Nascar Blog

It has been revealed by ESPN the magazine that two sources of theirs has said that Jeremy Mayfield had tested positive for methamphetamine, otherwise known as meth, during his random drug test at Richmond International Raceway. Originally, Mayfield had told the onsite testing personnel that he had taken two doses of Claritin-D and had called later, on May 3rd, to let them know that he had also taken Adderall-XR that had been prescribed to him by his doctor for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder or ADHD.

No one is allowed to say for sure whether he tested positive for meth as of yet because of the court filings, so it is unlikely that we will hear anything from Nascar or Mayfield on the subject for awhile. I myself have known people who have taken meth, a lot of meth, as it is addictive, and it certainly takes a tole on the body, had he been doing it for very long then you would’ve been able to tell just by looking at him. The people I have known end up with rotting teeth, sores on their faces and probably all kinds of other stuff they would never admit too. So, if Jeremy has taken it at all, I would say it wasn’t for very long or very much.

Adderall I have heard more about in the sports world, being an amphetamine, players are taking it to get an edge, I imagine it would be a big help to one driving a race car in circles for three hours as it would help with their concentration. In the ESPN article they offer this quote from a doctor at AEGIS,

On May 3, Mayfield talked with Dr. David Black of AEGIS 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.” Source: Sources: Meth triggered positive test

There was a story in Newsweek about Baseball players using the ADD diagnosis to avoid the amphetamine ban, which would allow them to take Adderall, Ritalin and other drugs, and that the number of players diagnosed in one year had jumped from 28 to 103.

As Major League Baseball begins to dig out from its steroids scandal, new kinds of performance-enhancing substances are sweeping big-league clubhouses: Ritalin, Adderall and other drugs designed to help with Attention-Deficit Disorder. According to records MLB officials turned over to congressional investigators as part of George Mitchell’s probe into steroid use in baseball, the number of players getting “therapeutic use exemptions” from baseball’s amphetamines ban jumped in one year from 28 to 103—which means that, suddenly, 7.6 percent of the 1,354 players on major-league rosters had been diagnosed with ADD. Source: Baseball’s Other Drug Problem

So, whether Mayfield is taking meth or not, I wouldn’t be surprised if the same thing wasn’t happening here and in other sports as far as being diagnosed with ADD or ADHD, Adderall definitely helps with concentration and gives you plenty of energy, hell, everybody could use some I bet, we are a nation that’s sleeping less and less so we can get things done. I could use a prescription myself, hehe, but, should athletes be allowed to use any kind of performance enhancing drug? I don’t think so.

Looked like Tony Stewart might get his first win on Sunday, but a hard charging Jimmie Johnson had a different ending in mind.

Jimmie Johnson won the Autism Speaks 400 at Dover International Speedway this past Sunday and even though he dominated most of the race, a bad pit stop forced him to restart in eighth and race his way past Greg Biffle, Matt Kenseth, Tony Stewart and others to take the lead with only a couple or three laps to go. I wasn’t really rooting for anyone at the end, but it was some good racing, Jimmie was coming like a rocket ship and Tony kept trying to keep him out of his groove to slow his momentum, but there was only so much Tony could do. Once Jimmie was past him, there was no way Tony was going to catch him to lay the bumper on him, so it was all over but the celebrating.

Tony did take the points lead from Jeff Gordon, who finished in 26th a couple laps down, but the points lead doesn’t really matter anymore, Gordon has dominated all year long during the chase before and still not won the championship. All Gordon needs to do now is win more races and get some bonus points to start off good in the chase and keep running good the rest of the way. Of course, that’s all everyone needs to do and it’s always easier said than done.

After the big story this past week of Dale Earnhardt Jr. being separated from his cousin Tony Eury Jr., they managed a respectable 12th place finish, but I believe Dale averages at least a mid pack finish at this track, and he has 7 out of 18 top tens here with one win, so there’s nothing for Jr. nation to celebrate about yet. There was also mention of a little conversation between Dale and Kyle Busch because Kyle had told the media Dale’s problems never seem to be his, always the crew chief. No one knows what they said to each other, but I bet Dale would clean his clock if Kyle got too mouthy with him.

