Jeremy Mayfield's crew pushes the No. 19 Dodge back to the garage area after the crash Sunday at Talladega. Credit: Autostock

Second Chase crash puts Mayfield in big hole

Talladega accident puts Dodge driver 280 points behind

TALLADEGA, Ala. -- Three measly points.

That's all Jeremy Mayfield's Evernham Motorsports team gained from more than a half-hour of back-breaking work.

VIDEO Victory Lane Dale Jr. takes the points lead with a win at Talladega Top Finishers Gordon, Sadler, Kenseth, Jarrett on their performances Wild Finish Crashes and a comeback by Dale Jr. in the final laps Late Caution B. Labonte and Marlin wreck during a dash for pit road Early Exit Jimmie Johnson scores a DNF in the EA Sports 500 Multi-car Wreck Mayfield takes another blow in his pursuit of a title

Mayfield barely limped into the Talladega Superspeedway garage after a Lap-142 crash with Jimmy Spencer, Bobby Hamilton Jr., Jeff Green and Hermie Sadler. His crew had to push the car most of the way, as the No. 19 Dodge was without power -- and most of its front end.

But crew chief Kenny Francis and the team went to work, cutting away crumpled sheet metal and damaged suspension pieces under the hot Alabama sun.

Mayfield sat in the car while his crew scrambled to fix the heavy damage, conducting disappointment-filled interviews with television and radio.

The car made five more laps before Mayfield returned to the garage for good, finishing 38th.

Was it worth it? After all, Mayfield's second accident in three Chase for the Nextel Cup races has left him 10th, 280 out of the lead and 108 behind ninth-place Jimmie Johnson.

Of course it was worth it.

"We knew we'd get one spot if we could just got back out there," Francis said. "We're here, so we might as well."

There will be no quit in Mayfield's team, Francis said.

"Nah, heck no," Francis said. "We've got nothing to give up for. We might as well keep fighting. We've got nothing to lose. We'll keep going and try to see if we can win some races, run our best and see what happens."

Mayfield has the same attitude.

"We've had a good year so far," Mayfield said. "We've just got to keep fighting back and do the best we can. We knew Talladega was going to be a weird race for us, but who knows what's going to happen.

"We've just got to keep fighting. We're doing all we can do. We're just going to try to go win races now. That's about all that's left to do."

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Mayfield was trying to do that Sunday by laying at the rear of the lead draft, hoping to be far enough behind to avoid any trouble ahead.

But the strategy didn't work. Sadler got in the back of Green's Dodge, which shot up the track and into the SAFER barrier -- and Mayfield's car.

"I'm not sure what happened to the 43," Mayfield said. "Somebody must have turned him because he turned right in front of us. We were just sticking to our game plan, and that was to either be up front or stay in the back to the end. That's what we were doing.

"What do you do? You can't really predict what's going to happen here. We fixed our Dodge and got back out and gained all the points we could."

Green said he wasn't sure what happened to Sadler.

"He turned me in the right rear and just shot me in the wall," Green said. "I was just riding from there. I can correct them going left, but when you're going right, it's hard to correct them."

"I don't know whether (Sadler) got squeezed into me or he hit me or what. It's just a shame. I guess we made it a lot further than we thought we would, really. I mean, everybody's hitting everybody. The closer it gets to the 500-mile mark, the crazier them guys get.

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"You want to put on a show, put on a race, but you don't want to see anybody get hurt, either. I'm glad these races are over this year."

Mayfield and Francis are, too. Of course, Mayfield and Francis will be happy when someone else doesn't take them out in a crash. At the first Chase race in New Hampshire, Robby Gordon exacted revenge on Greg Biffle, which wrecked Mayfield and Tony Stewart.

And now this. It's enough to make a driver and crew chief frustrated, but there are seven races left in 2004.

"We've still got to look forward and see how high we can get, see if we can get top five," Francis said. "I haven't looked at the points, so I don't know where we stand. If we put together some good races down the stretch, we can still improve and move up from 10th."