His story is actually a little more complicated than that. He claims that when he was initially told that he failed it was for amphetamines which at the time he had just been prescribed for ADHD. He was asked to fax over medical records to prove he was taking them under the direction of a doctor and told it wouldn't be an issue if he was. He also claims he told Dr. Black during that phone call that he'd also taken Claritin-D (a Pseudoephedrine combination OTC medicine) that morning. He claims at that point the general tone of the conversation changed and Dr. Black told him it would be a problem because he felt like he was getting stimulated for the race.
Dr. Black wasn't Mayfield's doctor and wasn't going on anything but a gut feeling and the results of a test that popped positive for amphetamines at the time. Faxing over proof of an Adderall prescription should have been enough to clear it up. The next call Mayfield got was from someone at NASCAR calling to let him know he'd been suspended for a failed drug test and that NASCAR was holding a press conference in a half hour to tell the press/public.
This is the place where I take issue with what NASCAR did. They'd only started the road to recovery and the new drug testing policy that year and Mayfield was the first one to pop positive for something. Holding a press conference for something that should have been handled behind closed doors is in very bad taste. Further more, at this point Mayfield decided to fight the results and it's at this point he claims methamphetamine was mentioned for the first time by NASCAR. It's also fishy that no one was allowed to independently see or verify the results of the drug test and we're expected to just trust NASCAR's word on the issue.
Also keep in mind that this was the year where Mayfield, not being able to find a seat with any major teams probably as a result of the falling out he had with the owner of the 19 car for outing the affair founded his own race team and started driving as an owner/driver. It seemed like NASCAR and the major teams were black balling him and were pissed that he had the gall to field a car out of his own pocket. While he wasn't doing amazing he was qualifying for races and that says a lot about the man in an era where owner/driver teams were starting to become very rare.
I'm not even a fan of Mayfield but I find the situation surrounding his drug test to be very fishy. Given what NASCAR did to
Tim Richmond at the end of his career I feel like an independent party should verify all drug tests when someone pops positive. In all honesty NASCAR drivers should have a union but we all know it's never going to happen.
Seriously though, it's NASCAR. Given all the shady sh!t they've done over the years is it really far fetched to believe they would black ball a driver for stepping out of line?
The drugs/stolen goods on his property doesn't look good I'll admit but even that can be explained. As someone that owns a good bit of land myself I'll be the first to admit that I don't often walk it and it'd be easy to hide things on it without me knowing. Also, I have a bad tendency to help out people that aren't always totally on the up and up. I often buy things from people instead of outright loaning them money with the intention of selling the items back to them later should they get on their feet or selling them to someone else if enough time goes by where I feel like the owner will never come back for the items. I have several guns in my home I bought from folks and I took their word that they weren't stolen. For all I know I could be in possession of stolen property with drugs stashed in it.
All that aside: People change. I was hooked on opioids myself for a long time through no fault of my own. A doctor put me on them and it wasn't long before I had to take them every day to feel normal. I didn't realize they were a problem for at least two years. I'm now constantly scrutinized about this because I made the mistake of admitting it to close family/friends so now any time I'm laid up in pain/sick for a few days in a bad mood it's the first thing they ask me about. I should have never told them because it's very annoying and frankly pisses me off whenever it's mentioned. I haven't touched the stuff in nearly half a decade and sometimes I'm in so much pain that I really do need them but I suffer because I know where that leads. People assuming I'm using them just pisses me off and makes me question why I don't just get back on the stuff if everyone is going to assume I'm on them anyway. I'd much rather live pain free and high all the time legally than suffering in pain. But I stay off of them because it's the right thing to do both for my health and the people I care about.
Sorry for the mini-rant. I just find it in bad taste for someone that claims to be an "insider" to come here and post a thread like this then drop little rumors/hints that he knows something the general public doesn't. Turns out he's just going off the same information the public does when it comes to the subject of Mayfield. I'm sure he'll continue to hang around and tell everyone how wrong they are because he might have heard some things through the grapevine.
If you tested every driver every week there is no telling what you'd find. I've seen so many drivers racing with broken bones and major injuries over the years. Do you honestly think they all did it without the help of opioids or some form of pain killer? How many of them smoke pot in the off season? How many take speed or nerve pills? We don't know because they're probably smart enough not to do it three days before they're supposed to be at the track. Drug tests are easy to pass when/if you know they're coming even in settings where they're totally randomized. Aside from pot all of the things I mentioned would be totally legal under NASCAR's policy assuming you were taking them as prescribed.
At the end of the day I do feel bad for Mayfield because even if he used meth he seems to have made changes in his life and I can tell the guy loves to race more than anything else. If he didn't he wouldn't be running at little dirt tracks and celebrating the few wins he's picked up in the Late Models. I feel like he just wants to re-live the good old days and redeem himself in the eyes of the fans. If I were him I would probably just give up on NASCAR and go run in another series somewhere but it just wouldn't be the same. Nothing is going to scratch the itch like a Cup car.
I didn't even like the guy when he ran cup. I always thought he was a terrible teammate for Rusty. He did put Earnhardt in the wall for a win though so I do have a little respect for him.
