Mayfield's Map to ... Martinsville

Each week throughout the season, Jeremy Mayfield and his wife, Shana, share their memories of that weekend's racetrack -- and the happenings around it.

This week: The Subway 500 at Martinsville Speedway

	Shana and Jeremy Mayfield
	JEREMY MAYFIELD •   Driver Page •   2005 Stats •   Superstore: Mayfield gear •   Dodge Fast Track •   Jeremy's official Web site Mayfield's MapJeremy and Shana look forward to Martinsville Sign up for TrackPass now BUY YOUR NEXTEL DRIVER PHONE

Q: Before we go to Martinsville, the second consecutive race that's relatively close to home, how long did it take you to get home Sunday morning from Lowe's Motor Speedway?

Shana Mayfield: Not too long, because we had a helicopter ride (laughing). So we actually got right out of there. We were home within 20 minutes or so, so it wasn't bad at all.

But it took us a while to fall asleep, because Jeremy and I both, after Sundays or Saturday night races -- you know, you're on an adrenaline high and it takes you a while to kind of crash, or to wind down.

So we didn't fall asleep until pretty late -- but we got home pretty fast.

Q: Well, I'm betting that the way that whole show unfolded you were a little bit more fired-up than usual, eh?

Jeremy Mayfield: A little bit, but not a lot more -- at least I wasn't. I think Shana was a little bit, but it was a long night, you know?

Q: Give us a little bit of a comparison of what it's like from the seat, Jeremy, when you see all this mayhem going on around you and what you're thinking; and then for you, Shana, on top of the pit box watching it all?

Jeremy Mayfield: Well, it's kind of like you just said -- you're sitting there going, 'OK, who's next?' And then a few laps later, something else would happen.

It was just a long night and it really wasn't a good night for any of us. I mean, it was a good night because we didn't wreck or anything, but it just wasn't a good night for racing at Lowe's Motor Speedway, it didn't seem like.

Everybody was having trouble and it was just a bad night all the way around, for everybody. It's not good for anybody when it's like that.

Shana Mayfield: It was really nerve-wracking because you knew the caution was going to come out in 25 or 30 laps -- that was a given -- and like Jeremy said it was like, 'who's next?'

And then once I saw Kasey (Kahne) blow a tire I was like, 'uh-oh.' Because once it's your teammate it's worse and the way our luck's been, I was like, 'all right, we're going to be next.'

I was just nervous about the whole thing, but we got lucky and got through it -- we gained some points on the leaders and that was what we needed to do -- so it was a good night, all in all.

Q: So now we're going to Martinsville, which is one of the few places you can drive to -- so what's the best route to Martinsville? Or is getting there, the only thing, and then you worry about what to do once you're there?

Jeremy Mayfield: We just pretty much concentrate on getting there, don't we?

Shana Mayfield: Yeah, we do -- unless we leave early. We sometimes like to stop in Winston-Salem, and there's an R/C shop Jeremy like to stop at in King, isn't it?

Jeremy Mayfield: Yeah, but usually we don't do that going there. We usually get there, and then on Saturday Shana might go to the mall in Winston-Salem and I'll go to King, N.C., to a hobby shop there that's pretty cool -- King R/C.

Shana Mayfield: We've always said we ought to leave early and maybe do it on Thursday, but we don't ever do that. We leave late in the afternoon and just drive.

And Jeremy likes to take the back roads, but they scare me at night. I like to go right through Winston-Salem.

Jeremy Mayfield: But that's pretty much all there is, though, you know -- back roads.

Shana Mayfield: But you can go right through Winston-Salem.

Jeremy Mayfield: I've got a couple shortcuts, to get us there on time.

Q: Does Martinsville have a nice hillside motorhome lot and does the whole family come, since you're driving?

Shana Mayfield: No, it's not a nice hillside lot.

Jeremy Mayfield: It's in a valley, which is off a hill, I guess -- something like that.

Shana Mayfield: And it's right beside the railroad tracks, so all night long you can hear those, what are those things -- the trains go by all night.

And Izzy barks the whole time.

Jeremy Mayfield: But it's still nice. It's not the worst motorhome lot -- it's still pretty nice.

Shana Mayfield: It's nice, it's just that hearing trains all night is kind of nerve-wracking, and then her barking, so I don't know who's going with us.

Izzy might go to the Pug Picnic -- even though she's not a Pug.

Jeremy Mayfield: We're going to try to sneak her into the Pug Picnic.

Shana Mayfield: We'll see what happens.

Q: Distant relatives ought to be allowed in, shouldn't they?

Shana Mayfield: Yeah.

Jeremy Mayfield: Yeah, right. But we're thinking that nobody knows the difference.

Shana Mayfield: She thinks she's a Pug, anyway, because that's all she's been brought up around.

Q: Now, what's up with that event? I guess you're hoping that whatever is on the schedule for Saturday comes off on time, because you've got a special event to go to, don't you?

	Inside the Numbers Jeremy Mayfield at Martinsville Year Start Finish 1995 19 16   33 16 1996 16 4   13 34 1997 29 7   39 18 1998 13 7   32 23 1999 32 41   17 15 2000 24 7   35 38 2001 6 30   -- -- 2002 19 11   24 28 2003 23 40   30 33 2004 10 36   11 6 2005 3 15 Averages 21.4 21.2 * -- Mayfield missed the Fall 2001 race after being released by Penske Racing.

Shana Mayfield: Yeah, it's the annual picnic for the North Carolina Pug Rescue. Since Jeremy and I always contribute money to help save the little Puggies, we wanted to show up this year and see all the fun stuff they have going on.

