On Wednesday’s “Late Shift” on SIRIUS NASCAR Radio, hosts Nate Ryan and and Buddy Baker spoke with NASCAR driver Jeremy Mayfield. NASCAR filed a motion with a federal appeals court saying Mayfield tested positive for methamphetamine in a second round of drug tests and should have his suspension from the sport reinstated. Host, Nate Ryan: “Your reaction to [the allegations]?” Jeremy Mayfield: “Well, first of all I didn’t think they were going to come back and say I was clean you know what I mean? Because that’s just not, doesn’t seem which way they want to work anymore. I had a test done before their test and I had a test done 30, 35 minutes after their test that got different results than what they’re mentioning there. We’ll hear more about that tomorrow, more detail on that. But it’s just part of the deal that’s going on. It’s just a bad deal all the way around for everybody involved and stuff just keeps popping up, one thing after another. It’ll all come out and at the end we’ll all know. And I think a lot of you guys that I’ve known and seen the past for years know for sure without a shadow of doubt there’s nothing wrong here, nothing going on. And they have a hard time admitting when they’re wrong or done something wrong and we all know that, whether we admit it or not, we know that and it’s just part of the battle, part of the things we’re going to have to fight here.” Host, Buddy Baker: “There was also a report there that your stepmother had suggested that she had watched you use drugs. What in the world is going on there?” Mayfield: “I’m not even going to call that lady my stepmom. That was a lady who was married to my dad who is very, very angry at me. And that’s all going to come out too. It’s a whole different subject. A lady who pretty much shot and killed my dad and that’ll all, in the next few days you’ll be hearing more about that. It’s just another part of my life that’s going on that I’ve had to get figured out. I had private investigators and everything on my dad’s case when it all happened in ’07. She’s a very evil lady and obviously can be bought and her time’s coming. And it’s definitely somebody that doesn’t like me whatsoever and doesn’t deserve to even have the Mayfield last name. She’s, like I said, very angry and obviously out to do whatever she’s got to do and NASCAR jumps right on the bandwagon. And I guess when you get paid to say something you can say whatever you want to say. But, like I said, that’s a whole different, separate thing that’s going on in my life that you’ll be hearing about more in the next couple of days with a wrongful death situation that she’s involved in and trying everything she can to get back at me. And what do you say? I damn sure won’t call her a stepmom, I tell you that. She never was.” Ryan: “Going back to what you were saying there about the testing, when NASCAR did its test a week ago, on Monday, you did a test at another facility? Are you saying those test results will show that you didn’t test positive for methamphetamine?” Mayfield: “Yeah, definitely. And I took it at two different facilities. One was at the Piedmont Urgent Care before their test and another one actually at an emergency room right after their test. And the one I took after their test was, I’m going to say 30, 35 minutes later just to let you know the timeline there. I promise you they’ll show different results than what they show.” Baker: “What has this done to your life as far as just walking around? A lot of people know you and think highly of you but have you noticed a difference in just daily life since this came about?” Mayfield: “Oh, definitely, Buddy. It’s something that we’re dealing with on a daily basis. Every day, all day long, this is what we deal with and have been since it happened. But I can tell you this: I’m not going to lay down. I’m going to stand up for what’s right. That’s the way I am and who I am. And they can try and throw every little tactical thing they can throw at me but I can promise you I’m not going down. I want the world to know that. And if I do anything at all hopefully it’ll make their drug policy like it needs to be and it helps another driver or several drivers in the future. At least give them a fair shake and this won’t happen again. And that’s what bothers me more than anything, is how wrong, and the lie that you have to sit here and read every day on the internet and see how wrong this whole situation is. I haven’t said anything for awhile. I’ve been real quiet, letting them do their own deal. Let Ramsey [Poston] run his mouth on a daily basis. And I just can’t take it no more and I need to tell the truth. I need to let everybody know that what’s right is right and what’s wrong is wrong. And I find it hard for a guy in Brian France’s position to sit here and tell the world how great and how strong their drug policy is and basically, you look at the World Anti-Doping Association – I said this last week in an interview – you go ask anybody in any kind of sporting series in the world what kind of policy we have and it’s the worst out there. And I have a hard time when Brian wants to sit there and tell all the race fans out there how strong and how great their policy is when in fact it’s not. And I just don’t believe in things like that and it’s time to tell it. It’s time for the world to know that kind of stuff.” Ryan: “Another contention from NASCAR is that you attempted to dilute this drug test and that was the reason for the delay, that you had attempted to dilute it by ingesting large quantities of water. Would you care to respond to that?” Mayfield: “Yeah, I’d love to respond to it. The day after this happened, day one, we started shooting a documentary on all this, some buddies of mine and friends of mine in the past that I worked with, they’re in the movie business kinda, out in L.A. And we started shooting a documentary of our lives every day since then. And Buddy asked the question: How’d this change your life? We’re going to show on TV, and the world’s going to know how it’s changed our life because they’ve been with us every day, 24/7. And that day there they were with us and watched. They met the NASCAR security and, I guess, the collectors at my front porch. Nobody held them off for 10 minutes. Nobody had done any of that stuff. Nobody was running and hiding. I waited here at my house for an hour and a half and it’s documented on tape, live, waiting for them to get here. And they say, ‘Well, you ran from this, ran from that.’ They give me 18 minutes. My attorney told me – I had a meeting on Monday – I had 18 minutes to get to the lab of their choice, whatever it was, to go take my test. Well, there’s no way I could make it in 18 minutes. And I got mad about it. I was like, ‘There’s no way I can make it there.’ So we went and got our own test right before just to show the world I was not trying to hide anything. So we’ve got all this documented and it’s all going to come out and the truth will be known.” Ryan: “What can you tell us about your NASCAR career at this point? Do you have any designs on even racing in NASCAR right now or is it more just about trying to prove your point here and not really worrying about continuing your career?” Mayfield: “I’m not worried about continuing my career because, you know, we all know what happens when you buck the system and you go back and try to race again. It’s not going to work out for me for whatever reason that we all know. My deal now is I can’t afford to sit there and pay employees and pay people to work on race cars when we don’t have the money to do that. And we’re putting all of our resources, everything we got now, into fighting this to the end. And that’s what we intend to do and [are] going to do. And I just can’t keep people on the payroll for no reason, you know?” Ryan: “What’s the next step from here? Where do you expect this case to go and does this mean we aren’t going to see you at the racetrack again anytime soon?” Mayfield: “I doubt you will. The case, like I said, I’m fighting it to the end, whatever I’ve got to do. It’s just like if somebody accuses you. They say, ‘Hey, man, you’re going to jail.’ For what reason they don’t tell you. They send you to jail and you’ve got to explain later how you’re going to get out, this, that and the other. You’re not going to do that. You’re not going to take the fall for somebody else. You’re going to stand up and be a man about it and fight for what’s right and that’s what I gotta do.” Baker: “Like you said, right or wrong, we’ll know the truth here pretty soon.” Mayfield: “Right, that’s the whole deal right there. And, like I said, we’ve had a camera crew with us 24/7 that’s going to be [unintelligible] every bit of this and we’ll all see it. And one other thing as I sit here and think about this: You know, Brian France out there talking about effective drug policy, it’s kind of like Al Capone talking about effective law enforcement. And that’s the way I feel about it. The pot shouldn’t be calling the kettle black, you know what I’m saying? And I think the world needs to hear that, too.” Ryan: “NASCAR has said they have not tested the B sample yet from what they collected from you. Was your test observed, the one you conducted at an independent laboratory? Was that observed by someone and was there a B sample for that?” Mayfield: “Yes, there is a B sample and, yes, it was at a professional lab. When you go take these drug tests and everybody that’s had one – and by the way I’m getting them, I’ve been getting them since this happened about every three or four days I go get a drug test. I’ll say in the next couple weeks I’ll probably have up to 15 or 16 different tests that show clean and the only two that show positive are the ones that come from [Dr.] David Black down at his lab. And the B sample, their deal with the B sample was we told them what lab to send it to, send our B sample, since that belongs to me supposedly, send it to a credible lab. We told them what lab to send it to. They didn’t want to send it to that lab. They wanted to send it to the lab they wanted to send it to. Well, if it’s my sample why can’t it be my choice? There again, policy-wise, that’s the way it is in all sports. You send it – the B sample belongs to the donor – you send it to the lab you want it sent it to. And [for] some reason they’re not doing that. They can sit there and say what they want to and make up all the excuses they want to. That’s the truth. They did not want to send it to the lab we wanted it sent to.” Ryan: “Do you feel as if you’ve been targeted here? Do you feel as if NASCAR is singling you out and, if so, what would be the motive for that?” Mayfield: “I feel like I was definitely targeted and definitely was going to be, they thought, a good example for their drug policy. I’d go away for thirty days or whatever and come back, got my own team, and drive again. But nobody, like I said, nobody in their right mind would do that and that’s when you got to stand for something or you’ll fall for anything, you know? And the deal with me, they got me and I was a good example for their policy. Remember policy, that Brian talks about all the time? If they got me then none of their stars would ever have to go down for a positive drug test, which Brian said the other day they have all the time, positive drug tests. There again, if it’s a zero policy, zero tolerance on their policy, then how do you have a bunch of positive drug tests? Why was mine the only one positive that was going to have to be used for an example?” (SIRIUS XM NASCAR Radio)(7-16-2009)
