Thursday, July 16, 2009

The Mayfield Saga Continues...

Ok, so I was out of town this week and didn't have a chance to check out NASCARLand as much as I probably should have.

I wish I kinda hadn't kept up at all.

The Jeremy Mayfield saga has dominated the NASCAR world in recent weeks and it took another turn on Wednesday afternoon as NASCAR announced that the results of a second drug test last week reported back positive again for methamphetamine. Mayfield's step-mother went on record as saying she saw the driver take meth over 30 times in a seven year period. Mayfield claims she was being coached up and that she lied about the issue because of their strained relationship.

You know that when Mayfield was contacted by NASCAR over a week ago to take that second test that he ducked out of contact for a while, claiming he couldn't find the testing center and that he got the call too late to report to the testing facility when they wanted him to. Then NASCAR security ended up going to Mayfield's house to obtain the sample. I'm sorry, but when NASCAR comes a calling you answer the phone and don't try to play cover up.

I heard a caller call in on Sirius NASCAR Radio Channel 128 this morning saying that if his employer came to his house and demanded a drug test be taken that they would both end up in an emergency room. I applaud the hosts for the show holding back because I would have let loose with something like, "well sir you don't work in a situation where you are operating a 3,400 pound weapon at 180 miles per hour and don't make millions of dollars a year."

At this point, after two failed tests and months of "he said-she said" between Mayfield, his law team, NASCAR, and NASCAR's drug testing facility, Mayfield just needs to admit he was wrong, back out of the sport, and go on about his way.

His career is effectively over at this point. I think most within the NASCAR community will admit that, and to some extent I think Mayfield might think that.

Hopefully the Mayfield Saga is behind us all now. As the sport approaches the race at Indy next week, and the Chase for the Sprint Cup not far after that, NASCAR drivers, media, and fans need to move on and keep the momentum going that the sport has been building the last few weeks. I know the ratings and attendance are still down, but the racing has been better at times since the advent of "Double File Restarts-Shootout Style" seven weeks ago.

Jeremy has thrown away an opportunity that thousands of short track drivers around the country dream of: driving a racecar and winning at NASCAR's top level. It's the same opinion I had when hearing about the mistakes made by Shane Hmiel, Aaron Fike, and Kevin Grubb.

Jeremy Mayfield's story, like so many others who get caught up in drug addiction, is sad but it's time for all of us to move on.

I think Jeremy needs to move on too.

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