Jeremy Mayfield
Jeremy Allen Mayfield is an American semi-retired professional stock car racing driver. He drove cars for the Sadler brothers, T.W. Taylor, Cale Yarborough, Michael Kranefuss, Roger Penske, Ray Evernham, Bill Davis, and Gene Haas. In 2009, he drove for his own team, Mayfield Motorsports.
On May 9, 2009, Mayfield was suspended indefinitely as both owner and driver by NASCAR following what NASCAR said was a positive test for methamphetamine. A federal judge weighed the evidence and temporarily lifted the suspension on July 1 of that same year. On July 15, NASCAR said Mayfield had tested positive for methamphetamine for the second time after failing a random drug test on July 6. On July 24, a federal appeals court overturned the previous injunction Mayfield had been awarded, leaving him suspended from the sport.
Racing career
Beginnings
Mayfield began racing in his hometown of Owensboro, Kentucky, racing BMX bicycles. He then proceeded to race go-karts at local Short tracks; moving to Nashville Speedway USA at the age of nineteen. He soon went to work for Sadler Brothers 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.
NASCAR
Mayfield made his Cup debut in the 1993 Mello Yello 500; starting 30th and finishing 29th in the No. 95 Earl Sadler-owned Ford Thunderbird. In 1994, Mayfield declared he would run for NASCAR Winston Cup Series Rookie of the Year, and signed to drive the Sadler Brothers' No. 95 Ford. He resumed his role as that team's sheetmetal man in 1995, and signed to drive the No. 02 for T.W. Taylor, for four races before completing the year in the No. 98 Fingerhut Ford for Cale Yarborough. He ran twenty starts in his inaugural season, his best finish a nineteenth at Rockingham. In 1995, he stayed with Yarborough full-time, and had an 8th-place run at the Miller Genuine Draft 500, with 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 and John Andretti of the No. 37 Ford owned by Michael Kranefuss and Carl Haas, negotiated to begin their next year's contracts early. Mayfield ended the year 26th in points.Mayfield formally joined the Kranefuss-Haas team in 1997. He had eight top-tens, including two 5th-place runs, and finished a then career-high 13th place in points. After the season, Carl Haas' interests in the team were sold to Penske Racing South, and the team's identity was changed, with a new number. 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 ranked a career best seventh in the point standings, with one win, twelve top-five finishes, sixteen top-ten finishes, and one pole. In 1999, he dropped four spots in the standings, despite twelve top-tens. In 2000, he won four poles and two races. Mayfield's third Cup series win and his second of 2000 is probably the most famous of all his wins, as he bumped Dale Earnhardt out of the lead in the last turn and then used Earnhardt's famous "Rattle his cage" line against Earnhardt in victory lane.
One of the poles, however, was at the DieHard 500, and the car was found to have violated the rules and penalties resulted in the team earning -25 points from the race. 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 as a result of also having 11 DNF's.
He began 2001 with two consecutive 3rd-place finishes, but was released after the Protection One 400. Rumors circulated around the garage that he had burned bridges with Roger Penske in order to sign a new deal with Ray Evernham's team. Rusty Wallace added the next year, that he did not see head to head with Jeremy Mayfield as teammates and that they feuded several times. He later provided Jeremy Mayfield with a driving contract in Wallace's lower-tier team in 2005 as a sign of his regret.
In 2002, Mayfield signed to Evernham Motorsports, replacing Casey Atwood. In his first year, Mayfield had four top-tens and finished 26th in points. He improved in 2003, winning the pole at the Aaron's 499 and posting twelve top-tens, finishing nineteenth in points. In 2004, Mayfield returned to victory lane at the Chevy Rock and Roll 400 to move his team into the ninth 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. Evernham used Bill Elliott and then Elliott Sadler for the remainder of the season.
Mayfield signed a contract with Bill Davis Racing for 2007, driving the No. 36 Toyota Camry. 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 No. 66 car for Haas CNC Racing starting with Atlanta 2007. Late in 2007, he and teammate Scott Riggs would switch rides putting Mayfield in the No. 70 car at the beginning the 2008 season.
Mayfield completed seven races in the No. 70 with a best finish of sixteenth before he was released from the team. After July 9, 2008, Tony Stewart was able to announce his purchase into the Haas CNC team and the lineup of drivers to replace Riggs and Mayfield.
Mayfield would complete one additional race at Dover in the No. 40 Dodge, filling in for the injured Dario Franchitti. He would start tenth and finish 25th.
After failing to get a ride for the 2009 season, on January 19, 2009, Mayfield and his wife announced that he started his own team, Mayfield Motorsports. Mayfield would attempt the full season in a self-owned Toyota, using the number 41 and borrowing the Evernham-style of numbering. He raced his way into the Daytona 500 successfully. After ten races in the 2009 season, Mayfield qualified for just five. He was then embroiled in a [|substance abuse dispute] that, for all intents and purposes, ended his NASCAR career. By July 2009, Mayfield had sold his race team and operations due to lack of sponsorship, and all members of the race team either resigned or were laid off.
During his NASCAR career, Mayfield had 36 career Busch Series starts. He had five top-tens, his best finish being a 4th at Rockingham in 2003. He also had three Craftsman Truck Series starts, with a best finish of sixth at the 2003 Hardee's 200 for Green Light Racing. After his release from Evernham in 2006, he drove for Billy Ballew Motorsports in a pair of truck races.
Life after NASCAR
Mayfield was working as a delivery person while waiting for word on his appeals. By 2011, tax officials in Catawba County, North Carolina were on the verge of foreclosing on Mayfield's 388-acre spread there because he owed $82,000 in back taxes. In 2012, Mayfield was evicted from his home and was planned to drive in the ARCA series for Carter 2 Motorsports, although this deal fell through. On January 6, 2014, Mayfield was convicted on two counts of possession of drug paraphernalia and one count for possessing stolen items, receiving eighteen months of unsupervised probation, and was ordered to pay $88,124.41, adding an extra $1,100 in court costs.In 2014, Mayfield raced in the KOMA Unwind Modified Madness Tour, making his debut in the series' inaugural race at Hickory Motor Speedway. In May 2014, Mayfield released a video, titled The Mayfield Story, to explain the substance abuse controversy from his point of view.
In July 2014, Mayfield returned to organized racing competition, driving in a Pro Cup Series event at Tri-County Motor Speedway and finishing seventh of the ten cars that started. On September 29, 2014, Mayfield announced he would compete full-time in dirt and Super Late Model racing for 2015. On October 8, 2014, Mayfield started a Dirt Late Model team with plans to compete full-time in the World of Outlaws, with Mayfield as driver of the J2 car and Aaron Thomas as owner; former Charlotte Motor Speedway president Humpy Wheeler is an assistant for Mayfield.
He currently competes around the northwest of the state of Georgia at local dirt tracks.
He earned his first career Late Model win on November 26, 2018, at Lavonia Speedway, which was his first race win in any division of motorsports, since his final Cup victory of his racing career in 2005. Afterwards, an emotional Mayfield called it the "biggest win of my life."
"It feels great to get these guys into victory lane," said Mayfield afterwards. "We've come close several times, and finally we get to snap that win drought. These guys put a great car under me today, and I couldn't be happier."
As of 2020, Mayfield has mended his bridges with Ray Evernham and has showed interest as a possible participant in the Superstar Racing Experience series created by Evernham and Tony Stewart. He would not make a start however, as the series folded after the 2023 season.
Beginning in 2023, Mayfield has been a regular in the Grand National Super Series Presented By ECC, capturing multiple victories and titles.