Originally posted by NASCAR Jeremy Mayfield, a five-time winner on NASCAR's premier series currently driving for his own team, has been suspended indefinitely for an undisclosed substance abuse violation, series vice president Jim Hunter said Saturday at Darlington Raceway. Mayfield, 39, failed to qualify for the Southern 500.
Attempts to reach Mayfield for comment Saturday were unsuccesful.
Also suspended indefinitely were Tony Martin, a crewman on the No. 34 Sprint Cup car of Front Row Motorsports, whose entry was driven Saturday night by Tony Raines; and Ben Williams, a crew member with the No. 16 Nationwide Series team of Roush Fenway Racing, which won Friday night's event with Matt Kenseth. Hunter would not specify what substances were taken, but did say the violations were for more than merely alcohol use.
so, Jeremy on the juice for driving? I can see the pit guys on the juice.
We'll be back right after order has been restored here in the Omni Center.
�That the universe was formed by a fortuitous concourse of atoms, I will no more believe than that the accidental jumbling of the alphabet would fall into a most ingenious treatise of philosophy� - Swift
Statement from Jeremy Mayfield on Saturday's suspension:
"As both a team owner and a driver in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series, I have immense respect for the enforcement policies NASCAR has in place. In my case, I believe that the combination of a prescribed medicine and an over the counter medicine reacted together and resulted in a positive drug test. My Doctor and I are working with both Dr. Black and NASCAR to resolve this matter.
"Mayfield Motorsports remains committed to the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series and the organization will announce an interim owner and a temporary replacement driver early next week. Those roles will commence immediately beginning with next week's Sprint Open and continuing through Charlotte and beyond."
I WANT to believe...
Ironically, didn't Mayfield just fire a guy for failing a drug test last week? Hard to fire the owner, so that's a perk. (consults Web) Sorry, that was more like three months ago. Close enough. :)
According to ESPN (sports.espn.go.com), it could had been Claritin D, an over-the-counter med.
I really don't know what to think about this. First off, I would like NASCAR to at least give us more info about how they do their drug testing. I know people give baseball a hard time over their testing, but compared to NASCAR, it's much more strict and structured.
There are those who will say if he did get suspended for taking a allergy med that it is bogus since it's not alcohol, steriods, or other hard drugs. I would point out that driving cars really close at extremely high speeds, you don't want anyone under any influence, even if it seems benign. You never know what medical substances could do to them in very tense situations.
Then another thought comes to my head that this could had been trumped up by the forces that head the sport. I like Mayfield, but it's pretty obvious that he has burn a couple of bridges with previous bosses; that's why he had to create his own team to continue racing. NASCAR has suspended drivers for shady reasoning before; they did it to Tim Richmond when he was fighting AIDS in the late 80's because many of the 'good old southern boys' couldn't stand him. I wouldn't be surprised if this combined with Kevin Grubb's suicide (sports.espn.go.com) gave NASCAR enough reason to turf him out for a while. Think of it as their version of what the WWE did in suspending several wrestlers in the wake of the Benoit tragedy.
Yep, Dr. Black. He's quoted in one of those articles on ESPN.com.
The difference seems to be that Dr. Black has control of when the driver (or whoever) will be allowed back in NASCAR, while WWE has a set number of days.
I forgot to mention, another problem I have with the suspension is the fact that, if true, Mayfield violated the drug policy with an item that sponsors itself a lot in the NASCAR telecasts. I have an uncomfortable feeling of them having zero tolerance over Claritin D when they have no problem allowing Carl Edwards doing commericals about how he uses it to help his allergies. I know it's most likely false, but the commerical insinuates that he uses it even when he's racing. Even after the suspension, they showed it at least twice during the Darlington telecast; it felt like a bit of a double standard to me.
Originally posted by supersalvadoranI forgot to mention, another problem I have with the suspension is the fact that, if true, Mayfield violated the drug policy with an item that sponsors itself a lot in the NASCAR telecasts. I have an uncomfortable feeling of them having zero tolerance over Claritin D when they have no problem allowing Carl Edwards doing commericals about how he uses it to help his allergies. I know it's most likely false, but the commerical insinuates that he uses it even when he's racing. Even after the suspension, they showed it at least twice during the Darlington telecast; it felt like a bit of a double standard to me.
Supposedly you would have to take a ridiculous amount of Claritin to have a level high enough to fail, so it is extremely unlikely. Besides, Mayfield's claim is that he took two different things that combined to blow up the test.
Originally posted by Ryan McGee on ESPN.comWe don't know what banned substance Mayfield took. We know that it wasn't alcohol, which is on the league's banned substance list during race weekends once it reaches a certain blood-alcohol level. And few are buying into the hot garage rumor that he'd produced the positive with allergy medicine (Dr. David Black, NASCAR's drug liaison, told ESPN.com's David Newton that Claritin could theoretically be a trigger, but that the threshold was extremely high). Even fewer are showing faith in the "he mixed together a bunch of over-the-counter stuff to make a homemade remedy" theory.
In the end, what it was doesn't really matter. Fertility drugs, cough syrup, cocaine … whatever. If the league determines that someone is ingesting a substance that will impair his ability to drive a 3,400-pound mechanical beast at 190 mph, no matter how slight that impairment might be, he has no business being on the racetrack. Ever.
Zero tolerance.
Holy fuck shit motherfucker shit. Read comics. Fuck shit shit fuck shit I sold out when I did my job. Fuck fuck fuck shit fuck. Sorry had to do it....
*snip*
Revenge of the Sith = one thumb up from me. Fuck shit. I want to tittie fuck your ass. -- The Guinness. to Cerebus
According to some friends of mine who are pals with Mayfield it is Claritin-D combined with some sort of prescription drug that caused the positive. There is no appeal in NASCAR's testing program.
We'll be back right after order has been restored here in the Omni Center.
That the universe was formed by a fortuitous concourse of atoms, I will no more believe than that the accidental jumbling of the alphabet would fall into a most ingenious treatise of philosophy - Swift
Originally posted by AWArulzThere is no appeal in NASCAR's testing program.
That's complete and utter bull****. There should be some form of appeal process.
(edited by Oliver on 10.5.09 1440)
well, I suppose that is the difference between some sort of corporate ownership and the private ownership of NASCAR.
We'll be back right after order has been restored here in the Omni Center.
That the universe was formed by a fortuitous concourse of atoms, I will no more believe than that the accidental jumbling of the alphabet would fall into a most ingenious treatise of philosophy - Swift