Mayfield aiming for fourth straight top-10

LOUDON, N.H. -- Jeremy Mayfield feels he's on the verge of winning any one of the next four or five NASCAR Winston Cup races; including Sunday's New England 300 at New Hampshire International Speedway.

Jeremy Mayfield  Driver Page  2003 Stats  Merchandise

Mayfield is truly on a mini-rampage, managing a string of five consecutive top-15 finishes, including three top-10s in a row.

That contrasts sharply with the beginning of his season, which had only one top-18 finish in the first 13 races. Things got so bad Mayfield was the victim of some rumor mill rumblings that the Owensboro, Ky., driver and team owner Ray Evernham quickly dispelled.

"It seems like the last six or seven weeks we've kind of turned the corner," Mayfield said. "I think we had a career low at Charlotte when we got in a wreck in the Winston Open. That's about as low as I've ever been in my Winston Cup career.

New England 300  Lineup  Happy Hour Speeds  2nd Practice Speeds  1st Practice rained out

"We came back for the (Coca-Cola) 600 and thought we were going to be good again, and we got in a wreck there."

That could have been a watershed moment for the strongest of race teams. But given that Mayfield was 33rd in points after the Coke 600, it was a definite make-or-break point.

"When a lot of the rumors started and I was in the hot seat and I was going to be going to the 1 or 30 and all this stuff, Ray and I had a meeting," Mayfield said. "We sat down and decided it was in both of our interests to make it work and finish it out -- at least do all we could until the end of the contract.

	Mayfield is winless since 2000. Credit: Autostock

"He felt like he was going to give me the best equipment and do everything he could for me, and I felt like I was going to give him 110 percent like always.

"We said no matter what happens to us and no matter what they say, no matter what the rumors are out there, we're going to stick together and make it work. I feel like that was the turning point. We both trusted each other to make this thing work."

Mayfield has now finished 15th, 13th, 10th, eighth and 10th at a diverse group of race tracks that includes speedways at Pocono and Daytona, intermediate ovals at Michigan and Chicago and the Infineon road course.

	Mayfield didn't finish four of the first 12 races in 2003. Credit: Autostock

"It seemed like we woke up and everybody started pulling in the same direction," Mayfield said of the streak. "Nothing changed except everybody on our race team stuck together.

"Everybody on the team felt they could get the job done. It was just a matter of putting our heads together and doing it."

The result has been Mayfield raising himself to 25th in points. Mayfield thinks it bodes well for the rest of the season.

"When you go through times like that, I think it's going to make us a team to be reckoned with in the future," Mayfield said. "I'm real confident in that now.

"We understand what's making our team better, what's making our cars better -- I guess you could say it's brought our performance up where it needs to be.

"Right now we're going to focus on Loudon and come out of here with a top 15 or top 10 then go from there. That's been our goal."