No announcement made on new driver; Elliott running at Glen
By Josh Pate, NASCAR.COM
August 11, 2006
10:44 AM EDT (14:44 GMT)
WATKINS GLEN, N.Y. -- Jeremy Mayfield has been released from Evernham Motorsports, team owner Ray Evernham said Friday at Watkins Glen International.
"He has been terminated, and I honestly don't want to discuss the terms with that," Evernham said.
Mayfield was replaced for this weekend's race by former Cup champion Bill Elliott on Tuesday. When contacted by NASCAR.COM, Mayfield said he knew nothing of the driver change.
Evernham, however, said his team contacted Mayfield Motorsports' agent on Monday and began the discussions.
Now Mayfield is out of the car for good, a move that was speculated last month at Chicagoland when the driver aired concerns about how the owner had not done anything to help his struggling team.
"When the performance is not up to par, it's frustrating on both sides," Evernham said Friday. "The decision was made because of the performance of the car. There was certainly frustration, and we weren't pleased with some of the comments that were made. But in no way was that the reason for the change."
There was no immediate announcement of a full-time driver in the No. 19 Dodge, although it has been speculated that Elliott Sadler will likely move to the car. Whether that will happen before the end of the season is unknown for sure, Evernham said.
"The decision to make a change in the 19 had nothing to do with whether [a driver change] could or could not happen," Evernham said. "It would make the most sense if we could do that, for sure."
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Attorneys for Evernham, Mayfield reach agreement late Friday
By Reid Spencer, Sporting News NASCAR Wire Service
August 12, 2006
08:59 AM EDT (12:59 GMT)
WATKINS GLEN, N.Y. -- All in the space of a day, owner Ray Evernham declared driver Jeremy Mayfield had been terminated, Mayfield sought a preliminary injunction against his firing, and the parties apparently reached a resolution.
At a brief meeting with the press before Nextel Cup practice Friday morning, Ray Evernham confirmed that Mayfield, driver of the No. 19 Evernham Motorsports Dodge, had been released.
"Jeremy Mayfield has been terminated," Evernham said.
But Mayfield refused to go quietly. Within hours of Evernham's announcement, Mayfield's attorneys were in Iredell County Superior Court in Statesville, N.C., seeking the preliminary injunction.
Superior Court judge Kimberly Taylor heard the petition, but the results of the hearing were not released, pending the signing of the order by the judge. Attorneys for the parties met with the judge late Friday afternoon and apparently agreed to settle the case.
"The matter has been resolved," said Theresa Hayden, Judge Taylor's clerk, indicating that the case would be settled out of court.
The settlement does not mean Mayfield will return to the car.
Evernham had announced Monday that Bill Elliott would replace Mayfield in the AMD at The Glen this weekend, after the No. 19 had slipped to 36th in owner points -- the danger zone for drivers -- as only the top 35 in owner points are guaranteed a starting spot in Cup races.
As a past series champion, Elliott normally would have a provisional starting spot for any race he participates in. Elliott made the provisional talk a moot point, as he qualified 31st for Sunday's race.
Mayfield, who had one year and two option years left on his contract with Evernham, was not available for comment. Mayfield told NASCAR.COM through his wife, Shana, that he could not talk about the situation at this time because of legal reasons.
Evernham declined comment on the legal proceedings until the attorneys worked out precise language of the settlement.
Earlier in the day, Evernham cited performance issues as the reason for Mayfield's firing.
"It really wasn't between me and Jeremy -- it was about the performance of the racecar," Evernham said. "The 19 car hasn't been performing like it should be. It's pretty far off of where other cars are, and we've tried everything we could try to get the performance up.
"We've tried lots of different things, and it's out of the top 35 in points, so we brought in Bill to help us get the car in the show and help us figure out what we've got to do to get the performance up."
Elliott has two races left on a five-race commitment to drive the No. 00 Chevrolet owned by Michael Waltrip, which prevents Elliott from taking over the No. 19 ride for the remainder of this season's races.
"We're going to play it week by week and find out where Bill's at," Evernham said. "It's just great to have Bill come back and help us out.
"Again, everything else will be determined on a week-by-week basis, determining what Bill's commitments are with other people and where we're going to go. Right now we're worried about Sunday."
Mayfield's termination is likely to be the first domino to fall in a succession of changes that could bring Elliott Sadler to the No. 19 and Busch Series driver David Gilliland to Robert Yates' No. 38 Ford, which Sadler is vacating at season's end, if not before.