Here is how they finished:

1 8 48 Jimmie Johnson Chevrolet Lowe’s / Kobalt Tools 195/10 400 Running
2 31 14 Tony Stewart Chevrolet Office Depot / Old Spice 175/5 400 Running
3 5 16 Greg Biffle Ford 3M Nexcare 170/5 400 Running
4 14 17 Matt Kenseth Ford Dewalt 165/5 400 Running
5 19 2 Kurt Busch Dodge Miller Lite 155/0 400 Running
6 2 9 Kasey Kahne Dodge Budweiser 150/0 400 Running
7 13 99 Carl Edwards Ford Aflac 151/5 400 Running
8 11 39 Ryan Newman Chevrolet U.S. Army 142/0 400 Running
9 17 07 Casey Mears Chevrolet Jack Daniel’s 138/0 400 Running
10 28 5 Mark Martin Chevrolet Kellogg’s / Carquest 139/5 400 Running
11 25 33 Clint Bowyer Chevrolet The Hartford 130/0 400 Running
12 22 88 Dale Earnhardt Jr. Chevrolet Amp Energy / National Guard 127/0 400 Running
13 12 77 Sam Hornish Jr. Dodge Mobil 1 124/0 400 Running
14 18 26 Jamie McMurray Ford Crown Royal 121/0 400 Running
15 21 20 Joey Logano Toyota The Home Depot 118/0 400 Running
16 32 31 Jeff Burton Chevrolet Caterpillar 115/0 400 Running
17 35 29 Kevin Harvick Chevrolet Shell / Pennzoil 112/0 400 Running
18 1 00 David Reutimann Toyota Aaron’s Dream Machine 114/5 400 Running
19 4 43 Reed Sorenson Dodge U.S. Air Force 111/5 400 Running
20 20 47 Marcos Ambrose Toyota RaceSavers.com 103/0 400 Running
21 15 1 Martin Truex Jr. Chevrolet Bass Pro Shops / Tracker 100/0 399 Running
22 33 78 Regan Smith Chevrolet Furniture Row Companies 97/0 399 Running
23 6 18 Kyle Busch Toyota M&M’s 94/0 399 Running
24 26 6 David Ragan Ford UPS 91/0 399 Running
25 9 83 Brian Vickers Toyota Red Bull 88/0 399 Running
26 42 24 Jeff Gordon Chevrolet DuPont 85/0 398 Running
27 10 19 Elliott Sadler Dodge Stanley Tools 87/5 398 Running
28 27 96 Bobby Labonte Ford Ask.com / AutismSpeaks.com 79/0 397 Running
29 7 44 A.J. Allmendinger Dodge Auto Value / Bumper to Bumper 76/0 396 Running
30 3 42 Juan Montoya Chevrolet Target 78/5 395 Running
31 30 12 David Stremme Dodge Penske Racing 70/0 370 Accident
32 36 98 Paul Menard Ford Pittsburgh Paints / Menards 67/0 363 Running
33 40 7 Robby Gordon Toyota Richmond Water Heaters 64/0 282 Accident
34 43 34 John Andretti Chevrolet Taco Bell 61/0 253 Accident
35 29 55 Michael Waltrip Toyota NAPA 58/0 250 Engine
36 16 11 Denny Hamlin Toyota FedEx Office 55/0 232 Accident
37 23 82 Scott Speed Toyota Red Bull 52/0 118 Engine
38 38 187 Joe Nemechek Toyota G.P.’s Enterprises / Huckleberry’s BBQ / LubePro’s 49/0 67 Drive Shaft
39 39 66 Dave Blaney Toyota Prism Motorsports 46/0 66 Transmission
40 37 09 Mike Bliss Dodge Phoenix Racing 43/0 56 Electrical
41 34 36 Mike Skinner Toyota Tommy Baldwin Racing 40/0 51 Engine
42 41 37 Tony Raines Chevrolet Long John Silver’s 37/0 42 Accident
43 24 171 David Gilliland Chevrolet CompUSA 39/5 38 Engine

And here are the current chase for the cup point standings:
1. +1 Tony Stewart 1,853 —
2. -1 Jeff Gordon 1,807 -46
3. +1 Jimmie Johnson 1,789 -64
4. -1 Kurt Busch 1,762 -91
5. +2 Ryan Newman 1,680 -173
6. — Kyle Busch 1,634 -219
7. -2 Denny Hamlin 1,630 -223
8. +1 Matt Kenseth 1,625 -228
9. +1 Greg Biffle 1,618 -235
10. -2 Jeff Burton 1,587 -266
11. — Carl Edwards 1,582 -271
12. — Mark Martin 1,567 -286

Here are the videos from the All Star Showdown and the All Star race from Lowe’s Motor Speedway in Charlotte. This one I’m sure will be popular.

