The Mayfields: Keep on Trucking to Las Vegas

The Mayfields might be missing Dover's slots this weekend -- but the makeup is a full array of gaming opportunities in Las Vegas, where Jeremy will make his first Craftsman Truck Series start since 2003 and only the second of his career.

Saturday's Smith's Las Vegas 350 will be prefaced by two days of testing, one in Cup cars at Kentucky and another in a pair of owner Billy Ballew's trucks on Las Vegas Motor Speedway's reconfigured 1.5-mile oval.

	Jeremy and Shana Mayfield Credit: Autostock
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The Mayfields also weigh in on the opening of the Chase for the Nextel Cup and the tear that their Bill Davis Racing teammates are on these days in the Cup and Truck Series, respectively.

This week: Game on

Q: The Chase might be underway and taking up a lot of people's attention, but what about your BDR teammates? They're kind of on a roll, aren't they?

Jeremy: Well, first of all I think it's really, really cool that they're running strong. The whole organization just keeps getting stronger and stronger every week, and you can see it.

For the truck teams to finish one-two at New Hampshire was big, and the 22 team [Blaney's] was in the top 10 for the second week in a row and they're running strong, so I'm real happy for them.

I just can't wait to become a more active part of what's going on up there in High Point [N.C.] at BDR.

Shana: I think it's pretty cool for Johnny Benson to be doing so well.

He's a veteran of the Cup Series that a lot of people might have forgotten about, who's new to the Truck Series, but he's still a veteran driver that can get it done.

It would be pretty cool to see him win a championship for Toyota and Bill Davis -- to get Bill his first championship in a NASCAR series.

Hopefully we can come there next year for Toyota and 360 OTC and run for a Nextel Cup championship. Now that would be pretty cool.

Blaney will be running with us, too, and I think that would be pretty awesome if he could keep on doing what he's achieving right now.

Jeremy and I were talking about that tonight on our way home -- how Bill Davis Racing kind of quietly goes along, doing their thing and they're kind of overlooked and underrated.

But if you go up to High Point it's like this little science project is just brewing along. It's like this big deal that's under cover because nobody ever talks about it -- but it's getting ready to get really big.

You can see it all starting to happen and next year they're really going to explode onto the scene, I think. There's going to be a lot of great things going on and right now just little bits are starting to show.

Jeremy Mayfield has five victories in 14 years of Nextel Cup racing. Credit: Autostock

Inside the Numbers Jeremy Mayfield's 2006 stats Race Start Finish Status Daytona 26 36 running California 21 22 running Las Vegas 24 25 running Atlanta 20 41 running Bristol 10 16 running Martinsville 23 26 engine Texas 34 31 running Phoenix 28 26 running Talladega 36 13 running Richmond 38 32 running Darlington 30 38 running Charlotte 2 15 running Dover 2 18 running Pocono 26 23 running Michigan 18 36 running Sonoma 32 22 running Daytona 42 36 running Chicago 16 24 running Loudon 37 29 running Pocono 22 37 running Indy 15 41 suspension Average 23.9 27.9

They're chipping away at it and getting all the right people in place and it's going to be good.

Jeremy: I've been totally, totally impressed with the whole organization, from top to bottom -- right from Bill all the way down to the bottom and everything in between.

I'm impressed with the way the whole operation is run. The engineering staff he has, not only from Toyota but also on the Bill Davis Racing side, is incredible.

With the bunch of guys they've got up there, I just can't wait to really get going. I know what I've raced with and have driven, car-wise, for the last 10 years.

From Penske's to Evernham's, I know that what Bill has got going on is definitely exciting for me.

I've been up there several times, and every time I go I see something different and new that wasn't there before. And it's just cool to see.

Tommy [Baldwin, director of competition] has done a great job and it seems like he's really got the thing rolling in the right direction.

It just seems like the systems that Bill and Tommy have in place up there -- it just flows. You walk in and everybody's just doing their deal.

Shana: God, don't use that word, 'systems.'

Jeremy: What do you mean? I did that because we have to use technical words a little bit now. But I just feel like I can't wait, and it's going to be good.

