The story of former NASCAR driver Jeremy Mayfield is unique to auto racing and all of sports.
Mayfield’s 2009 drug suspension and lawsuit against NASCAR still has plenty of people scratching their heads. And it’s a story that Mayfield hopes is not over as he attempts to resume his racing career.
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Mayfield will sit down with Sporting News writer Bob Pockrass for an interview at 1 p.m. on Wednesday June 11. But this will be different than Mayfield’s past interviews with Sporting News. This one will be streamed live. Fans can hear Mayfield’s story in his own words and make their own decisions about how they view the former NASCAR star.
The only driver to openly fight his suspension over a violation of the sport’s substance-abuse policy, Mayfield remains suspended from all NASCAR activity. The ban began following a May 1, 2009 drug test that NASCAR says revealed methamphetamines. Mayfield challenged the results of the test, however, saying it was a false positive for a mix of the attention deficit hyperactivity disorder drug Adderall (for which he had a prescription) and allergy medication Claritin-D.
PHOTOS: Mayfield's career
More than two years later, his property was searched by police, who allegedly found stolen goods and what they determined was methamphetamine residue. The search was based on information from a man with a criminal record who later died, along with his passenger, following a police chase. Mayfield eventually agreed to an Alford plea — where there is acknowledgement of enough evidence to prove guilt while not admitting to the act — to two misdemeanors for possession of stolen goods and one possession of drug paraphernalia.
With the plea, Mayfield was able to end the case, avoid jail time and move on with his life.
The 45-year-old driver recently returned to racing modifieds. Off the track, he has posted the first of what he says will be a series of videos that go deeper into his life and career. Going back to his roots of racing at local short tracks, Mayfield — who had five wins in 433 career Cup starts and made the Chase for the Sprint Cup in 2004-05 — hopes to have fun racing again and rally fans around his comeback story.
What does he hope to accomplish and what is his future in racing? Why is he releasing the series of videos? What does he have to say to NASCAR fans?
Those will be some of the topics discussed in the live interview with Sporting News. Click here for the link for the June 11 interview.