an inactive driver in the NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series. He previously drove the #19 Dodge Dealers / UAW Dodge Charger for Evernham Motorsports. He is married to Shana, and they own three bulldogs and a pug.
Career before NASCAR
Mayfield began racing in his hometown of Owensboro, racing BMX bicycles. He then proceeded to race go-karts at local shortracks, 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.
Early NASCAR Career
In 1994, Mayfield declared 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 car 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 won his first career pole at the DieHard 500, before he was released and replaced John Andretti in the #37 Kmart/Little Caesar's Ford for Michael Kranefuss.(Ironically, Andretti replaced Mayfield at his old ride). Mayfield ended the year 26th in points.
Late 90's
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 switched to the #12 Mobil 1 Ford Taurus. 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. But at the California 500, his car was found to have violated the rules, and was docked 151 points. 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.
He began 2001 with two consecutive third-place finishes, but his performance fell off, and was released after the Protection One 400. He sat out the rest of the season.
Recent years
In 2002, Mayfield sign 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 ninteenth in points. Finally in 2004, Mayfield returned to victory lane at the Chevy Rock and Roll 400. He also made the inaugural Chase for the Cup, and finished tenth in points. In 2005, he won the GFS Marketplace 400, and finished ninth in the standings.
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. [1] Evernham later confirmed that Mayfield had been released from his contract. In an interview on NASCAR.com published August 17, 2006, Mayfield says he has a deal in place with another team, but he can't disclose the details of it. [2]
Jeremy claims in a lawsuit over his firing that the cause of his firing was the "close personal relationship" between team owner Ray Evernham and Erin Crocker, who also drives for Evernham. Jeremy had struggled during the 2006 NASCAR Nextel Cup season after his "crew" (when in fact they are Ray Evernham's crew to dictate who should work where) was given to Kasey Kahne for the 2006 season. Court documents reveal that Jeremy Mayfield blames Ray's personal life and "sub-par" equipment that was built for all 3 Evernham drivers for the reason he has not won a race in 2006. [3]
Members of the crew for the #19 team testified in court that they believed that Jeremy Mayfield was intentionally trying to drive poorly and hurt the teams competitiveness at the encouragement of his wife Shana.[4] Chuck Efaw, a mechanic for the 19, testified that Mayfield did not give his best effort.
"At the race in Loudon, N.H., last month, Shana Mayfield, Jeremy's wife, said to me, 'I told Jeremy he better not have that car in the top 35 at the end of the season.'" "I took this to mean that Jeremy knows he will be driving for a competing race team next season, so it would be to his advantage to put the 19 at a competitive disadvantage going into next season," Efaw testified.
On August 18, 2006 Elliott Sadler the new driver of the #19 Evernham car, qualified 2nd leading to specualtion that there is nothing wrong with the car, but that ex-driver Mayfield may have been under-performing to get out of the contract.[5] This point is debatable, as EMS has had the two winning cars at the past two Michigan races, the first of those being the 19 car in the same respective race from the 2005 season which further puts emphasis on the allegations that Mayfield was purposely driving poorly or has lost his ability to compete at a Nextel Cup level before being fired as this is race #2 at Michigan this season and Mayfield had qualified for race #1 to start 18th as compared to Elliott Sadler and his starting position of 2nd for race 2 at Michigan.
It is being speculated that Mayfield is in line for a driving position with Bill Davis Racing.[6] Many consider this a move down as BDR has not been competative since Bill Davis was dropped as a Dodge factory based teams due to his strong close relationships with Toyota Racing. Bill Davis Racing will be putting Toyota's on the Nextel Cup circuit in 2007.
Other Series
Mayfield has 36 career Busch starts. So far, he has five top tens, his best finish being a fourth at Rockingham in 2003. He has also one Craftsman Truck Series start, at the 2003 Hardee's 250 for Green Light Racing. He finished sixth.