Shana: I like going up there because there's a really good restaurant that Gail and Bill [Davis] took us out to eat at. So I want to go back up there and go eat dinner with them, again.

Jeremy: Yeah, we need to do that this week.

Shana: It was really good. I don't even know what the name of it was, but it's in, like, an old hotel or something.

Jeremy: It's like an old house or a hotel.

Shana: But it was so good. They had the best food. So every week that Jeremy goes up to BDR next year I'll be going up there with him to have dinner with Bill and Gail at that restaurant.

Jeremy: I don't know what their specialty is, but they had all kinds of food.

Shana: They had the best sweet tea, but I don't remember what their specialty was either. But I had shrimp and grits.

Jeremy: It was just good cooking.

Shana: Good, Southern home-style food.

Jeremy: The name of it doesn't really matter -- it was good. Anyway, it's the best restaurant in High Point.

Q: Talk about a confidence-builder, do you think there's a connection that right after BDR announces its Cup deal for next year, Dave Blaney starts running like Jack the Bear?

Jeremy: I think the connection is that Bill Davis as an owner is a racer and he's been around, and he knows that Dave can get the job done -- whether they were doing it at the time we made the announcement or not.

Bill knows what's in store for that team in the future, he knows there are good things coming for it and he knows that Dave can get the job done. I think everybody knows that and I think it's cool that Bill stood behind him like that.

Shana: And I read somewhere the other day that Bill was on Sirius Satellite Radio or somewhere like that and he was talking about the turnaround lately at Bill Davis Racing.

And he was commending Dave on what a great job he's done and how he always believed in him. He said that he feels like the results lately are what he's known has been there all along.

He said that Jeremy took a huge chance by signing with him and that he feels like he's proven to Jeremy and to everybody else what they're capable of doing.

He said they've been through a lot -- but that Bill Davis Racing is made up of a lot of survivors and they were not going to quit. And I think that's a great mentality to be in.

And I think that's pretty much a statement of how Jeremy feels, with all the things he's been through. Tommy, Blaney has been kinda flying under the radar and Bill's been under the radar.

So I think there's that deep, burning desire to fight and to get back in the game. I think Bill has always had that in him and now it's all about getting key people in the right places.

Jeremy: And it's all starting to pay off and it's all starting to show up, now. I've seen that from the first day I went up there. I went up and looked around and saw everything they had to work with.

I thought, 'Man, if we can't get the job done with the resources they have here -- whether it's me or whoever it is -- then something's wrong.' I felt like if I couldn't, then I didn't even need to be racing.

And then Tommy comes back on board, and I know that he can get the job done, so I know there is no reason why we can't run good next season. Because everybody up there, like you said, is a racer -- everybody.

And they're smart people.

Shana: And Jeremy's talked to Bill a lot on the phone, because he's in Arkansas a lot and Jeremy's here. And sometimes when Jeremy's been to High Point he's missed Bill -- but Bill has been so open to any suggestions that Jeremy has had.

People-wise, or anything else -- whatever it takes to succeed they're willing to do. He's just wants to run good -- there are no egos -- it's all 'Let's pull together and whatever you feel like you need let's get it and do what it takes to make it happen.'

I think that's what it takes. You just need to go out there and have no limits. Whatever it is you need to get, you need to get it, you know?

Jeremy: The first thing I heard was 'You might not be able to get good people up there.' But I would put the engineers he's got up there, from Todd Holbert with TRD to Derrick Finley at BDR, up against anybody's staff of engineers in the business.

They've got a good bunch of engineers up there, not just Todd and Derrick.

Shana: And how can you say you don't have good people up there when Richard Childress Racing is 20 minutes away from there? And they're running for the championship in both Busch and Nextel Cup.

You have good people all over, so you can't really say that location is everything.

Jeremy: Hell no. I wouldn't. I'd say it might be better to be up there.

Q: Switching horses, what's your take on Las Vegas Motor Speedway, with banking?

Jeremy: I can't wait to see it -- and we've got a whole day of testing Friday to figure it out.

Shana: I hope that's the only bank he checks out out there -- not the ATM bank or we'll be in trouble.