Here are the uploaded videos covering the Southern 500 from Darlington.

Sorry for the late postings, little league has been keeping me busy.

Was it just me and my friends who watched the Darlington race that thought that Nascar was throwing the caution flags a lot differently than normal? How many times did we see a car hit the wall, that at any other race would’ve immediately called for the caution flag, and keep on going without Nascar throwing the flag? The only reason they wound up throwing so many was because of debris or the cars that hit the wall were wrecking of had tires coming apart.

It was obvious to us that they definitely were calling the race differently and I believe the announcers and even some of the drivers were wondering what was going on. If Nascar is going to have different rules for different tracks, they should probably let everyone know before hand, I know I would appreciate it. I will try to find some videos and post them below when I do.

Here are all of the uploaded videos from the Crown Royal presents the Russ Friedman 400 and the Lipton Tea 250 at Richmond International Raceway.

Here are some of the uploaded videos from the spring running of the Aarons 499 at Talladega Superspeedway.

As I said on Twitter yesterday, you either have a good day or a bad day at Talladega, and Jeff Gordon, Mark Martin and others were involved in a big early wreck Sunday, bringing an early end to many drivers day. Check out the video:

This, of course, is one of the reasons that there are many first time winners at Talladega, and Brad Keselowski has joined that list. When the big one happens, there are always drivers who are favorites to win the race that get put out, Jeff Gordon, Mark Martin, Kevin Harvick and others, allowing the drivers who don’t win as much, a shot at the title. The very first race at Talladega, Richard Petty and other didn’t think the tires could take the track and wanted to skip that race and Nascar let them allowing Richard Brickhouse to get the win.

Here is a shot of the other big one from Talladega Sunday.

Of course we can’t forget the big finish in which Carl Edwards and Brad Keselowski drove past Ryan Newman and Dale Earnhardt Jr. to take first and second. Brad tried to go high, Carl blocked, he went low and got the position on him and he tried to block him again, spinning Edwards, who then flipped over the hood of Ryan Newman sending him flying into the safety fence where 7 or 8 fans were injured. I really hate the fact that anyone got hurt, but it was one heck of a finish. Carl Edwards climbed out of his car and jogged across the finish line ala Talladega Nights.

Nascar is thinking about passing out penalties for aggressive driving and blocking after Sunday’s events, saying, “We might have to start making some judgment calls of our own and issue penalties for drivers who blatantly block and abuse the bump drafting. We’re going to take whatever measures we need to in order to ensure the races are as safe as possible for everyone.” I wouldn’t mind seeing them try to do something about the blocking, but, aggressive driving is an exciting part of Nascar.

Just when you think Nascar is getting boring and predictable, you get an exciting race such as this one.
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Here’s the video from the Matt Kenseth crash in the Aaron’s 312 at Talladega Super speedway.

And here’s a video that was uploaded of some of the best crashes and wrecks at Talladega motor speedway.

Yesterday, Nascar announced that they have penalized Dale Earnhardt Jr and Casey Mears for their extra curricular activities after the Subway 500 Saturday night. Casey Mears caused Dale Earnhardt Jr. to spin out, there was definitely some contact, but, as you can see in the video below, Jr. was loose well before that. Still, Dale was upset with him and spun Casey out on the cool down lap, and Casey then drove around some cars to show Dale his displeasure with him.

Nascar has placed both of them on probation for six races beginning this weekend in Talladega, for violating Section 12-4-A (actions detrimental to stock-car racing; hitting another competitor’s car after the race had concluded) of the 2009 NASCAR rule book. We know Dale won’t do anything there as he is always one of the top threats to win there and will certainly not want to take any chances on being removed from the race.