Mayfield takes over No. 66 this weekend
Lee Spencer
FOXSports.com, Updated 12 minutes ago STORY TOOLS:

Jeremy Mayfield has signed a contract with Haas CNC Racing and will replace Jeff Green in the No. 66 Best Buy Chevrolet effective immediately, FOXSports.com has learned.

Team sources at Haas confirmed the switch.
The decision comes with an eye towards the future, as Mayfield will remain with Haas full-time next season.

Mayfield's signing will give a new look to Haas CNC Racing in 2008, as the organization recently signed Scott Riggs away from Gillett Evernham Motorsports.

In 32 races this season, Green has recorded three top-10 finishes, but none since the Lenox Industrial Tools 300 at New Hampshire International Speedway on July 1. By comparison, Mayfield has zero top-10 results in just 13 starts this year, as both he and his team have struggled to qualify for races as they sit outside the top 35 in owner points, which would guarantee them a starting position.

However, prior to joining Bill Davis Racing this season, Mayfield had qualified for the championship deciding Chase for the Nextel Cup in 2004 an '05 while driving the No. 19 for Evernham.

As a result of the move, current NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series championship leader Mike Skinner will replace Mayfield at Bill Davis Racing in the No. 36 Toyota Camry for the remainder of this season except for the Phoenix International Raceway event, where former Formula One driver Jacques Villeneuve will attempt to qualify the car.

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Auto racing, bull fighting and mountain climbing are the only real sports... the rest are just games........ Earnest Hemmingway

Haas Dumps Green and Signs Mayfield… Why?

October 23, 2007
Everett Mugg – SCR

It was announced Monday that Hass CNC Racing has released Jeff Green immediately and signed Jeremy Mayfield to drive for the remainder of the season and next in 2008… Why? Green has led this under funded team to a 30th position in the standings so far this year. Mayfield has only managed to qualify in 13 races and sits in 48th two points ahead of John Andretti and that dominating BAM Racing team. If you wanted a driver that could do much with little, why not chose Tony Raines? He has done much with nothing, while Mayfield has managed to drive top cars to the bottom. Let’s examine the illustrious career of Mayfield.

Mayfield made his first Cup start in 1993 with Sadler Brothers Racing at Charlotte late in the season. He made another four starts with them at the start of the ’94 season before driving for T.W. Smith and Cale Yarborough. In 1995 he made 27 more starts for owner Cale Yarborough finishing 31st in points. He followed that up in 1996 by making 30 of 31 races and ending up 26th in points. He finally ran his first full Cup season in 1997 for Kranefuss-Haas racing and finished a stout 13th in the driver points. In 1998 the Kranefuss-Haas team was sold to Penske South and Mayfield started running the No. 12 Mobil Oil car, this led to his best points year ever, earning his first win and finishing 7th in the Cup point standings.

Since then his career has been a self inflicted down hill slide. He scored two more wins with Penske but just was not happy with the team and left in 2002 to join Evernham Motorsports. His leaving Penske was significant in the fact that he aired his displeasure with Penske as he left. He felt that he was playing a secondary role to Rusty Wallace.

Mayfield went from playing a secondary role to Rusty Wallace to playing a secondary role to Bill Elliot at Evernham Motorsports (EMS). He went from 5 top 5’s and 7 top 10’s for a 35th points finish with Penske in 2001 to 2 top fives and 4 top tens for a 26th points finish with Evernham in 2002. Meanwhile Ryan Newman, who took over the 12 car when Mayfield left, had 1 win, 14 top 5’s, 22 top 10’s, finished 6th in the point standings and won Rookie of the Year; all while playing second fiddle to Rusty Wallace. One would think it’s obvious that the problem on that 12 Penske team was Mayfield, not the team.

The next year, while Mayfield finished 19th with ZERO wins, 4 top 5’s and 12 top 10’s, that darn 12 team, with Newman driving, (playing second fiddle to Wallace), wracked up 8 wins (3 more in 1 season than Mayfield has in a 14 year career), 17 top 5’s, 22 top 10’s and was once again 6th in points. In fact, Mayfield has never placed higher in the points or won more races in a year than Newman has. Upon the semi retirement of Bill Elliot, Mayfield became the “premier” driver of EMS in less than two years and that was not enough for him.

In 2006, failing miserably, Mayfield was at a crossroads again. Since his “I’m so good and my team sucks” ploy was shown to be false by Ryan Newman taking over at Penske and blowing away the competition, Mayfield had to think of another; i.e. better excuse for his lack of performance on the track. Not being content in his failure to disrupt a team (Penske) Mayfield decided to disrupt the personal life of his owner, Ray Evernham. He (Mayfield) went public with was at the time the worst kept secret in racing; Evernham was having an affair with Erin Crocker, a development driver for EMS, and THAT was the reason Mayfield could not win as Evernham was not at the track. One would suppose low people will always take the low road.

So why did Haas hire this guy? There are many talented drivers, without the baggage and excuses that Mayfield is carrying around. Jeff Green may not have been the best driver that Haas could have hired, but he was head and shoulders above Mayfield. In a just world, Mayfield would be limited to driving the truck that hauled the garbage away from the tracks after a race, not a high powered car.

Questions, Comments;

Email Everett

The views and opinions in this article are that of the writer(s) and not necessarily that of SCR

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he will rethinking that before next year

I wonder how long it will take him to get fired from this team?

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I think Mayfield can be good if he finds the right team, positive thinking here

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You said it, I like your thinking, he was good in the 19 car he will be again.

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Ryan Newman, Daytona 500 Champion!!
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beg to differ with ya mrs... think mayfield doesn't know when to keep his mouth shut... less aerodynamic that way... maybe that is why he can't drive fast! catching too much wind... jeff green is a busch series champ... think he has the potential.. just needs a better team.. when he was with rcr.. rc just was not supporting the teams... just showing up . if ya know what i mean... when mayfield was with penske.. i think the team was the reason he did well, they still seem to have the potential to do well. sorry not much of a mayfield fan.. not that I approve of ray's improprieties, but it was none of jeremy's business to spout off...rusty jealous... hmmm nah just skeered of the young guys outclassing him... just like the receding hairline was scaring him! man o man you remember that fro he used to have! wow that was scary!

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Auto racing, bull fighting and mountain climbing are the only real sports... the rest are just games........ Earnest Hemmingway