Jeremy Mayfield finished ninth in the 2005 Nextel Cup Series standings. Credit: Autostock

YIR: Jeremy Mayfield

Once again, Chase run doomed by bad fortune

For the second consecutive year, the 2005 Nextel Cup Series was a tale of two seasons for Jeremy Mayfield and his Evernham Motorsports team.

Mayfield and the No. 19 Dodge boys have got making the playoffs -- the Chase for the Nextel Cup -- all figured out, having done it for two years in a row.

Credit: Autostock

Inside the Numbers Jeremy Mayfield in 2005 Race Start Finish Daytona 500 24 23 Auto Club 500 3 28 UAW-DaiChrys 400 26 20 Golden Corral 500 14 13 Food City 500 8 17 Advance 500 3 15 Sam/RadSh 500 2 11 Subway Fresh 500 8 13 Aaron's 499 22 4 Dodge Charger 500 8 33 Chevy 400 15 13 Coca-Cola 600 36 4 MBNA 400 13 14 Pocono 500 6 14 Batman 400 5 22 Dodge/S. Mart 350 32 7 Pepsi 400 31 12 USG 400 22 6 New England 300 11 19 Penn. 500 16 18 Allstate 400 2 4 Sirius at the Glen 8 11 GFS 400 11 1 Sharpie 500 16 18 Sony HD 500 13 26 Chevy 400 10 6 Sylvania 300 8 16 RacePoints 400 12 7 UAW-Ford 500 32 14 Banquet 400 14 16 UAW-GM 500 37 11 Subway 500 7 28 Bass MBNA 500 18 38 Dickies 500 5 35 Checker 500 39 24 Ford 400 13 10 Average 15.2 15.8 Motor City winMayfield takes the checkered flag at Michigan Good timesMayfield celebrates his only win of 2005 Sign up for TrackPass now BUY YOUR NEXTEL DRIVER PHONE

The challenge moving forward into 2006 is making the adjustments -- as much philosophical as mechanical -- that it'll take to step up into the top five in the final championship standings.

Mayfield and his crew chief for the first 32 races, Slugger Labbe, completed every lap in 19 of the first 26 races, including a strategic race win at Michigan in August. As a result, the No. 19 bunch entered the Chase in seventh.

Mayfield was proud of the fact that, heading into the Chase, no one had completed more laps than his 7,456. He failed to finish only one race all season, at Darlington in the spring, when he crashed out.

"It's pretty cool and it says a lot about this race team and for what we've done," Mayfield said. "It also says a lot about the reliability of the cars and how they stay together and don't break."

However, circumstances bit Mayfield heavily in the Chase as, after averaging a finish of 12.3 in the first 26 events, the team fell to a 19.9 average in the 10 Chase races, resulting in a final finish of ninth and a season average of 15.86.

In the final weeks of the season, Mayfield agreed that a change was in the works for 2006, beyond Kenny Francis returning as his team leader.

"I think we've got the first 26-race deal figured out -- we know how to get in the Chase," Mayfield said. "It's a whole different deal after you've gotten in, to win the championship in the last 10 races than it is in the first 26."

Labbe, frustrated in the middle of the Chase after five finishes between seventh and 16th, suggested changes and was shown the door. Francis had led the team to 10th the previous season before taking a lead role in engineering in 2005.

For Mayfield's team, as was the case with virtually every Dodge, even veteran savvy couldn't overcome the shortcomings of the 2005 Charger. Only three Dodge drivers won, and Ray Evernham's pilots, Mayfield and Kasey Kahne, were two of them.

"We've just missed it aerodynamically with the new body on this car," Evernham said late in the season. "With the rules change between the spoiler cutting and the tire changes and us just missing that with the new Charger, it's just hurt us (and) I don't think it's something that's hidden."

Despite improving his starting spot for the Chase and his championship finish from 2004, Mayfield's season stats were off, which stayed in line with most Dodge teams.

He won a race each season, but failed to win a Bud Pole in 2005 after claiming two in 2004. His top-five and top-10 production dropped from five to four and 13 to nine, respectively.

But the Chase was again the telling tale. After scoring a top-five and three top-10s in 2004, Mayfield posted only two top-10s in 2005.

Even though he cut his finishes worse than 28th from four to three in 2005, Chase mode still needs work.

"I think you've got to go all out after you get in the thing and race like there's no tomorrow," Mayfield said. "We're starting to see that. When you've got a big organization like this and you've got one car going for the championship, you've got to be careful that everybody doesn't become afraid to do things on the car.

"You can't be afraid in this sport. You've got to go all out and lay it on the line. You've got to stay maxed-out even more than you've ever been to win the championship. We've known that, but we've got to get better at it yet for sure."

Mayfield said once the Chase begins, bad luck has doomed the No. 19 team.

"We're going to sit down and look at things," Mayfield said. "It seems like we know how to get in the Chase. We're not doing anything different, but it seems like we just have bad luck once we make the Chase.

"We had bad luck last year, and we've had bad luck this year. We cut a right front tire at Martinsville and it killed us. Then we broke a flywheel, stuff that never happened.

"We're going to have to get better, but how do you get better at not cutting tires down? We'll have to look at it hard and see what we can do."

But if he's done anything in his 12-year career, Mayfield's learned what a fine line everyone walks in the Cup garage.

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"We're doing all we can do," he said. "If (champion) Tony Stewart had cut a tire at Martinsville or broke a flywheel, where would he be? That's the way I look at it.

"We've got a strong foundation under us, and we'll keep going what we're doing and things will come around. It's just a matter of time and we're going to be there. If you know our owner up there, you know he's not going to lose. You're betting against the wrong person, I can tell you that."

The team stepped up and closed the season with a 10th-place run at Homestead.

"I feel real good about it," Mayfield said. "I'm proud of these guys. They worked great together, and I'm excited about next year. This is the first time we've been together, so I think we're going to be real good next year.

"Our focus extends right up to the 2006 Daytona 500. If something is missing, we'll find it. If something must change, we'll change it. The resources are available. Just like an engine, everything has to be in synch."