Mayfield's wife denies comments about team

Says she never suggested Mayfield should drop out of top 35

BROOKLYN, Mich. -- The wife of Nextel Cup driver Jeremy Mayfield took issue with a comment made by a member of the No. 19 Evernham Motorsports team during a recent legal dispute with team owner Ray Evernham.

	Shana Mayfield said she never made comments that Jeremy should intentionally drop the 19 car out of the top 35. Credit: Autostock
	GETTING IN THE WAY Jeremy Mayfield said in court documents that Ray Evernham's "personal relationship" with another EMS driver got in the way of the 19 team's success.  •   Complete story, click here

Shana Mayfield was mentioned in a deposition given by Chuck Efaw, a mechanic on the 19, during an August 9 hearing over the conditions of the termination of her husband.

"At the race in Loudon, N.H., last month, Shana Mayfield, Jeremy's wife, said to me, 'I told Jeremy he better not have that car in the top 35 at the end of the season,'" Efaw said in the court document.

Shana said that never happened.

"Those accusations were false," she said. "The judge had access to all those written documents, along with verbal testimony. She saw both sides and ruled in favor of the deserving party, and that usually ends up being the ones who tell the truth."

The judge ruled in favor of Mayfield, who filed a restraining order to keep Bill Elliott out of the car last week at Watkins Glen, to position himself for a financial settlement with Evernham.

After the ruling, Evernham agreed to pay Mayfield for the rest of the season to clear the way for Elliott Sadler to drive the 19 in the remaining 14 races.

Mayfield, who will sign to drive for Bill Davis Racing's new Toyota team next week, initially was fired without compensation.

"If Ray would have done what he said he was going to do all along, he and Jeremy sit down and talk about any issues, then it would have never come to this," Shana said.