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Sources: Mayfield tested positive for meth
AP Photo/Terry Renna
Jeremy Mayfield, left, and his attorney Bill Diehl, right, talk with reporters after meeting with NASCAR officials in Concord, N.C., Thursday, May 21, 2009. Mayfield might have to take legal action to get his suspension lifted. Diehl said the meeting was cordial but did not get them any closer to resolving the issue. Mayfield was suspended May 9 for failing a random drug test.
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Published: June 10, 2009
Jeremy Mayfield is reported to have tested positive for methamphetamine during a random drug screening at Richmond International Raceway, according to two published reports yesterday.
The Sporting News and ESPN The Magazine reported that NASCAR suspended Mayfield on May 9 after he failed a drug test on May 1. Mayfield said the positive test resulted from a combination of prescription Adderall-XR and over-the-counter Claritin-D, which he took for allergies.
The Sporting News has not confirmed the ESPN The Magazine report The story was also reported on NASCAR's Web site.
On Monday, ESPN The Magazine's Ryan McGee reported that his sources said that the unidentified drug was methamphetamine.
A third drug came up positive during the urine-based Richmond test and had not been previously identified. The name of the drug in question has been redacted from court documents and was not specified by either Mayfield or NASCAR because of the conditions of a May 29 gag order issued by Mecklenburg Superior Court, according to the publications.
The magazines learned from sources that the unidentified drug was methamphetamine. Neither NASCAR nor Mayfield is allowed to comment because of the gag order.
Mayfield's attorneys said that it was a false-positive test reading, triggered by either a mixture of the two acknowledged drugs ingested or by poorly executed testing procedures.
NASCAR countersued Mayfield and accused him of willfully violating its substance-abuse policy, breach of contract and fraud and said that his failed drug test shouldn't be overturned.
On May 15, NASCAR chairman Brian France used the words "serious infraction" in describing the failed drug test and said that the third drug came from within the categories of "performance-enhancing or recreational."
In a countersuit filed by NASCAR in U.S. District Court on June 5, NASCAR cited the side effects of the redacted drug as "excessive aggression or exaggerated self-confidence as well as numerous other physical and mental side-effects detrimental to the health and safety of a stock-car driver."
After the May 1 drug test, Mayfield drove his Toyota Camry to a 31st-place finish at Richmond the next night, completing 371 of the race's 400 laps. As part of the drug-testing procedure, he was asked to reveal any medications he was taking in order to avoid confusion during the analysis.
Mayfield said he informed the on-site testing administrator that he had taken two doses of Claritin-D within a short period of time before the test.
On May 3, Mayfield talked with Dr. David Black, the head of AEGIS, the company that handles NASCAR's drug testing, to inform him of the Adderall-XR prescription. According to the lawsuit filed by Mayfield against NASCAR and AEGIS, Black "expressed doubt that someone of Mayfield's age and experience legitimately needed to take Adderall."
Mayfield's attorneys said that Black's reaction was unnecessary bias that could have tainted the testing procedure.
Because Adderall allows people to "hyperfocus" and continue to participate and concentrate on heavy physical and mental activity for long periods of time, it has been listed as a performance-enhancing drug in much of the sports world, including the NCAA, MLB and the Olympics governing bodies. NASCAR's list of banned substances has not been released publicly.
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