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Mayfield says drug test turned up negative at a medical center

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

Published: July 22, 2009

CHARLOTTE - An independent drug test on Jeremy Mayfield was negative for methamphetamines, contradicting the results of a NASCAR test taken 40 minutes earlier, Mayfield said in court documents filed yesterday.

In response to NASCAR's statement that Mayfield again tested positive for methamphetamines on July 6, Mayfield submitted an affidavit to the U.S. District Court that said he had traveled to the Frye Regional Medical Center in Hickory, right after NASCAR had collected a sample at his home in Catawba County.

In a room he described as "very sterile," Mayfield said he emptied his pockets, washed his hands and was ushered into a bathroom, where he provided another urine sample.

Mayfield said in the court filing he received confirmation from Laboratory Corporation of America in Raleigh that his sample was negative on July 10 -- the same day NASCAR informed his counsel that its sample was positive.

He said the results of his test are "consistent with my lifestyle as I have not and do not use or abuse methamphetamines.

"It is impossible for methamphetamine to be in my body as I have never consumed that substance."

Dr. Harold Schueler of the Broward County (Fla.) Medical Examiner's Office, filed an affidavit on behalf of Mayfield that said the levels of methamphetamine in NASCAR's test are "astronomical" and "could not be remotely accurate, unless Mr. Mayfield was deceased or a chronic abuser."

The filing also denied accusations made last week by his estranged former stepmother, who said in her own affidavit she witnessed Mayfield use methamphetamines at least 30 times and that Mayfield cooked it himself until the ingredients became too hard to obtain. She also said she witnessed him use the drug at Darlington Raceway in 1999.

"I deny Lisa Mayfield's allegation that I used, cooked or purchased methamphetamines," Mayfield wrote. "Lisa Mayfield's assertion that I used methamphetamine just prior to the 1999 Darlington race is a lie. I finished second in the 1999 Darlington race."

There were two races at Darlington in 1999, and Mayfield finished second and third. Lisa Mayfield's affidavit, submitted last week by NASCAR, did not specify before which race she witnessed him using drugs.

Mayfield was suspended May 9 for failing a random drug test taken eight days earlier for what NASCAR has said was a positive test for methamphetamines. Mayfield sued, and a federal judge issued an injunction July 1 that lifted his suspension based on the argument that NASCAR's testing system is flawed.

NASCAR asked U.S. District Court Judge Graham Mullen last week to reverse the injunction based on new evidence -- the failed July 6 test and Lisa Mayfield's sworn testimony.

Mayfield's attorneys yesterday argued in their response that the July 6 test results -- positive or negative -- should not be taken into consideration because the case is about a failed May 1 test.

"This Court's preliminary injunction lifted a suspension for a drug test performed on May 1, 2009, the questionable circumstances surrounding which necessarily remain unchanged," they wrote.

Mayfield also disputed NASCAR's chronology of the July 6 testing sequence, in which the sanctioning body said he delayed giving a sample for more than seven hours.

Although Mayfield attorney John Buric has said Mayfield submitted to an independent test during that seven-hour span, the only test results mentioned in yesterday's filing are of the 9 p.m. trip to Frye Medical Center.

Buric did not immediately respond to a call and an e-mail from The Associated Press.

Mayfield said in his affidavit that he was at a lab waiting to be tested around 5 p.m. when NASCAR ordered him home to meet their collectors. His affidavit makes no mention of him actually giving a sample -- which Buric has said Mayfield was doing during the time NASCAR couldn't locate him for its own test.