Jeremy Mayfield fails drug test

May 9, 7:49 PMDetroit NASCAR ExaminerJosh Lobdell

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Troubled NASCAR driver Jermey Mayfield Getty Images/Sam Greenwood

It has just been announced that owner/driver of the #41 car, Jeremy Mayfield has been indefinitely suspended from NASCAR for violating the NASCAR Substance Abuse Policy.

There is no word as of yet as to what Mayfield tested positive for last weekend at Richmond, Va. However NASCAR has stated that they do not test for alcohol.

This may well be the end of one of the most troubled careers in NASCAR. Jeremy has driven for some of the elite teams over the years including Penske Racing and Evernham Motor Sports. Each of those stints as driver ended badly when Mayfield bad mouthed both of his bosses in front of the media and public.

In a disgusting display Mayfield mocked boss Ray Evernham and his relationship with fellow driver Erin Crooker. He implied that his relationship with her was interfering with his job as team owner.

While it is sad to see a throwback owner/driver bounced from the sport, in the end Mayfield may well be a victim of Karma.

Mayfield won 5 races in his cup career, starting off as a fabricator for the Sadler Brothers. From there he won Late Model Rookie of the Year for Kentucky Motor Speedway in 1987. In 1993 he moved up to ARCA winning Rookie of the year in that series the same year. He then moved straight to the NASCAR Cup series.

His best win came at Richmond in 2004 where by winning the race he earned a spot for his #19 Evernham Dodge in the inaugural chase for the cup. The rest of his career was quite as glamorous.

He made his Cup debut in the 1993 Mellow Yellow 400 at Lowe’s Motor speedway in the fall finishing 30th. From there he returned to the Sadler Brothers team to run for Cup rookie of the year in 1994. He struggled mightily there and was eventually released. He then ran four races for T.W. Taylor, before finishing off the season in Cale Yarbrough’s #98 car.

In 1995 Mayfield ran the full schedule with the #98 team with backing from RCA, where he finished 31st in the points. In the middle of that season he replaced John Andretti in the #37 K Mart/Little Caesars Ford owned by Michael Kranefuss.

In 1997 he finished then a career high 13th in the points and Kranefuss sold part of his team to Roger Penske. In 1998 Mayfield entered the cup season in the #12 car as a teammate to Rusty Wallace. After a fuel substance violation, that robbed him of a pole, and a serious concussion suffered in practice for the Brickyard 500 Mayfield decided that the grass was greener elsewhere and after taking one too many shots in public he was fired at the end of 2001.

In 2002 he replaced young Casey Atwood in the #19 Dodge, while that team enjoyed some success Jeremy ran off at the mouth yet again. This time he was involved in a bitter split that led to him filing a lawsuit against Ray Evernham trying to block his firing.

In 2007 to stay apart of the cup series Mayfield accepted a ride as the second car in the Bill Davis stable. Half way through the season both sides mutually agreed it was a lose-lose situation and moved on. A little known fact was the Mayfield’s sponsor 360 OTC was not paying the sponsor bills for his race team and was eventually sued not only by Bill Davis but by several other Motor Sports organizations it had agreed to sponsor.

In 2008 Mayfield made a handful of starts for Haas CNC racing and Chip Ganassi racing but no more rides were offered. Heading into the 2009 NASCAR season there were rumors that Mayfield had resigned himself to not run in the cup series for a mid to back of the pack team. He seemed to have a deal put together to become a teammate to Billy Ballew’s team in the truck series. Then the economic slowdown gave Mayfield the opportunity to buy a few cup cars, piece together some sponsorship and go cup racing for himself.

Through 10 races of the 2009 season Mayfield has only qualified for five of them and has not finished higher than 32nd. Now with a positive drug test Mayfield’s NASCAR career appears to be at an end.