Tuesday, January 4, 2011

Judge won't allow Mayfield to pursue black-flag charges

Behold the face of career wreckage, of promise laid low, of high hopes dashed against the harsh rocks of reality.

But enough about Rob Schneider, David Spade and that Napoleon Dynamite kid. Let's talk about Jeremy Mayfield.

As you know, Mayfield has spent much more time in the courtroom than on the track in recent months, with a litany of bizarre allegations, charges and countercharges that include everything from drug use to, if not "murder" per se, something very close to it.

One of the many tendrils of the Mayfield affair has been Mayfield's charge that NASCAR Chairman Brian France black-flagged him at the 2006 Brickyard 400. But Mayfield's allegations did not have enough merit to warrant reopening a lawsuit against NASCAR, according to U.S. District Court Judge Graham Mullen.

Mayfield had asked the judge to reconsider a ruling he made last May dismissing all of his claims against NASCAR. At that time, the judge had determined that Mayfield had signed waivers allowing him to compete, and that there was insufficient evidence to support his charges that NASCAR had wrongly charged a positive test for meth.

Later in 2010, Mayfield said that former in-laws of France's indicated France ordered Mayfield black-flagged. France produced travel records indicating that he wasn't even in the company of said former in-laws on the day of that race.

In addition, the judge pointed out that Mayfield had sued former owner Ray Evernham (pictured above in that mess) in 2006 for firing him after that race, and at the time, there was no discussion of NASCAR black-flagging him rather than the team simply parking the car. Evernham indicated that Mayfield was then fired after making comments about Evernham not being at the track and having a "close personal relationship" with driver Erin Crocker (who's also pictured above. Wow!). 

It's fading from memory now, but Mayfield was actually a pretty solid racer in his day, starting 433 Sprint Cup-level races and totaling five victories and two Chase appearances. His most recent race was the spring race at Richmond in 2009, where he started 38th and finished 35th. 

Oh, for the record, the final two people in that photo above, Kasey Kahne and Scott Riggs, have nothing whatsoever to do with this story.

Leslie Bega Maria Sharapova Lindsay Price Zoe Saldana Rachel Perry

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