Evernham would not confirm Sadler as Mayfield's replacement, but indicated that his 2007 plans for the No. 19 are in place. Ideally, Evernham would like to finish the year with the driver who will take over the No. 19 next season.
"That would be the perfect scenario, but that's not up to us," Evernham said. "So we're not going to plan on that. We're going to plan on the options that I can control, obviously with Bill and some other drivers. If the 2007 driver were available, that would be the best option, but I've not been told that's available to me." Sam Spencer contributed to this report.
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Ray fires Mayfield after he's in the chase the last 2 yrs? Weird. I thought it was a mutual agreement, I didn't know Mr. Ray terminated Jeremy. I agree w/you 20fan4life, that sucks for Mayfield. Hope he finds a better ride and wins a race this year.
Mayfield the loser in bitter Evernham split
/ Associated Press
Posted: 6 hours ago
CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) - The split between Jeremy Mayfield and car owner Ray Evernham was both ugly and overdue.
Their four-year relationship ended last week in an Iredell County courtroom, with Mayfield fighting over the final details of his severance after Evernham kicked him out of the No. 19 Dodge.
That it took a detour through the judicial system wasn't a surprise. The shocker was that it took this long.
Despite a pair of wins and two berths in the Chase for the championship, Mayfield has been miserable all season. He was mad that Evernham's expansion from two cars to three required moving key personnel from Mayfield's team into new roles and he went public with his displeasure a mere two months into the season.
That infuriated Evernham, who claimed Mayfield didn't bring his concerns to the boss first but promised he'd try to make things better.
When it didn't happen, the frustration simmered into the dog days of summer. Mayfield was mired in the very back of the Nextel Cup standings, while babyfaced teammate Kasey Kahne had four wins and a solid hold as Evernham's top driver.
And as Evernham devoted more and more time to protege Erin Crocker, Mayfield finally exploded last month in Chicago with a critical rant that took several jabs at his absentee boss.
"I haven't talked to Ray much," Mayfield said, taking pains to point out Evernham's absence at the track that day.
"We don't see Ray much. He encourages us when he is around, but we haven't seen him much lately. He used to be on top of stuff like this pretty hot and heavy, and he's letting it take its course, I guess."
Evernham had been with Crocker at an ARCA race that day, but rushed back to Chicago to deal with his disgruntled driver. Sitting side-by-side during a hastily called news conference, Mayfield backed off his remarks.
"The problem isn't Ray," he said. "It's not about one person. If you think it's about Ray, we're all (kidding) ourselves. I want to clear it all up right now that it's not one person."
But that awkward 15 minutes together hardly cleared the air. Evernham was seething inside, furious that Mayfield had taken a cheap shot at him through the media. It was clear that day that it was over between the two, and whether they could make it to the end of the season was the only lingering question.
Mayfield was muzzled from that moment on, shadowed by a team representative who took pains to prevent Mayfield from discussing anything other than on-track activity. But Mayfield was no fool, and played every angle he could.
He said all the right things in public, but privately promoted a "Where's Ray?" T-shirt that had been popping up around the garage. And he snuck in little remarks, such as his "I doubt I'm staying" declaration after his qualifying lap in Indianapolis two weeks ago.
Those four little words were just enough for Mayfield, who knew his on-guard team representative wouldn't permit him to say anything more.
Mayfield wanted out - despite a contract that ran through 2007 and had two option years beyond that - and he was going to do everything in his power to make it happen.
He got his wish last week when Evernham yanked him out of the car in favor of Bill Elliott. The move was convenient because Mayfield had dropped to 36th in the points, the first position not promised a spot in the starting field, and putting Elliott in the car for the road course race at Watkins Glen gave him a better shot at making the race.
It also bought Evernham some time to figure out how to sever ties with Mayfield, whose level of displeasure had snowballed from a minor headache into a major migraine. The two sides finally reached an agreement Friday, freeing both of them once and for all from their miserable coexistence.
But once the dust settles, it will become clear that Mayfield walked away from the best team that will have him and Evernham is the clear winner in this fight.
Mayfield should have considered himself lucky to have been with Evernham, who hired him even though Mayfield had just flamed out with powerful car owner Roger Penske. And although Mayfield made the Chase with Evernham, he was never a contender for the title.
He finished last in the field in 2004, and avoided a repeat last season only because Kurt Busch didn't compete in the final two events of the year - allowing Mayfield to move up to ninth in the final standings.
