The Mayfields: Atlanta

Q: Last weekend at Las Vegas, Tony Stewart hit a new low for being frustrated and not dealing with it very well, but for you guys, how do you deal with frustration in the driver's seat, or on top of the pit box?

Jeremy: The way you deal with it is you bang on the steering wheel, you hit the roof and by throwing fits inside the car, most of the time.

	Shana and Jeremy Mayfield
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It does get frustrating, especially in this day and time when we've got these cars so soft in the front and they're coil-binding the springs. Any little thing just upsets the car and the balance so much.

Really, it's getting to the point where the cars are so aero-dependent you've just got to do your best to get around stuff like that -- but it is frustrating because you can't just go in there and race and have a car that's forgiving.

You've just got to hope that you're not breaking the front tires loose and just sliding the nose all day. But it can be frustrating, for sure.

Shana: And I think the whole Kyle [Busch] and Tony thing has been going on for a couple weeks, I guess.

But Jeremy has always said -- and I don't know a whole lot about racing when you're behind the wheel -- but when you're racing, you're racing the leader, not each other.

Maybe that was a thing where Kyle should have let Tony go instead of sitting there and racing each other so hard. Maybe that's why Tony's frustration level was where it was -- because he was saying, "Man, we're losing time to the leader, just sitting here going back and forth like we are."

Jeremy: Right. It just costs both cars when you get into a situation like that.

Shana: For my part, on top of the box, I have a really hard time with hiding my frustration. Jeremy gets mad at me because he says it's written all over my face when I'm mad.

Inside the Numbers Jeremy Mayfield at Atlanta Starts 20 Wins 0 Top-5s 4 Top-10s 5 Poles 0 Avg. Start 16.7 Avg. Finish 21.8

So when I get kind of frustrated, sometimes I just have to leave pit road because I don't want people, or fans or the guys on the team to see me mad -- because I know it's not their fault.

They're giving 110 percent and this hasn't been exactly the greatest start to the year, so it's been frustrating for me to sit there and watch my husband struggle when I know he's better than that.

But then again, it's a new team and they're all learning together, so I have to take that into account and know that they're giving 110 percent.

Q: I know it's a cliché, but whether it's driving racecars, watching racecars or playing poker -- do you not ever want them to see you sweat?

Jeremy: Yeah, that's true I think -- but sometimes you just can't help it, because you get so pissed off. And you just let it all out and let the consequences be damned.

Shana: And what you can't forget is that if these drivers weren't emotional and if they didn't care, they wouldn't be at the level that they're at.

	Jeremy Mayfield wants the truth and only the truth. Credit: Autostock
	Inside the Numbers Jeremy Mayfield (past two years)   2005 2004 Starts 36 36 Wins 1 1 Top-5 4 5 Top-10 9 13 Poles 0 2 Avg. Start 15.3 12.5 Avg. Finish 15.9 16.9 Rank 9 10 Career Years 14 Starts 384 Wins 5 Top-5s 48 Top-10s 96 Poles 9 Avg. Start 20.0 Avg. Finish 20.3 2006 (28th in points) Site Start Finish Daytona 26 36 Fontana 21 22 Las Vegas 24 25

That's that competitive edge that everyone talks about. You want to get out there and win every week. These guys have feelings and sometimes you vocalize them when you shouldn't.

Sometimes you hold it in and it's killing you -- and you get back to the motorhome and you want to rip it apart.

It's all going to come out eventually, it's just a matter of what avenue you use to vent it, you know?

Everyone heard what Tony was saying on his radio -- and maybe you shouldn't say that kind of stuff that way. But sometimes maybe you want people to know what you're thinking.

I've seen Jeremy sometimes just lose it when he gets in the motorhome or when he gets on the plane -- or even when he gets home. And yet he was as cool as a cucumber when he was on the radio with the guys.

And I knew he was so mad that he was about to rip the steering wheel apart. It's just all in how people handle it -- and people handle it in different ways.

Q: Now, stepping out of the racecar but staying around the racetracks, is there anything that frustrates you guys?