They have, like the best kisser, and the best tail and the best Pug costumes -- so we just want to go and see all the cute little Pugs. So our dog-sitting friend, Madeleine is going to take our doggies down there -- whoever we end of up taking with us we might take them, too.

So we're excited about that because it will be a good cause and if any of the fans are going to be there, look it up on the Web site because I really don't know how to give you directions. But it will be a fun time.

Q: Which one of the kids travels best in the car -- or truck?

Shana Mayfield: Isabelle.

Jeremy Mayfield: Well, I don't know. Mattie's pretty good.

Shana Mayfield: No -- Mattie fights because Mattie gets very uncomfortable unless she has the front seat, so I always end up in the back. Izzy will just sit in the back -- she doesn't care.

Q: Do they just lie back, or are they looking out the window?

Jeremy Mayfield: Izzy kind of sits up and looks out the window like a person. It's pretty cool.

Mattie kind of lays down and just enjoys the ride.

Shana Mayfield: Max has to sit on the console, so he slides around (laughing).

Jeremy Mayfield: Yeah, he sits in the middle, and Zoë, she just kind of falls in wherever, so it's wild when we go for a ride.

Q: What have you found to be the biggest drawback to car travel with dogs?

Shana Mayfield: The potty breaks (laughing).

Jeremy Mayfield: Yeah -- you've got to stop frequently, especially if you get off sequence. If all of them are not in synch, you've got to stop every so often and give them enough time to do whatever it is you call it.

Shana Mayfield: And then they'll start smelling the car up and you can't figure out which one of them it is -- so you say, 'all right, we've got to stop' (laughing).

Q: Do they do much back seat driving -- or in Izzy's case, if she's sitting up there, does she like, woof when a Ford goes by?

Jeremy Mayfield: Yeah, she' pretty cool about driving. Izzy just kind of sits back and takes it all in. She's a pretty good rider.

Shana Mayfield: She'll try to tell Jeremy what to do, and where to turn. She's like me -- she knows it all.

Jeremy Mayfield: Yeah, she's like Shana -- she thinks she knows it all (laughing).

Q: Since you've been so close to home for a few weeks, how's the plane shopping going? What's the leading model right now?

Jeremy Mayfield: We've just kind of been looking at everything and trying to figure out what we're going to do.

Shana Mayfield: Jeremy had me get online to see if we could get e-tickets the other day on Hooters Air for all next year -- to fly commercial. He wanted to go on Hooters Air, but I don' know how far they fly.

Jeremy Mayfield: I think that would be pretty good. But we might just drive everywhere next year.

Shana Mayfield: We'll just drive with Buster (laughing).

Jeremy Mayfield: Yeah, we might ride with Buster. He'll have that orangutan and he'll have us.

Q: That might be an experience worthy of a TV pilot, no?

Jeremy Mayfield: Right, and it would be a lot cheaper, you know? We're looking at all options right now.

FedEx PreviewMarty Snider previews the action at Martinsville Around the TrackMarty Smith answers e-mails on 'Back Seat Drivers' Drivers and HollywoodMatt Kenseth is in the spotlight Sign up for TrackPass now BUY YOUR NEXTEL DRIVER PHONE

Q: You never can tell what SPEED Channel might want to do. First it was [NASCAR Drivers:] 360, and what's next?

Jeremy Mayfield: That's right. It gets bigger when you're riding with Buster, you know? It could be a good reality show.

Shana Mayfield: Mark and Clyde, our pilots, are doing a good job and they're finding some good things for us so I think we'll have something nailed down in the next couple of weeks.

Jeremy Mayfield: I'm not even going to say. We might even use jet packs to get everywhere next year.

So if you see us come through your town on jet packs next year, you'll know it's us.

Q: So I guess you don't have any kind of a deadline set up for that, like November or December or anything?

Shana Mayfield: I was pushing for like, Atlanta, but Jeremy's not looking at it like that -- and this is not really something you want to rush on. You want to know what all your options are.

Jeremy Mayfield: Right -- you want to do the right thing.

Shana Mayfield: We're working with a good guy who's trying to help our pilots. He's trying to find us the best option for us, so hopefully we'll have something by December for the banquet, for sure.

Jeremy Mayfield: We might even get one and fix it up -- just have a little ol' hot rod, you know?

Shana Mayfield: No, we're not.

Q: Hey, I see that Hermie Sadler's got an ad on his car this weekend for Kilgore for the governor of Virginia. How's the political scene treating you guys over there in North Carolina -- and you doing any campaigning?

Jeremy Mayfield: It's pretty good. I've not really started running for anything yet, because I'm going to wait until I get done racing before I try to take to the oval office up there.

But so far it's been good. They've always been good to us, haven't they?

Shana Mayfield: Yeah, Jeremy has been waiting until we get over to Catawba to get a Catawba County or city seat -- or whatever it is -- town council?

Jeremy Mayfield: Yeah, I'm going to run the deal over there. But I think it's cool to be able to do that -- and that's why I don't want to take anybody's seat right now.

I'll wait until I get over there and moved in.

Shana Mayfield: It's politics every weekend, so he's getting his work in, now.

Jeremy Mayfield: Yeah -- I'm a pretty good politician.

Shana Mayfield: He's getting his practice in, now (laughing).

Jeremy Mayfield: I'm a real good politician.

WORD ASSOCIATION: Martinsville

• Tunnel
Jeremy Mayfield: Necessity.
Shana Mayfield: Thank God.

• Pit Road
Jeremy Mayfield: Tight. Speeding. Not good.
Shana Mayfield: Chaotic.

• Winston-Salem
Jeremy Mayfield: R.J. Reynolds.
Shana Mayfield: Closest shopping.