A 37-year-old Southern boy from Kentucky, Mayfield doesn't meet any of the "Young Gun" criteria car owners want these days. He may get a chance to finish the season with Robert Yates Racing, but that team will head into 2007 in a total rebuilding mode. Michael Waltrip no longer wants him for his startup organization, leaving a seat with also-ran Bill Davis Racing as his likely best offer.
Evernham, meanwhile, still has a career to build with Kahne and a dependable third driver in Scott Riggs. He's still focusing a ton of time on Crocker - and in Mayfield's defense, it probably is too much time - but he's hoping to break barriers by putting her in a Cup car in the next few years.
And he'll probably replace Mayfield with Elliott Sadler, who overrides his lack of on-track success with a tremendous off-track personality.
So Evernham will go on to win races, make millions of dollars and continue to be a central figure in NASCAR.
Mayfield, however, likely will wind up where he already is: Stuck in the back of the field.
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Very good thread WV! Very informative. I had been out of the racing news for the past 10 days or so and your thread brought me up to date with what was happening! All I had heard was that Mayfield had been fired. In my opinion it seems that Mayfield was being punished for having the gumption to voice his honest opinion. I have always liked Mayfield, not a huge fan, but he is a good driver and a decent fellow. All of this makes me like him all the more. You have to respect the fact that he was frustrated and felt he had few options but to make his point known. I think that all of this is sour grapes on the part of Evernham. He let the 19 crew sink, then made Mayfield the scape goat. I sure have lost a lot of respect for Evernham by all of this. His focus this season has been only on Kahne and Crocker, leaving the 19 and 10 teams to more or less fend for themselves. I sure do hope that if Sadler takes over the 19 car that he is treated better, and that Riggs is too! I also hope that Mayfield goes on to do well and makes Evernham regret his bad decision!
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Ousted driver expected to finish season with Evernham Motorsports
By David Newton, NASCAR.COM
August 15, 2006
02:40 PM EDT (18:40 GMT)
Much legal maneuvering has taken place the past two weeks to get Jeremy Mayfield out of the No. 19 Dodge at Evernham Motorsports and Elliott Sadler into it for Sunday's Nextel Cup race at Michigan International Speedway.
But the real maneuvering began more than three months ago.
That, Mayfield said, is when owner Ray Evernham suggested that he begin looking at options with other teams for the 2007 season.
"I knew then the writing was on the wall,'' Mayfield told NASCAR.COM on Tuesday. "We weren't running good, we weren't making changes on the team, and the owner says, 'If you want to, you can start looking.'
"That told me all I needed to know, so I did just that.''
Mayfield eventually struck a soon-to-be-announced deal that will land him in the new Toyota team of Bill Davis Racing next season. Sadler got his release from Robert Yates Racing that freed him to replace Mayfield.
The only surprise to Mayfield was that the changes occurred last week, when he was fired before Sunday's race at Watkins Glen International. Until then, Mayfield fully expected to finish out the season with EMS.
"It sucked pretty much,'' Mayfield said of sitting out Sunday's race. "It's something that nobody wants do, to sit home while races are going on. I guess Ray felt he had to do that and I have to live with it. It's part of it.
"It's not what I wanted to do, but something I had to do.''
Mayfield said he also didn't want to take Evernham to court last week, but was left with no choice when his boss since 2002 refused to pay him for the remainder of this season.
"That's what he wanted to do initially ... pay me nothing,'' said Mayfield, whose contract actually ran through next season with options for the following two years.
"It shouldn't have gotten to that point. He should have called me and said, 'Hey, we're going to do something different. How can we work things out?' That's not the way things happen. As a matter of fact, I still haven't talked to Ray myself.''
Mayfield said all his discussions with EMS have been through his business manager. While he would have appreciated a call from Evernham, who has insisted he and Mayfield are good friends throughout this process, he said there are no hard feelings.
And he doesn't blame Evernham for switching to Sadler now with the No. 19 out of the top 35 in owners' points guaranteed a spot in the field each week.
An official announcement on Sadler moving to the 19 and David Gilliland replacing Sadler in the No. 38 at RYR is expected as soon as legal details are complete.
"That is totally what I would do if I owned a team,'' Mayfield said. "I mean this, Ray Evernham was a good friend of mine and I don't know what happened. I hated that it happened.''
Mayfield had discussions with Doug Yates, the co-owner or RYR, about replacing Sadler at Michigan where he recorded his only win of 2005. He said RYR opted to move forward with Gilliland, who has been approved by NASCAR to drive in every race except Talladega Superspeedway.
