ShareThisEither NASCAR has the worst drug testing methods ever conceived or Jeremy Mayfield is a liar.
Regardless, it's all over for the Owensboro, Ky., driver.
NASCAR on Wednesday announced that Mayfield has tested positive for methamphetamine yet again, this time in a random sample taken on July 6. In addition, Mayfield's stepmother filed an affidavit claiming she personally witnessed him using meth "at least 30 times over seven years," according to the Associated Press.
The test result was included in a United States District Court filing on Wednesday in which the sport's governing body wants the federal judge who lifted the ban on Mayfield's earlier suspension to reinstate it.
Ever since he first tested positive, Mayfield has proclaimed his innocence, and finally opened up to ESPN about his problems.
"I don't have the money to take my car, my team, put it back together and go to Chicago," Mayfield said to ESPN prior to last Saturday's race. "(NASCAR CEO) Brian France thinks he can go around and they can just keep stretching this out ... and this thing will stretch out forever, and what have I got? How am I going to win it? So all I got is the truth. That's all I got. All I can do is tell the truth, and I'm sick and tired of reading a bunch of lies. I want to do everything in my power to tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth from here on out."
He can fight this in court from now until doomsday and it isn't going to make a bit of difference.
He's finished.
Mayfield is on the bad side of NASCAR and he'll remain there forever.
Many of the other drivers don't want to be on the asphalt with him anymore, and they never will again. Basically, his NASCAR career is now in the past tense, even if somehow he could prove his innocence beyond all doubt.
Perception is reality and Mayfield will always have two failed drug tests hanging over his head. He might as well be walking around the garage area wearing a scarlet letter.
And frankly, he's an easy whipping boy for the sport. The 40-year-old has won only five races in his career, and he hasn't been to victory lane since 2005.
As a matter of fact, he hasn't even registered a top 10 showing since then -- nor has he been able to compete in a full slate of events.
Before the drug test he was an afterthought in stock car racing's biggest league, and now he's a man NASCAR wants to simply forget.
There are some drug experts who had taken Mayfield's side, but that was before NASCAR said his latest "A" sample had levels of methamphetamine "consistent with habitual users who consume high doses."
A court ruled that NASCAR should lift its suspension prior to the recent Daytona event, but it was a hollow victory for Mayfield.
Legal issues aside, he didn't have the money to make the race. And before the scandal arose, sponsors weren't exactly beating down his door. On Tuesday the final employee in his shop called it quits, saying Mayfield Racing was -- for all practical purposes -- out of business.
Just like the driver himself.
(Contact Scott Adamson of the Anderson Independent-Mail in Anderson, S.C., at adamsons(at)independentmail.com.)
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