Mayfield on roll with second third-place finish
By Tim Packman, Turner Sports Interactive
March 26, 2001
11:29 AM EST (1629 GMT)
BRISTOL, Tenn - It's only six events into the 36-race season and Jeremy Mayfield has already experienced his share of ups and downs.
 | |
Jeremy Mayfield has 3 career victories in 215 starts.
|
|
|
His third-place finish in Sunday's Food City 500 at this high-banked concrete oval made it two events in a row he's posted a top-five. The driver of the No. 12 Ford would rather keep on this upward momentum than suffer anymore downs.
Consistency is a major component of a championship-caliber season, and of remaining in contention. If there's one thing that the driver of the No. 12 Ford could use, it is consistency.
He has proven he's a winner with three career victories, 30 top-fives and 54 top-10s in 215 starts.
He's also won the Bud Pole Award six times. This season, he's been up and down the results map, but appears to be on an upswing.
A quick look at his early-season stats shows an admirable ninth at Daytona, a deplorable 38th at Rockingham, a despicable 42nd at Las Vegas and more despair at Atlanta with a 38th-place finish. That's consistency alright, but in the wrong direction.
Through the last two events, the Owensboro, Kentucky, native has started to make a vast improvement in finishes and the points standings.
His Darlington performance vaulted him from 40th to 28th in the all important points. Sunday's finish moved him up six more spots to 22nd.
Starting 31st at Bristol forced him to pit on the backstretch and caused the team to struggle during the race. But, a two-tire gamble late in the race solidified his third-place finish.
 | |
For Jeremy Mayfield the goal is not to finish well, but to keep finishing well.
|
|
|
"That's what we needed," he said. "We had a good car and we were real good all day. We came in and took two, but pitting on the backstretch slowed us down a little bit. We're happy with third though."
Hopefully, the momentum of the last two events will be just what the doctor ordered for the ailing that comes from the downs of his season.
"This is almost like a win to us," he said. "We had a third last week, and a third this week, so this is a good turnaround for us."
| 