"That's what I wanted to do so bad just to have a little fun with this,'' Mayfield said of the musical chairs. "It would have been real cool if I could have driven for them this week with Elliott in the 19.
"Obviously, they want to get started on their future and I can't blame them for that.''
Mayfield's biggest concern through the process has been reports that he's run poorly on purpose and trash-talked his owner with the hope of getting fired so he could sign with another team.
That came to a head in Chicago, where Mayfield seemingly questioned Evernham's commitment when asked why his owner was at the Truck Series race with developmental driver Erin Crocker instead of there helping turn his Cup team around.
Evernham flew to Chicago the next day and held a news conference with Mayfield as a show of support.
"I wasn't trying to get Ray to release me from my contract,'' Mayfield said. "He'd already given me that opportunity months ago, saying that if we wanted to go out and pursue other options, we could.
"But we were always going to fix the 19 and finish the year out. Then Sadler became available and they felt it would be better to put him in the car and get ready for next year.''
Mayfield said the frustration with the 19 team began last season when he struggled after making the Chase for the Nextel Cup for the second consecutive season.
Crew chief Richard "Slugger'' Labbe was replaced at the start of the Chase by Chris Andrews. Then during the offseason team director Kenny Francis and the rest of Mayfield's crew were moved to the No. 9 of teammate Kasey Kahne.
Evernham said last week that Mayfield signed off on the changes. Mayfield said it wasn't exactly that way.
"I never got asked, 'Hey, who do you want for a crew chief?' '' Mayfield said. "It was pretty much we're going to put Chris over there and move Kenny to the 9.
"You're in a situation where you don't have any say so at all, anyway, about the cars, people or nothing. Then they tell you they're going to make a change, what good would it have done to say anything about it?''
Evernham also said last week that Labbe asked to be assigned to another driver before the Chase, and when that wasn't done Labbe and EMS split by mutual agreement.
Mayfield took offense to that comment, reminding Labbe recently was fired from his role at Dale Jarrett's crew chief at RYR.
"Where's he at now?'' Mayfield said. "He was blaming Dale Jarrett, too. It really ticked me off. Slugger doesn't have room to talk about nothing to nobody. Life goes on. I'm going to move forward.
"I'm so excited about next year. There's a fire in me burning right now that ain't nobody ever seen. We are going to be good.''
Mayfield hopes to be in another car before the season's end, perhaps by Bristol next weekend. He's had talks with several owners, including Bill Davis, about a ride for the rest of the season.
"I was hoping to have something for Michigan,'' said Mayfield, a five-time winner in Cup. "That's pretty much where things changed for me. I won the race last year and I'm not even going to be there this year.
"It's pretty [messed] up.''
Still, Mayfield is excited about his future and the future of Bill Davis Racing with the support of Toyota.
"I've got a good feeling,'' said Mayfield, who can't go into specifics until his new deal is announced.
Mayfield likes the thought of going to an organization where he'll be considered the so-called top driver with Dave Blaney as the second driver. That never was the case at EMS, where he always was the "other driver.''
"I always did to the 9 car, whether it was Bill Elliott or Kasey in there,'' he said. "But if felt good making the Chase the past two years knowing that I was the only [Evernham] driver to make it.''
Mayfield's only regret is that he won't get an opportunity to turn the 19 team around before moving on.
"Looking back now, I wish it would have worked out where we were running good and none of this had come about,'' he said. "At one point, I thought [EMS] is where I was going to retire. I didn't want to move again.
"But when you're running bad, running bad and running bad, and all of a sudden you get told if you want to look around you can ... what do you do now? You start looking.''
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I had been out of the racing news for the past 10 days or so and your thread brought me up to date with what was happening! All I had heard was that Mayfield had been fired. In my opinion it seems that Mayfield was being punished for having the gumption to voice his honest opinion. I have always liked Mayfield, not a huge fan, but he is a good driver and a decent fellow. All of this makes me like him all the more. You have to respect the fact that he was frustrated and felt he had few options but to make his point known. I think that all of this is sour grapes on the part of Evernham. He let the 19 crew sink, then made Mayfield the scape goat. I sure have lost a lot of respect for Evernham by all of this. His focus this season has been only on Kahne and Crocker, leaving the 19 and 10 teams to more or less fend for themselves. I sure do hope that if Sadler takes over the 19 car that he is treated better, and that Riggs is too! I also hope that Mayfield goes on to do well and makes Evernham regret his bad decision!
Mayfield knew 'the writing was on the wall'
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