Jeremy: People in the media don't realize how many lives they affect when they write something bad about somebody, that's maybe not even true or they don't even know who you are.

It's just not right and that frustrates me more than anything because I want to just say, "Look, this is the truth right here." And to lay it out, who I really am, at times -- and not just a guy that can't drive or whatever stuff they talk about all the time.

That bothers me more than anything, when they don't have a clue. None of us would be in this sport if we couldn't get the job done, so really that frustrates me more than anything in our sport, really -- even the aero push.

And that's when the redneck side of me wants to come out and I want to say, "Why don't you come over here and talk that story to me -- and we'll fix it."

Shana: And I have to agree with that, just because he is my husband. It frustrates the hell out of me to see him not get the recognition he deserves or for somebody to say, "He got in the Chase for two years, but it was a fluke."

I mean, it's not a fluke. You get in the Chase for the Nextel Cup because you're consistent and because you're a good driver.

I get really upset when people call him the "Rodney Dangerfield of NASCAR" as far as when he doesn't get any respect. He doesn't get any respect and he deserves a lot of it.

Jeremy Mayfield has made the Chase both years. Credit: Rusty Jarrett/Getty Images

But I think a lot of it is Jeremy's personality, too, because he is a no-nonsense type of guy that doesn't cause a lot of controversy and he's not a big story every week.

Jeremy: What burns me is that maybe they just think I'm quiet and I don't say a lot -- but I will, and can without a doubt whip about 99 percent of their butts.

Maybe I will before this is all said and done with. Talk about old school. I will hurt one of those fools someday. You know what I mean?

Q: And how frustrating is it when it's just one of those racing deals they always talk about: 10 minutes left in practice someone stuffs it in the wall, oils the racetrack and you come along and wreck your car because there was nothing you could do about it?

Jeremy: And that's another good example. We start the race, with no practice on our car, we struggled with it for a while and the bottom line is, "Oh, Jeremy Mayfield finished 25th."

It doesn't matter what happened before that -- before you even started the race -- it's where you finished is what people look at.

Drivers can only do so much and there are a lot of things that we don't do that we get credit for; but then there are a lot of things that are out of our control, too. And no one cuts us a break on those.

There is a lot of bad we've got to take credit for, too. And that's a part of our sport -- but it is frustrating.

Jeremy and his wife, Shana Credit: Ezra Shaw/Getty Images

Shana: The media is one of the more frustrating things everyone has to deal with in the sport. They tend to write about whoever and whatever is running good at the time.

If you believed everything you heard or read, you'd really think that someone could drive this year, but if they don't start off the next year so well, that they can't?

It's the weirdest thing, and really not very fair.

You give a guy what he needs. You give him the chemistry with a good crew chief and a bunch of good guys and good equipment -- and he's going to run good. Period.

Sometimes luck plays a part in it and you get caught up in wrecks -- but he still didn't forget how to drive.

Our accomplishments the last two years should speak for themselves..

Q: So I guess with all this life-and-death stuff going on, like career building, all the stuff you think would be frustrating, like traffic and the high price of gas, is small potatoes, right?

Jeremy: It really is.

Shana: It's small potatoes, but when you live it every week, it gets under your skin. The stuff that would frustrate everyday, normal people doesn't even bother us.

Jeremy: I know we're wearing this out, but people in the media have got to realize how many lives they affect when you say something that's not true.

It can affect you in the long run, and it may go either way. It may turn around and rebound, which it does, 90 percent of the time -- and hits whoever sent it right in the face.

But people don't always remember that. You've got to be careful anymore -- on our side of it and the media side of it.

Actually, drivers can frustrate about anybody, so I'm sure we do our fair share of frustrating, too.

Word Association: Atlanta
Bill Elliott
Jeremy: Way-ell. Good beef jerky.
Shana: Miss him.

Downtown
Jeremy: Getting lost.
Shana: Huff Furniture.

Traffic
Jeremy: Right roads -- send 'em the wrong way.
Shana: Captain Tom Israel will help you out.