On May 9, 2009, Jeremy Mayfield’s life changed forever.
That was the day that Mayfield, then a NASCAR Cup Series veteran of 17 years, was suspended indefinitely by NASCAR due to a violation of NASCAR’s substance abuse policy.
Mayfield vehemently denied taking illegal substances both then and now and describes 2009 as a year when he and his family were forced to “pick up the pieces” after a long legal battle.
“It was something that Shana (Mayfield) and I weren’t ready for,” Mayfield said. “When something like that hits you, you have to start taking it one day at a time. Every day, it felt like we were being hit from somewhere. We just couldn’t get ahead of the circumstances. We were constantly behind as far as our lawsuit with NASCAR went. It was just a constant uphill battle.”
While Mayfield has competed in several short-track races and series in the 15 years since his suspension from NASCAR, he hasn’t made a national series start in that decade-and-a-half span.
“When it was all over with, we were just glad it was over and felt it was time to move on. We had to pick up the pieces, and Shana and I just moved on from it. It was tough, probably the toughest thing I’ve ever been through. I wouldn’t want anyone else to go through it. But we felt like we were right in what we did. We stood up for what we believed in and fought all the way to the end.”
“To this day, I wouldn’t change a thing.”
When asked what his conversations with NASCAR’s brass were like during the controversy, Mayfield gave a surprising answer.
Mayfield says he was never afforded the opportunity to speak with any NASCAR higher-ups during or after the situation, saying he only “talked with a couple of lower-level executives.”
“If we could’ve sat down on Day 1, before they made any announcements, we’d have had it worked out. But they didn’t want to do that. I couldn’t talk to Brian France, I couldn’t talk to Jim France. They just threw it out to the public, and the damage was done to me already.”
“There was nothing else I could do. To this day, I still haven’t sat down with either one of them and talked about it. That’s what sucks, they didn’t want to talk about it. As soon as they told me about my (drug) test and said I failed, I said ‘I’m sure I did. I was taking adderall.’ I told them that. I did exactly what (NASCAR’s drug policy) said. That wasn’t good enough. It (NASCAR) is a family-owned business, but when it comes down to it, you can’t talk to anybody in the family.”
Mayfield says that lack of communication and transparency leads to those within the sport feeling that they’re unable to resolve issues in a succint manner.
Mayfield then referred to the story of the late Tim Richmond, who burst onto the Cup Series scene in the 80s, only to see drug-related controversies quickly derail his career. Richmond died in August of 1989, never having been given the chance to explain his side of the story.
“They rigged his (Tim Richmond’s) (drug) test. They admitted it. They basically told the drug testing company to find something to make it a positive test. They (NASCAR) are capable of anything,” Mayfield added.
In the present day, NASCAR finds itself in the middle of another legal bout. On Oct. 2, 23XI Racing and Front Row Motorsports filed a lawsuit against the stock-car racing giant, with lawyer Jeffrey Kessler calling NASCAR the “poster child for a monopoly.”
“For Michael Jordan to do that (file a lawsuit) says a lot. He wouldn’t have ever done that if it (NASCAR) had been conducted the right way,” Mayfield said. “When they jump in and file this lawsuit against NASCAR, that should say a lot.”
All quotations obtained firsthand unless otherwise noted.
