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Jeremy Mayfield

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Jeremy Mayfield

Jeremy Allen Mayfield (born May 27, 1969) 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.

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, Mayfield joined the ARCA series, and was named Rookie of the Year.

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 eighth-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 (in each other's then rides) 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 (No. 12). 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 (his 126 points, earned by finishing fourteenth 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 as a result of also having 11 DNF's (including six in a row).

Mayfield began 2001 with two consecutive third-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.

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