Mayfield Lets Loose in ESPN Interview

Jeremy Mayfield, friends, is a tired fellow.Tired, that is, of NASCAR -- in his eyes -- writing the best fiction story they can about his alleged drug abuse and the accompanying legal battle that has blown up in the sanctioning body's face with the driver's desire to fight the allegations.And so, Mayfield opened up and proceeded to light up NASCAR this week after winning a federal injunction that allows him to race again in a story by Marty Smith over at ESPN.Because Smith seemingly asked any and all of the necessary questions and did a great job of putting it together, I strongly, strongly encourage you to read the article in full here, and when you're done, come on back and we'll analyze some of the key points that Mayfield made.Jeremy Mayfield on being made an example of: "I feel like that's exactly what they thought I was going to be. Exactly. To a 'T,'" Mayfield said. "Now, all the sudden, Brian's [France, NASCAR's chairman] coming back saying, 'Well, we have positive tests all the time.' Well, if it's a zero-tolerance policy, how in the hell do you have people testing positive all the time? [...]"It's bull----, man, and somebody needs to stand up and see through this. There's experts out everywhere saying the same thing I'm [saying]."Analysis: Mayfield does a bring a valid a point, one that says NASCAR probably assumed that they weren't going to get any resistance from Mayfield's camp on the failed -- or false positive -- test. Quite the contrary, obviously, occured with Mayfield signing up with a prominent Charlotte attorney to fight the charge from NASCAR.As for those experts, Mayfield is referring to the heads of the World Anti-Doping Agency and the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency, who both have said that NASCAR's drug policy -- and most notably, a lack of a published list of banned substances -- remains suspect.Mayfield on NASCAR's allegation that he tried to evade a Monday drug test: "It was a wild-goose chase and I got pissed off about it," he said. "I was like, 'I'm not doing this for nobody.' Why would I? I know what they're trying to do, [make it] where I can't meet my 18-minute deadline, which I was already late for anyway." Mayfield said he then stopped at an independent lab of his choice to conduct a test, so "they couldn't use that against me." He then drove the rest of the way home where Buric said NASCAR would be waiting to collect a urine sample. "So I drive home, haul ass home after I take my test, get here, nobody's here," Mayfield said. "Waited on them. Waited on them. Waited on them. [...] "I did one [test] for the independent lab before their test, took their test, and did one after their test for another independent lab," Mayfield said. "So I went to two different labs, plus their test on Monday. I want to make that clear. Nobody's running and hiding."Analysis: NASCAR's version of the events said Mayfield was intentionally late to a planned test at a Charlotte-area clinic, and then when their officials arrived at his home, he initially disputed taking the test for over an hour. In fact, the story they told didn't look on Mayfield at all.However, with Mayfield's version of the Monday events, the story gets plenty cloudy -- and if indeed Mayfield is right that they are simply trying to target him and virtually force him to fail at beating the drug allegations, NASCAR doesn't come off well in the possible "wild-goose chase".A fact that does extreme, though, is that NASCAR forced Mayfield to produce his urine simple in view of the medical personnel present, rather than allowing him than privacy of a bathroom stall. Mayfield colned it "humiliating".Mayfield on his future as a "marked man: "Forever," he said. "You know what's kind of sickening? Several, including Dr. [David] Black, who's not a doctor, this is what makes you sick, [them saying] 'Jeremy, if you just go about this quietly you'll be OK. You'll be all right.' Well, bull----. I'm marked. How do you go about this thing quietly? Tell me that."Analysis: If what Mayfield claims Black said is true, it certainly helps to back up his allegations that NASCAR was ultimately trying to use Mayfield as an example for its new drug testing policy. Indeed, being marked as a guy that has taken drugs is a virtual blacklisting of any driver in NASCAR -- meaning if Mayfield was quiet about the issue, he wouldn't be any better off. Mayfield says later in the article that the experience has drained him both emotionally and financially, and that he's only got the truth left. Sure, he's making some good arguments, but would a guy who's out of money to even race a car that he fought NASCAR to be able to do last week be hanging on to something that he's just trying to cover up?Mayfield on why these problems don't exist in other sports: "You don't see these problems going on with Major League Baseball, NFL football. No other sports that we're supposed to be atop of, right? You don't see these problems," Mayfield said. "Guess what they've got? Unions. They've got people that look after them. They've got people that look after the players' association. They don't go through all this [stuff] we're going through right now. None of them. "And they take their stars out. If their stars are taking steroids, or whatever, they're gone. There's nothing to protect them, but them, they know how long they're gone. Here? It's an open-book deal. It's whatever [NASCAR] says, any time they say it." Analysis: A driver's union once had a place in NASCAR for roughly one day until the driver responsible for attempting to organize his fellow wheelmen was banished from the sport by Bill France. But Mayfield does have a point here -- because NASCAR treats its drivers as independent contractors, it leaves no room for an organized effort of drivers to make sure NASCAR's rules are fair, complete and not run with pencil and eraser.Compare Manny Ramirez of the Los Angeles Dodges for a moment. The All-Star outfield was banned for 50 games earlier this season for failing a drug test, but he didn't appeal and there was no uproar because the players union in baseball trusts in the drug testing program. He was punished, given a definite timeline, and has now returned.In Mayfield's case? Had the injunction not been lifted earlier this week, he'd have absolutely no idea when he could return to the track. In a sport that requires race-by-race sponsorship, that makes it pretty tough to even stay in business for a guy like Mayfield as an owner-driver.