Jeremy: Heck, the only banking I'll be doing is at the casino's bank -- when they pay me.

When I go in there and dim the lights of Las Vegas -- whatever hotel that I'm in -- and they have to start laying people off just to pay me back. Just bring the Brinks truck.

Shana: Stratosphere, baby -- we're going to break 'em. They better be ready. Jeremy's going to be doing an autograph session there Friday evening.

Jeremy: What goes on at the Stratosphere stays at the Stratosphere.

Shana: It's on the Internet, but we're not quite sure what time it's supposed to be. We'll find out when we get there. I think it's about 9 -- or between 7 and 9.

MAYFIELD TRUCKING Jeremy Mayfield will make his second career Truck Series start this weekend at Las Vegas in the No. 15 Chevrolet.  •   Complete entry list, click here

It's whenever Jeremy gets back from the track and changes -- and gambles and all that stuff. But I'm [danged] sure not going to ride to the top of that Stratosphere -- that thing scares me.

Jeremy: I haven't really talked to anybody about what the racetrack might be like, but the open test on Friday should give us plenty of time to get everything ironed out.

We're taking two trucks and four engines, I think, to learn everything we've got and then we'll run the best of it on Saturday. We'll have two totally different trucks -- and I'm sure both of them will be awesome.

We've just got to figure out which one will be the right one for the new racetrack.

Shana: He's going to roll the dice on that one.

Jeremy: We need to figure out if we want a short-running truck or a long-running truck.

Q: Speaking of the devil, if you watched the opening of the Chase last Sunday from New Hampshire, it had to be like déjà vu 2004 all over again for you guys, as Jimmie Johnson and Kyle Busch got wiped out, right?

Shana: I was pretty shocked at the way that New Hampshire turned out, because I had thought that Kyle Busch would be pretty strong there -- and of course I thought that Jimmie would be pretty good.

It just goes to show you, it's anybody's championship to win right now. For sure it's a crapshoot. And after watching the race at New Hampshire it only proves that [Tony] Stewart would have been a strong bet to defend his championship -- if only he could have gotten into the Chase in the first place.

I thought he would be a force to be reckoned with in the Chase, and now that he's out, I really think it's up to everybody to step up.

I think it's going to be consistency that wins out in the end and you can't rule anybody out right now. Even though Jimmie and Kyle had bad races, I don't think they're out of it.

They say nobody's ever come back from that far behind, but heck the Chase has only been around two years. Jimmie's proven he can win races, and you can't really base anything on just two years.

If it was a team other than one or two of Hendrick's, maybe you could count them out, but I definitely wouldn't count a Hendrick team out by any means.

Jeremy: You're right, you can't. There are a couple possibilities that you could count out, but it wouldn't be the Hendrick cars -- at least at this stage.

Shana: It definitely wouldn't be the Hendrick cars, for sure.

Q: So who do you guys like going to Dover? Jeremy, you once swept a season's Bud Poles there, so who's your favorite for the Dover 400?

Shana: I think Mark Martin will run good there and I think Matt Kenseth is always a shoo-in at Dover. And Jimmie Johnson is usually pretty good there.

Jeremy: Yeah. I don't know if Harvick will run good there or not. But he may be all right there. Gordon will be good, though.

Shana: Gordon's OK, but he still doesn't have that consistency like he used to have. I'd still say Kenseth, Martin or Jimmie.

Jeremy: Yeah -- Kenseth's going to be strong for the whole deal and Martin is, too. And Harvick's going to be good, so who knows?

See, Dover's going to be a different deal, because there won't be a lot of coil binding going on. That's going to change it all up again. I don't know -- some people run coil-bound and some people don't, so it will be hard to tell, until the race gets going on, who's going to run good.

And up at Loudon, the 29 [Harvick] and the 31 [Jeff Burton] have got those coil-bound setups figured out good, so you know they're going to run good at the flat tracks.

Word Association: The Chase continues ...

Trucking
Jeremy: Hauling the mail.
Shana: Bill Davis.

Banking
Jeremy: More grip.
Shana: ... is better

Psych job
Jeremy: Is that all you got?
Shana: Mind over matter.